Corrales up to 147 looking for Gatti fight!

GL: Can you give us some thoughts on Chad Dawson's title winning effort over Tomasz Adamek the other night? "Surely. It was a great win for young Chad Dawson. He fought a very tough Adamek who was never out of the fight and he proved it in the tenth round. I don't think you've seen nearly the best of Chad Dawson. He's only been with Mayweather a short time, he's young and I think you'll see great improvements in him. But we're ready to step up and take on the best in the division right now."

GL: How worried were you when Dawson got dropped after winning the first nine rounds?

Gary Shaw: "Candidly, of course I was worried. I'm a promoter and I knew what type of fighter Adamek is so I know he was never out of the fight. It was a great learning experience for Chad Dawson. He now knows that until that bell rings to end the twelfth round any opponent he's in there with is live. You haven't seen the best of him. When he learns to throw those combinations more frequently I don't think there's anyone who could stop him. There's nobody that has his speed at light heavyweight. He might be, other than Roy Jones Jr when Roy was in his prime, the fastest light heavyweight ever."

GL: You mention Roy Jones Jr. There's been happening on Boxingtalk relating to Roy lately. His potential fight with Hopkins basically started on Boxingtalk and finished here last week. Now that Hopkins-Jones II is off the table and Dawson is a champion, how do you feel about Dawson-Jones?

GS: "Absolutely. If Roy Jones wants to fight we can have June date on Showtime if we get him to step up. We can have enough money to make the fight happen. I invite him Tarver or any other top light heavyweight out there to get in the ring with Chad."

GL: I've been hearing that Roy has been reaching out to Clinton Woods, so you're saying if he wants to fight for the title he doesn't have to go to England, he can fight Dawson here in the States?

GS: "He could do it right here in America, so if fighting for the WBC title is something that interests Roy, believe me it's very intersting to Chad. It would be a big fight and Roy would know if he's back or not. If he wants to do it in Florida, I'll put the fight in Florida. If Jeff Lacy and Dan Birmingham want to come up to 175 we'll do that fight. If Buddy McGirt and Tarver want to fight, we'll do that fight. Winky, Hopkins, Tarver and Roy Jones Jr all have an open invite."

GL: Can you give us some thoughts about this Saturday's Shamrock-Gracie fight and the undercard bouts as well?

GS: "I'm really excited. Showtime made a substantial investment into ELITEXC so our partnership was strengthened not only by a three year contract, but now that they've become financial partners with us, we have a great show. It will be in the cage, the cage will be round. Shamrock and Gracie are legends. We've also got the best looking girl in MMA, Gina Curano, who can also fight besides being great looking. Krazy Horse, who is as nutty as a fruitcake will fight KJ Noons and how about Silva? He's over 300 lbs and his hands are the size of my feet. The undercard will be shown live on the internet and if they go to proelite.com they can watch the entire show and then tune right in to Showtime."

GL: What else is shaking Gary?

GS: "We've got Rafael Marquez, the best bantamweight in the world moving up to face Israel Vazquez, the best 122 pounder in the world. That's going to be happening at the Home Depot Center and of course Darchinyan-Burgos is the undercard fight on that card. Vazquez-Marquez is a potential fight of the year, but I have confidence in Rafael and I'd put him in with anybody in the world. James Kirkland and Timothy Bradley both got good wins on Shobox and I expect both of them to be on everyone's prospect of the year lists because they're that good. Diego will be returning at 147 and we would love to fight Arturo Gatti this summer. If Gatti still feels that he's a force at 147 let him fight Diego Corrales. He's stepping up and he's never fought at that weight. It would be a great challenge and I would love to work hand in hand with Main Events."

GL: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

GS: "It has been a great weekend. Kirkland and Bradley got great wins and Chad Dawson got the biggest win of his life. And remember he's only 24 years old, he could be the future of boxing. If they think Jermain Taylor is the future of boxing, let him keep eating and bring him up to 168 and we'd glady do a catch weight.

M

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