Allow me to introduce you to someone. You don't know him, but then again you don't know much about many of the fighters he's supposed to be working for either. His name is Donald Tremblay. Put simply, he's the most unprofessional PR guy in boxing and he works for Main Events. Several calls to Carl Moretti have not been returned and Boxingtalk believes it is important for the real brains (Duva and Moretti) at Main Events to understand how their Director of Public Relations deals with the media, turning credential requests into calculus. The following are a series of emails, between yours truly and Tremblay. I believe our readers are intelligent enough to draw their own conlcusions, so I eagerly await your feedback.
G. Leon: Hi Donald, Boxingtalk.com would like to request the following credentials.
1. Ben Thompson
Just one credential gentleman I am optimisitic things will run smoother for us on this card than they did for Gatti-Mayweather.
Thanks, -Greg Leon Boxingtalk President
Tremblay: "Don't assume anything."
G. Leon: I don't, I just expect professionalism..which I must say wasn't at a premium on June 25. As long as you don't have Keenan taking the requests things should work out fine though. GL
Tremblay: That wasn't Keenan's fault. You were not supposed to receive a credential, which is why Keenan was disorganized.No matter. Should your guy receive a credential for Aug 20 he will be treated the same as everyone else. Credential decisions will be made on aug 9.
Donald (Main Events attorney Patrick English was copied on this email)
G. Leon: I wasn't supposed to receive a credential? Can you please clarify that for me? Whose decision was that? My understanding based on discussions through Patrick English was that Boxingtalk was going to be treated as everyone else, and well, we all know how that went. Now you're telling me I wasn't supposed to receive one. Since you obviously are looking to engage me, please explain.
I must say Donald, it's a shame you act so unprofessionally because I've gone out of my way to try and bury the ax with you over a dispute regarding Nate Campbell from three years ago.
How you feel about me should have no bearing on Boxingtalk or myself receiving credentials to Main Events promotions. If you can't see that, Main Events should seek to hire someone who understands that PR stands for Public Relations, not personal reasons. Acting like a child makes it difficult for me to learn how to respect you.
Patrick I must say this guy is the weakest leak of Main Events chain and perhaps you should get rid of him before it's too late. If I weren't a PROFESSIONAL (look that one up Donald) this sort of thing could get personal and have a detrimental effect on the coverage Main Events receives on Boxingtalk.
I took the mishandling of our credentials at Gatti-Mayweather as an honest mistake, but after Donald's e-mail, it's difficult for me to think our credentials were not intentionally pulled over some bs.Looking forward to some clarification...Greg Leon Boxingtalk President (Patrick English and Scott Shaffer were copied on this e-mail)
Tremblay: With the exception of the contributions of a few writers, you run your site like the web version of The Jerry Springer Show. Case in point: Your profanity-laced "Judah explodes on Mayweather" piece. This sport is difficult enough to promote without people like you dragging it down to a schoolyard level. Why give credibility to someone who consistently writes things that belong solely in a chat room and would never be approved by an editor? Do you think you could write the same things on a site about the NFL or MLB and be taken seriously as a journalist by those organizations? Main Events does not want to be a party to that. We believe that validating that kind of journalism only creates problems and does nothing for the fighters or the sport. You think I'm unprofessional? That's fine. Everyone's entitled to their opinion . . . Nevertheless, as I said, your writer in Chicago will be treated as fairly as everyone else. Donald (Patrick English was copied on this e-mail)
G. Leon: Thanks for more childish remarks and not addressing any of my questions, surely you know I expected nothing less. Allow me to retort. Perhaps it's PR guys who have no clue what they're doing like yourself that drag this sport down. Superb job of getting BJ Flores, Malik Scott, Giovanni Lorenzo, Henry Crawford, Raul Martinez, Anthony Hanshaw, Joel Julio, Archak Termelikstian's names out there. I didn't even know Main Events had some of them until I looked on your website. Forget Jerry Springer, a college radio show would be an improvement on the exposure you've given these kids!
Remember Jerry Springer's opinion helped Nate Campbell earn $25,000 more than he was first offered. That couldn't have been bad for boxing, just Main Events.
Do you think a PR guy as incompetent as yourself would last in the NFL, MLB, NBA etc?
One thing's for sure at 27 years old yours truly aka Jerry Springer makes a helluva lot more money than you do by giving fighters WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY more exposure than you do.
I guess I wouldn't like me much either if I were you...but at the end of the day these are your words
"Nevertheless, as I said, your writer in Chicago will be treated as fairly as everyone else."-your words.
I truly hope that's the case because that certainly would be an extraordinary improvement on the way Scott Shaffer, Jose Aguirre and myself were treated on June 25.
At least now I know for sure there's no way we're can hear Ed Keenan tell us our credential request wasn't sent in. (Patrick English and Scott Shaffer were copied on this e-mail)
GL
Final Editors Note: Boxingtalk.com has just given Donald Tremblay more publicity than he's given the aforementioned fighters.
Final Memo To Donald: Who had to be protected by security guards ringside at the Mayweather-Gatti fight after disrespecting an official? Surely it wasn't anyone from Boxingtalk involved in that Jerry Springer type incident...Right Donald?
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Send questions and comments to: gleon@Boxingtalk.net
