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Shaw: Nobody steps up to bankroll Darchinyan-Donaire II
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Don't expect Darchi to fight Pinoy Donaire a second time
Some stories never die. And the persistent comments all over the Internet continue to be posted.
It’s Big Gary Shaw who is the promotional devil, the handler of Vic Darchinyan, who is preventing a fan pleasing rematch against Filipino world champion Nonito Donaire from taking place.
It’s not the brave Darchi, the posters say and write, it’s Shaw who is afraid of risking his fighter getting knocked out a second time by the Pinoy puncher.
All baloney, Shaw told me on Sunday. The Darchinyan-Donaire rematch, while attractive to fans of both boxers, is just not a commercially viable bout.
“Vic is just moving up in weight from 112 to 115 and then to 118 and eventually to 122 pounds,” Shaw said. “Vic is doing this the way Manny Pacquiao did it. I have no problem making such a rematch but who will buy it, who will pay the freight?
“If someone called from the Philippines and said, hey, we’ve got $2 million for Darchinyan, we’d go there in a heartbeat. Vic and I love the Philippines and the great boxing fans in that country. But I don’t see that happening, do you?
“If (Showtime boxing boss) Ken Hershman called with that kind of an offer, if he said he’d pay us $2.3 million, then we’d fight Donaire again also. Donaire is with Top Rank and yet I have never had a phone call from either Todd duBoef or from Bob Arum about a rematch. And HBO shows no interest in this particular fight, either.”
Shaw said the accusations that he is holding some kind of personal grudge against Donaire, who used to be under his wing, are false.
“My job for Vic, for any fighter, is to get the most money along with most exposure. What has Donaire been doing since he beat Vic? Not much, really. Top Rank gets more exposure and publicity for the Russian kid (7-0 middleweight Matt Korobov) than they do for Donaire.
“Vic has Joseph Agbeko July 11 on Showtime,” Shaw said. “We have to get past that after we already got past Cristian Mijares and Jorge Arce. Then we can go to 122 and look at Israel Vazquez.”
I asked Shaw what sense the Darchi-Agbeko title bout made in Ft. Lauderdale.
“None, it should’ve been in LA where we could get a lot of Armenians to come out for Vic. But that was Don King’s call. I don’t understand it.”
Shaw put out a press release Sunday to refute Indianapolis Boxing Examiner Dennis DSource Guillermo’s article which reported a rumor that Darchinyan was finishing up a contract with Shaw and might align with someone else.
“I don’t need a contract with Vic,” Shaw said. “I have a lifetime deal based on the fighter’s word and I accept that. I am going to Armenia in August as Vic’s personal guest because he wants me to see his country. There is no problem with us. Vic is very loyal to me.”
So there you have it, Shaw’s side of the why no Donaire rematch story.
In Shaw’s view, Darchi and Nonito are trains running in different directions on separate tracks.
Michael is a former sports columnist at the New York Post. He was a criminal defense attorney and worked for sports legends Howard Cosell and Don King. Marley also operates BoxingConfidential.com. Email him your thoughts.
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