As Winky turns, fight a done deal
Posted on Saturday, February 11, 2006
Is it any surprise the contract for this fight was confirmed at the 11 th hour, literally ?
After a month of bitter negotiations and a bizarre turn of events this week, it came down to the final 10 minutes, but Little Rock’s Jermain Taylor and Winky Wright have their deal.
At 11 : 50 a.m. Central on Friday, 10 minutes before the scheduled start of a purse bid, Lou DiBella and Gary Shaw, Taylor and Wright’s respective promoters, closed a deal for a middleweight world championship fight between what are universally regarded as the top two middleweights in the world.
Both promoters and the WBC, which would have hosted the purse bid if a deal could not be reached by noon Friday, confirmed the fight will happen June 17.
“This is a done deal,” DiBella said. “Winky’s side of the deal was amateur hour, except for Gary Shaw. Gary was a professional, and if it wasn’t for Gary Shaw, there wouldn’t be a fight.
“ It’s an amazing deal for Jermain. I’m happy, and I’m proud of Jermain for being patient enough to wait it out. On June 17 th, Winky is going to find out he [messed ] with the wrong guy.” It didn’t take Taylor long to predict a knockout once he learned the fight was going to be a reality. Taylor also said he was glad the deal with Wright, a St. Petersburg, Fla., native, was worked out so everyone knows he’s willing to fight the best boxers in the world.
“I’m ready to fight in June. I’m ready to knock Winky out in June,” Taylor said. “I’m glad it’s Winky. Anyone else and I’d have had trouble with the media [saying I ducked Wright ]. I’m glad I’m fighting the No. 1 contender. All I will say is I’ve never backed down or ran from anyone.
“ Nothing worries me about Winky. I’m only worried about how I’m going to go in there and look good and make Arkansas proud.” Shaw said the deal calls for Taylor to receive 55 percent of an expected $ 8. 5 million purse and Wright 45 percent, or $ 4. 7 million for Taylor and $ 3. 8 million for Wright. HBO, which will broadcast the fight live, not on pay-per-view, put up $ 6. 5 million, and the promoters expect at least another $ 2 million from a site deal.
At this time, there is no site for the fight, although DiBella said it would be one of three places in Las Vegas or in Memphis or Atlanta. Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and Caesar’s Palace are probable sites if the fight goes to Las Vegas. DiBella said he would like to have a site picked out next week.
The deal also calls for a rematch clause if Wright wins, where the purse split will be flipped to 55 / 45 for Wright.
The WBC canceled Friday’s purse bid when it received confirmation the contract was signed.
“The World Boxing Council is very pleased that both promoters reached an agreement, as the fans deserve to watch fighting the best two middleweights of the world in this WBC mandatory defense,” WBC President Jose Sulaiman said in a statement. “Congratulations to Lou DiBella and Gary Shaw for reaching a good faith understanding, and June 17 will be a memorable night in boxing.” The contract is the same deal DiBella and Shaw negotiated and agreed upon late Tuesday night, before Wright fired Shaw and backed out of the agreement. Wright then said Winky Promotions, his own promotional company, would copromote his next fight with Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya’s company.
Late Thursday night, Wright, though his attorney Jim Wilkes, empowered Shaw to again negotiate for him and signed the contract.
“Winky realizes how important this fight is to boxing and its fans, and he is ready, willing and able to fight Jermain on June 17, per the contract,” Shaw said. “This is the same deal we’d spent one month negotiating, and we got it done.” It was the promoters who sounded like they went through a 12-round fight Friday, not Taylor or Wright.
Negotiations had become bitter, and at least twice the sides said the deal was dead and the fight would not happen. After apparently resurrecting the deal, DiBella and Shaw said they were stunned when Wright pulled out of the agreement “I’m exhausted, but I am content because I got my fighter a great deal,” DiBella said. “We got the deal that he refused earlier. Not only that, but there is no Winky Promotions involved in the promotion at all. You won’t see or hear the words ‘Winky Promotions.’” “I’m drained, wiped out,” Shaw said, “but I felt I did the very best I could for my fighter when he decided to have me represent him, finally.” Shaw said he hasn’t spoken to Wright, and instead has been dealing with Wilkes. Shaw did have an opinion as to why Wright had a last-minute change of heart.
“I think maybe everything that the press wrote had an effect, and everybody that had Winky’s best interests in mind said that this was a great deal for Winky,” Shaw said.
Wright, who didn’t return a message left on his cell phone Friday, told Boxingtalk. com he was taking this fight for his fans and even had some words for Arkansans interested in the fight.
“I don’t want the fans to be deprived of seeing the best two middleweights in the world, so we’re going to do one more fight with Gary to give the fans what they want to see,” Wright said. “I’m going to give the fans what they want to see, and if they [Taylor and DiBella ] take the fight without trying to snake their way out of it, I want to apologize to all of my fans in Arkansas right now for what I’m going to do to their boy.” Taylor laughed when he heard Wright’s comments, then turned serious.
“He just made his first mistake,” Taylor said.
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