SAW IT COMING A MILE AWAY

By Michael Swann

There is no doubt in my mind that flyweight titleholder Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire and junior middleweight contender James “Mandingo” Kirkland are both destined to become very successful stars on the boxing horizon for years to come. However, barring a legal reversal, they’ll be doing it without Gary Shaw as their promoter. The two fighters have recently fired Shaw for breach of contract and for failure to provide revenue statements as provided by the Muhammad Ali Act.

In essence the fighters are said to be unhappy that Shaw has not kept them busier as contractually agreed. I don’t believe for a moment that that is the bottom line reason of his termination, and I assure you that they will soon find promotional representation.

Donaire is an exciting young Filipino fighter with a smile that could light up a room. Shaw was having difficulty finding big fights for Vic Darchinyan, who was thought to be unbeatable and ducked by every major flyweight. He showed faith in Donaire, who was in the Shaw stable, and sold his name to Showtime to face Darchinyan.

Then, in one of the big upsets of 2007, Donaire knocked out Darchinyan, and shocked the world.

Donaire went on to meet the president of the Philippines and had a parade in his honor. He celebrated so well that his weight ballooned to 140.

He became a bit of a prima donna. Shaw made a comment that Nonito wasn’t quite yet at the level of Manny Pacquiao, and Donaire took offense. For his December match with Luis Maldonado he was given five rooms at the hotel per his contract, but was miffed when he found out that one of them was for his manager, Cameron Dunkin. To satisfy Nonito, Dunkin gave up his room and didn’t come to the fight.

After the fight, Nonito said that Gary Shaw, “got me this fight and made me who I am today.”

Dunkin said that the issues with Shaw and Donaire reached a boiling point when he was considered for an August 2 Showtime card with Darchinyan in the main event challenging Dimitry Kirilov for a junior bantamweight belt. Donaire didn’t want to be on the undercard of the man he had conquered.

Further, Donaire was to fight Hussein Hussein in Dubai in April for a Filipino promoter but it was postponed and eventually cancelled. Shaw says that the August 2 card is promoted by Cedric Kushner and he was just trying to get Nonito a spot on the card.

Part of the problem with Donaire, as it was with Darchinyan, is that it’s hard to sell flyweights on TV. To keep Donaire as busy as he might have liked might have required offering him non TV dates, which of course he would reject. TV dates are as scarce as hen’s teeth to begin with, and even more so for 112 pounders.

Considering all of the facts, I’m not sure I can accept Donaire’s departure from GSP at face value. Whether it’s a case of ego run amok or perhaps, an opportunity to swing a better deal remains to be seen.

As for Kirkland, I’ve interviewed him a couple of times so I feel as if I know him just a bit. I do know him well enough to know that he was very upset about being in the opening fight of Shaw’s recent card on HBO, featuring prospects. I know that he was going to use the moment of his post fight interview to share his feelings about the matter with the viewing public, and lambaste Shaw in the process.

I spent a few minutes trying to talk him out of the idea, thinking it would spoil his HBO debut and alienate millions of potential fans and future ticket buyers. I was pleased when he handled himself so well in his moment of glory.

But at the same time, I see his point. As the opening fight on the card, it’s safe to say that Kirkland was compensated accordingly, and he received a relatively paltry $50,000 for his appearance.

Given the healthy Boxing After Dark budget, you have to believe that Yuriorkis Gamboa, who fought the main event with all of nine fights under his belt, received a big chunk of that fee. Even worse, fellow 154 pounder Alfredo Angulo, who fought in the second fight, quite likely made considerably more than Kirkland, despite having only 12 fights when he entered the ring that night.

Granted Gamboa is a 2004 Gold Medalist, but Kirkland too made somewhat of a name for himself with his thrilling performances on Showtime’s ShoBox series, at least enough to warrant a main event possibility and the purse that would come with it.

Given his record, 22-0 (19), and his sensational first round knockout, Kirkland is on his way to bigger things. Reportedly he was being talked about for an HBO appearance on October 4. But to Kirkland, the slight was not just financial -- it was an insult, an affront to his intelligence.

“They think I’m not very intelligent because I come from a bad environment,” he said. “Don’t think I’ll do anything just because I’m hungry for the money.”

On the other hand, boxing can be so brutally fickle. Before he scored the first round knockout on HBO that really put him on the map, a Kirkland insider called his chances of winning “50-50.” When Kirkland signed with Shaw a couple of years ago, he was a hard hitting felon who no one saw value in except for Shaw.

Fast forward to the present and as a potential heavy punching star, Kirkland will be in great demand by all.

Shaw has managed to reload in the past when adversity struck. He is one promoter who constantly develops new talent, and he’s made good choices overall in signing veterans.

He’s a big believer of having “good karma” and he’ll land on his feet again. Over and over he falls in love with his fighters and gets a reality check, but he comes back for more.

But truthfully he is still better off than most promoters. He seems to have a “most favored nations” relationship with Showtime, and with his increasing success with EliteXC in MMA, he’ll stay ahead of the curve.

But Shaw’s biggest problem is that he is not as big as Golden Boy or Top Rank, the game’s premier promotional companies today, and the places where the fighters, and their managers, really want to go.