“I have never made one penny off of him”
RC: Gary, can you tell what you thoughts are Rico stating here on Boxingtalk.com that he feels he is fighting for pennies and feels as if he is slave in a Master-Slave relationship?GS: Well I am sorry he used the word slave; I don’t think there is any fighter that I have represented that believes he is a slave. The only thing I can say is that when I joined Fight Night in the promotional contract of Rico Hoye, we got him to where he is in the mandatory position for the world title, and if he is not appreciative of that then there is nothing I can do. When I found him, the first fight we had him on ShoBox he went down on the ground against Prince Badi (Ajamu), and from that point on, I got him his trainer Danny Smith, he didn’t know Danny Smith from a hole in the wall. So how he can say he is a slave or unhappy? I got him the trainer that has brought him this way, and we got him to the mandatory number one position in the IBF, so I think we have done a hell of a job for the young man.
The purses are what they are, you can’t make up numbers. They are what they are, and right now if you went to HBO they’d have no interest in buying Rico Hoye. Our business is dictated by ShowTime, HBO and what they will pay for a fight, and he hasn’t had that opportunity, and if he will be patient he will have that opportunity. I mean that is all I can say at this point, we had some deadlines and some we can meet and some we can’t meet, but he is knocking at the door. And if he will be patient, then he’ll make the money. But look at his competition, there is a lot of people that said he lost the last fight to Montell Griffin. Everybody says the fight was stolen.
RC: How did you feel about the fight?GS: I feel that we had the fight in Michigan, we had the advantage versus being somewhere else, and Rico has unfortunately maybe a short memory of his last fight. I got him the opponent (Richard Hall) with Don King, I didn’t sign our rights away, he had a great win against one of Don King’s fighters on a Don King card and we didn’t give any options up on him. I am disturbed to hear that Rico is upset; Rico certainly could call me if he was upset.
RC: He mentioned in the interview that on numerous occasion he has tried to reach you, and he pretty much doesn’t hear from you until it is fight time a couple of days before the fight when he arrives at the Hotel where you Pat him on the back and say “Good Boy, Good Boy” then he said after the fight he doesn’t hear from you until it is time to fight again when you call them up and say “This is the fight, this is how much it is for, and you either take it or you leave it”.GS: Well here is the thing; I leave that up to Bill Kozerski because Bill had Rico before I came along. What Rico may be forgetting to tell you is that he had management problems then he brought in a whole new team. He never called me to discuss it, or to tell me what he was thinking about, and the next thing I knew is he had a whole new team around him. So I don’t call him that is true because I leave that to Bill Kozerski who I am partners with, and I have a lot of respect for Bill Kozerski.
RC: You acknowledge the fact that he probably isn’t making the type of money he wants to, but does him making the comment at least if you are going to use Vaseline if you are going to screw him, bother you in anyway being that you feel you...GS: (Cutting in) It bothers me tremendously, I have never made one penny off of him. Not one penny, not a dollar, not a penny. I have paid all of the purses, I haven’t cashed in yet. I don’t cash in until we take him to a world title, so I mean that is pretty harsh talk for somebody that I have done nothing but good for, maybe he ought to look at the rankings and look where he is and figure out how he got there.
RC: Rico made it clear that when he inquired about finding out the entire break down the finances and proof of what is being presented, you guys pretty much say “take it, or leave it” what was that about? GS: Well take it or leave it, I mean it is always take it or leave it. The fighter has the opportunity to fight for the purse or not fight for the purse. If you are fighting on ShoBox its limited money or ESPN with a $15,000 rights fee, it’s very limited money. It is not ShowTime, or HBO, or PPV, I mean he is just getting to those places. We talked recently about a $100,000 purse; I don’t think that is slave money.
RC: $100,000? Was that for the Glen Johnson fight?GS: Yeah, exactly, I don’t think that is slave money, and now we are going to be in a purse bid, unless we can make a deal with Clinton Woods. But you know I can tell you this, HBO and ShowTime aren’t banging down the door for Rico Hoye, so I think a dose of reality is in order here. I don’t know how much Glencoffe Johnson made in previous fights, but he took his time, he got there, the promoter gave him the opportunity, he took advantage of the opportunity, and now he is in for a big payday.
Winky Wright toiled for little money for a long time, then he got the opportunity and he took advantage of it. How many fights has Rico Hoye had? So what is he talking about, look at where I got him, I am the one who got him on ShowTime, prior to that nobody knew Rico Hoye existed.
RC: I asked if he felt it was a similar situation that Ishe Smith, and he said that once he gets home after paying his team and paying his bills he is broke all over again, and that the only difference between he and Smith is that he can’t afford to pay a lawyer to file for bankruptcy, does that concern you in anyway?GS: No, if he wants to go Bankrupt that is his business, that to me is….nobody respects Ishe for going bankrupt, everybody tells me that I did a spectacular job with Ishe Smith, I got him four or five belts in a year, got him up in the rankings and I think anybody that would look at what I did with Rico Hoye would say that Gary Shaw did a hell of a job as a promoter in the short time that I got him to the number one mandatory position in the IBF.
RC: So you feel that no matter what he says you feel that by looking in the rankings you can walk with your head held…GS: Ray, the proof is in what I did, I took him, he was an unranked fighter and in one year he is in the number one mandatory position in the IBF, and he has been on ShoBox I don’t know how many times, I think I did a hell of a job for him as a promoter.
RC: By the way you feel and what you feel you have done for him does him feeling that way bother you in…GS: (Cutting) that he is unappreciative? Absolutely is bothers me, because I care about the fighters that I represent, and I didn’t know anything about this until you contacted me.
RC: With him expressing himself out in the open, will this hinder your relationship with him or getting him fights in the future?GS: No, I have a contract and I will fulfill my contract.
RC: Is there anything else you would like to say in closing Gary?GS: If Rico doesn’t want to be with me, he can get another promoter to come and buy me out. Is this is what he is saying; I would have had a lot more respect had he called me and had a discussion with me about his unhappiness. I knew nothing of all of this, there was no correspondence, he hasn’t told Bill Kozerski, Bill and I have been working or a strategy….
RC: (Cutting) he made it clear that both he and his representatives have tried to contact both you and Kozerski don’t return his calls.GS: That is an absolute lie, that’s an absolute lie. Tell him to show you a phone bill with a call to my office, tell him I will pay all of his phone bills for a year, and all his phone bills for a year. Let him submit his phone bills to you, to show calls to me at my office or on my mobile phone, from either him or his representatives. That’s a lie! Too many fighters call me all of the time, too many managers call me all the time, too many other promoters reach me, and you reached me. I may not be available for an interview but they reach me, Greg Leon reaches me, it’s not 11:30 at night and I am answering my cell phone. Don’t tell me I am not reachable.
Once again, I am sorry Rico feel that way he does.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE OF THIS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Send questions and comments to: rayocampbelljr@hotmail.com