Gary Shaw: Roy Jones Jr is a chicken, says Arce blew $1.5M fight with Darchinyan

By G. Leon

18/04/2007

Gary Shaw: Roy Jones Jr is a chicken, says Arce blew $1.5M fight with Darchinyan

After reading BoxingTalk's latest exclusive interview with former pound for pound king Roy Jones Jr, Anthony Hanshaw promoter Gary Shaw had this to say, "Roy must be delusional. Now I know that Lou DiBella never lied and it was all Roy Jones Jr. I got a call from Linda Padgett, I returned the call. She said Roy wants to fight Hanshaw on June 1 or June 2. I said you have a deal. She said it's for the $150,000 you spoke about. I said you have a deal. I said you can pick the gloves, the size of the ring, the venue and we'll be there. Please send me a bout agreement. That was the last we heard from Roy Jones Jr and now we're reading that he wants to fight Calzaghe."

GL: When did you and Linda Padgett have this discussion?

Gary Shaw: "About a week ago. She even emailed me the telephone numbers and I never heard from her again. I never heard from Murad Muhammad, I never heard from Linda and I never heard from Roy. Now I read that he's willing to take 40% to go to England to fight Calzaghe and I'm wondering, is that before he gets starched by Hanshaw or before?

GL: According to Roy, Hanshaw is on the backburner until he sees where the Calzaghe fight goes?

Gary Shaw: "Well he never sent us a bout agreement that's for sure. Roy is a chicken. He never wanted the fight. All he's doing is talking about fighting but he doesn't want to get into the ring and fight."

GL: Does that mean you don't think anything will come of this Calzaghe talk?

GS: "Exactly."

GL: How much longer will Anthony Hanshaw sit on the backburner as Roy's contingency?

GS: "He's not a contingency. Roy said he'd fight him and now he has to prove it to the world. Before Roy blamed DiBella, he blamed Showtime, he blamed me. I spoke with Linda Padgett directly from his office and accepted the fight. He's either going to be a man of his word and fight Anthony Hanshaw on his PPV or he's a flat out liar. That's why the press has no use for him, the fans have no use for him and maybe even the hall of fame won't have use for him. If you say you're going to fight somebody you go through with it and fight."

GL: On a lighter note, what else is shaking?

GS: "Bob Arum is either stupid or he's too rich. How can you have at least $1.5 to fight to 112 or 115 pounders and you turn it down to fight someone who has a great jab, it's either you don't know boxing or you're just too rich. I don't even know if Arce knows how much money was being put on the table for him to fight Vic Darchinyan. Instead he's put under Pacquiao on a small PPV to help the gate. Is that fair to the fighter when he could have had the opportunity to headline a Showtime or HBO show? Did anyone tell him how good Mijares is? Those on the inside surely knew. To me the story isn't about Arce taking a beating 12 rounds to zip, it's the decisions that have been made in his boxing career. Why build someone to that position to where the real money is on the table and you don't want to take it? I know Bob Arum is saying that he couldn't make a deal with Gary Shaw but he is full of shit. He told Kery Davis with me on the phone that he was going to give me a share of the gates and the sponsorships and we'll all be happy. But do you think HBO or Showtime is going to want to pay that kind of money for the fight after he got shut out? It was a fun fight and a good fight and the money was 50-50. It was another fun fight that could have lead to another fight like Vazquez-Marquez. Instead they put him in and gave him a beating. I don't get it."

GL: Glen Johnson wants to make a fight with Chad Dawson. They sent out a press release wondering why Chad is ready to fight everybody else but Glen?

GS: "Glen Johnson needs to wait his turn and he'll be there."

GL: How much longer does he need to wait his turn?

GS: "I'd say by the end of this year or early next that's something we can make. I like the Road Warrior, he's a nice guy and he'll fight anybody."

M

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