Shaw Says He Has a Lost “Perro”

"I believe ’Perro’ beats Sergio Martinez with all his pressure," continued Shaw. "I’m probably in the minority but that’s what I really believe. Plus, he has a chance to win the middleweight title of the world. HBO was guaranteeing him a reappearance if he lost on HBO. And the WBC was not going to penalize him and he’d still be number one at 154 pounds.

"What a birthday gift, $750,000."

Shaw swears that there was no wiggle room on that figure. He told Maxboxing, "I don’t believe in offering something and then that being  negotiated up because all it means is that I’m screwing fighters out of the money. For instance, why offer $500,000 if I can really pay $750,000? Because if I’m  the fighter’s management, I’ll say, ’Well, if you had 750, why didn’t you just offer it?’ People do business differently. I try not to negotiate; I try to give the fighter as much as I can possibly give him."

After stopping Joel Julio in April, Angulo then received $350,000 for blowing out Joachim Alcine a few weeks ago in Rancho Mirage, California. Despite his loss to Kermit Cintron last year, Shaw had successfully lobbied HBO executives to make Angulo and his fan-friendly style a staple of the network’s boxing franchise. Cintron, much to the frustration and dismay of his promoter, Lou DiBella,  was not afforded the same treatment after beating Angulo in May of 2009.

But the reality is this, when Angulo fought Alcine, he was the opening act on HBO to Tim Bradley in a 1,800-seat theater at the Agua Caliente Casino. A show that was listed as a sell-out only because Shaw bought the remaining tickets himself. Perhaps Angulo has become another modern-day prizefighter who has a very inflated- and perhaps distorted- view of his true market value. There was a time when a boxer’s worth was based on how well he did at the gate. Nowadays, the value of a fighter is basically gauged by just how much a network is willing to dole out in the form of a license fee. Oftentimes, this number is just an arbitrary figure.

"Boxing’s an upside-down sport," admitted Shaw, of the new pay structure. "I would love to do a deal with a fighter where he packs the arena and whatever he sells- I double. So if he sells $200,000 worth of tickets, I double it and give him another $400,000. But there aren’t a lot of ticket sellers out there today, so the fighters should be very happy with what they’re getting and the amount of appearances on either HBO or Showtime. But right now, it looks like we’re upside-down."

So the question is this, did Shaw almost do too good of a job in moving and maneuvering his fighter into big paydays and convincing HBO to continually showcase Angulo?

"That sounds braggadocios and I appreciate it but, yeah, with the fighters, you start paying them amounts of money that maybe they shouldn’t get and then all the writers start believing what the promoters say and the next thing is, we have trouble with money," said Shaw, who says he’s on the same page with Angulo’s manager, Mike Criscio.

In the past, HBO has caved in and placated to the demands of unhappy fighters (in essence, by bidding against themselves and chasing fights). They have aided this culture that currently exists.

"But I can tell you this, that HBO in the past has created some monsters and I think they are about to slay the monsters," says Shaw. "Their budgets are being cut; they’re going to pay less and fighters and promoters and managers are going to have to get used to taking less."

Angulo-Martinez was part of a plan that would have seen Paul Williams face Sergiy Dzinziruk and then have the two winners meet down the line. "Actually he helped create the remaking of Martinez and Williams II because, at a million dollars, I guess there was not a great savings to fight ’Perro.’ So they thought maybe they should fight each other and get it over with," Shaw added.

So is Shaw now in the doghouse with his boxer?

"As soon as my ’Perro’ comes back, hopefully I’ll speak to him," said Shaw, chuckling. "Look, being serious, I don’t know why he should be angry with me. I really thought I delivered a great 28^th birthday present to him. But, obviously, ’Perro’s’, ’Perro’; when he’s ready to talk, he’ll call me. But maybe right now, he’s celebrating his birthday and doesn’t have time to call me.

"I’m kinda disappointed because I was really calling him to say Happy Birthday. Maybe he’s angry at himself, I don’t know."

LOST AND FOUND FLURRIES

One rumor floating around is that newly-crowned IBF junior middleweight titlist Cornelius “K9” Bundrage will defend his crown in Detroit versus Ronald Hearns. Say what you will but I think that fight would do well in Motown...The long-awaited return of Guillermo Rigondeaux will take place as the opening bout on “Top Rank Live” on August 21^st against Jose Beranza in Tijuana on Fox Sports Net/Espanol...Speaking of the rematch between Williams and Martinez, I’m hearing that there is a chance that it may happen on a later date than October 2^nd...Welcome back Shannon Brown. I really like this current Lakers team. Meanwhile, if you’re Trevor Ariza, what is keeping you from going all Latrell Sprewell on your agent?...This week’s edition of “The Main Event” features promoter Dan Goossen and Kevin Cunningham...I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.