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Scaefer "Gary Shaw hasnt called me all day, we will be moving on to other options"
LAS VEGAS -- Amir Khan's camp is moving on to other opponents after the deadline imposed by Golden Boy Promotions for unified junior welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr. to accept an offer to face fellow titlist Khan in a July 23 unification fight came and went Wednesday.
Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com that he had not heard from Bradley promoter Gary Shaw or anyone from the Bradley camp before the 4 p.m. ET deadline, or even several hours after it had expired.
"I was most of the day in meetings, but I haven't heard a thing," Schaefer said. "Gary Shaw has not called me, nobody has told me anything, so I am going to start now having serious conversations with the other possible candidates for a fight with Amir Khan on July 23."
The candidates are interim lightweight titlist Robert Guerrero (who would be happy to move up in weight for the bout), Marcos Maidana (who lost a close decision to Khan in December in the 2010 Boxing Writers Association of America fight of the year), Erik Morales (who lost a close decision to Maidana in a tremendous action fight on April 9) and titleholder Zab Judah (who was hoping to fight in July anyway, regardless of the opponent).
Each candidate is promoted by Golden Boy except Judah, who is with Main Events, which has done several fights with Golden Boy in the past.
"Those are the guys, in no particular order," Schaefer said. "I will evaluate the options and present them to Team Khan. They are all acceptable options to HBO. They would be happy to do any of those fights. We will start immediately reaching out to these people. The good news is, as a fight fan, you know will see a great fight on HBO on July 23 because of all of these guys are interesting opponents."
Schaefer will be meeting with Khan and his father on Friday when they will be together for the annual BWAA awards dinner, where Khan will pick up his fight of the year award for the Maidana fight at the MGM Grand.
Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) and Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs) were penciled in to meet July 23 in Las Vegas, Los Angeles or Anaheim after Schaefer worked out a deal with Khan, Shaw and HBO. However, Bradley has not accepted Shaw's offer of a minimum of $1.3 million, which would be a career-high purse. Bradley would receive more than the $1.2 million he was guaranteed for his next HBO fight regardless of if he won or lost against Devon Alexander in their Jan. 29 unification bout, which Bradley won via technical decision.
Schaefer said the deal with Bradley was not dead, but that the window of exclusively negotiating with him was now over. He said he will talk to the other possible opponents, but that if Bradley accepts the deal before he makes another fight, a Khan-Bradley fight can still be finalized.
"I don't believe in imposing these self-made deadlines, but what it means is we will now negotiate with other parties," Schaefer said. "If we do come to terms with Gary and Team Bradley, great. I don't think I'll be locking in an opponent in the next 24 hours. If I get a call [Thursday] from Gary and he says they are ready to go, let's get it done. If it's going to be a week from now I doubt the fight will still be there. We are moving ahead to talk to others."
Judah, who attended Wednesday's final news conference at the MGM Grand promoting Manny Pacquiao's welterweight title defense against Shane Mosley on Saturday night, said he is quite interested in facing Khan if the fight is offered to him.
"Definitely, that would be a great fight," Judah said. "He's a young kid and I've been around, but I am still one of the best fighters in the world and want to fight any of the big fights at 140 pounds. Let's do it."
Shaw and Cameron Dunkin, Bradley's manager, could not be reached for comment.
Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com that he had not heard from Bradley promoter Gary Shaw or anyone from the Bradley camp before the 4 p.m. ET deadline, or even several hours after it had expired.
"I was most of the day in meetings, but I haven't heard a thing," Schaefer said. "Gary Shaw has not called me, nobody has told me anything, so I am going to start now having serious conversations with the other possible candidates for a fight with Amir Khan on July 23."
The candidates are interim lightweight titlist Robert Guerrero (who would be happy to move up in weight for the bout), Marcos Maidana (who lost a close decision to Khan in December in the 2010 Boxing Writers Association of America fight of the year), Erik Morales (who lost a close decision to Maidana in a tremendous action fight on April 9) and titleholder Zab Judah (who was hoping to fight in July anyway, regardless of the opponent).
Each candidate is promoted by Golden Boy except Judah, who is with Main Events, which has done several fights with Golden Boy in the past.
"Those are the guys, in no particular order," Schaefer said. "I will evaluate the options and present them to Team Khan. They are all acceptable options to HBO. They would be happy to do any of those fights. We will start immediately reaching out to these people. The good news is, as a fight fan, you know will see a great fight on HBO on July 23 because of all of these guys are interesting opponents."
Schaefer will be meeting with Khan and his father on Friday when they will be together for the annual BWAA awards dinner, where Khan will pick up his fight of the year award for the Maidana fight at the MGM Grand.
Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) and Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs) were penciled in to meet July 23 in Las Vegas, Los Angeles or Anaheim after Schaefer worked out a deal with Khan, Shaw and HBO. However, Bradley has not accepted Shaw's offer of a minimum of $1.3 million, which would be a career-high purse. Bradley would receive more than the $1.2 million he was guaranteed for his next HBO fight regardless of if he won or lost against Devon Alexander in their Jan. 29 unification bout, which Bradley won via technical decision.
Schaefer said the deal with Bradley was not dead, but that the window of exclusively negotiating with him was now over. He said he will talk to the other possible opponents, but that if Bradley accepts the deal before he makes another fight, a Khan-Bradley fight can still be finalized.
"I don't believe in imposing these self-made deadlines, but what it means is we will now negotiate with other parties," Schaefer said. "If we do come to terms with Gary and Team Bradley, great. I don't think I'll be locking in an opponent in the next 24 hours. If I get a call [Thursday] from Gary and he says they are ready to go, let's get it done. If it's going to be a week from now I doubt the fight will still be there. We are moving ahead to talk to others."
Judah, who attended Wednesday's final news conference at the MGM Grand promoting Manny Pacquiao's welterweight title defense against Shane Mosley on Saturday night, said he is quite interested in facing Khan if the fight is offered to him.
"Definitely, that would be a great fight," Judah said. "He's a young kid and I've been around, but I am still one of the best fighters in the world and want to fight any of the big fights at 140 pounds. Let's do it."
Shaw and Cameron Dunkin, Bradley's manager, could not be reached for comment.
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