Because Everything Isn't Exclusive, All The Time!

November 10, 2006

EXCLUSIVE:

Golden Boy CEO Discusses
Corrales, Mayweather And More:

Oscar Is Not Retiring After May 5 Fight


By William Trillo


Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, whom we criticized recently for his attempt to sign Diego Corrales -- who may still be under contract to Gary Shaw -- answered an open call by Pound4Pound/Boxing2006 to set the record straight today.

 

In a candid and wide-ranging interview, Schaefer talked not only about the Corrales affair, but also about several other hot-button issues, including the prospects of an Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather fight. In the process, Schaeffer dropped a bombshell: Oscar's May 5 scheduled fight against Floyd or whom ever WILL NOT be a farewell fight as previously thought.

 

“I want to assure you that Oscar will be fighting on May 5, but this will not be Oscar’s last fight, he will be resuming his career in the ring after that date!”

 

Schaefer declined to elaborate, but the revelation from the Golden Boy CEO can only be good news to boxing fans, and of course to HBO, which has chronicled his entire remarkable career on its network.

 

Schaefer's phone call came in response to an article I wrote about the Corrales controversy, posing the question, Why would Schaefer and De La Hoya apparently take the word of Diego Corrales and his manager that he was a free agent without have their lawyers check with Shaw to make sure there is not a legal issue?

 

(FYI: In an interview this week with Michael Swann, Schaeffer said he would have explained the situation to Pound4Pound/Boxing2006 had he been contacted. In an open letter yesterday to Schaefer, we said that we have tried to reach him several times without getting a return call or email.)

 

When we finally hooked up today, Schaefer said Golden Boy did in fact contact Shaw, and made it perfectly clear that it was interested in signing Corrales, but Shaw said nothing about having the fighter still under contract, as he later would claim.

 

When Schaefer read that Shaw was saying publicly he still had a live contract with Corrales, he said he phoned Shaw and asked him to send him a copy of it. According to Schaeffer, he has yet to see a copy.

 

“I don’t understand the problem,” Schaefer said. “If someone contacts Golden Boy and requests to see the contract of one of our fighters, we are happy to accommodate them, and we issue them a copy right away. We have nothing to hide.”

 

Schaefer was particularly upset that Shaw's claim to Corrales, still unsubstantiated by Shaw publicly, led to Golden Boy being criticized by the press -- and perhaps more significantly to him -- by competitors.

“Other promoters are looking at Golden Boy with jealousy or anger because of our success, and that is a shame. We are trying to do our best to work with all the other promoters, be it Lou DiBella, Don King, or Artie Pelullo, but it’s situations like this that make working together difficult,” Schaefer said.
 


Schaefer admitted the blame for some of the criticism was probably due in part to Golden Boy's work-in-progress public relations operation, which he admitted was not yet where the five-year-old company wanted it to be.

 

“We are still a young company and we have things that we need to work on, I realize that,” Schaefer said. “We know our PR is not what it should be, but I assure you, that is something we are working on improving right away! One thing that I pride myself on is always calling the media back when they have legitimate questions for me. This is something that I believe very strongly in, and I do my best to return all correspondence. I admit I am not perfect, but I make every effort I can to be accessible.” 

 

Of the hot button issue about whether Oscar will fight Floyd on May 5, Schaefer reiterated statements he made earlier in the week criticizing the way Mayweather fought and beat Carlos Baldomir -- a performance some writers labeled a "boxing clinic."

 

“Floyd did fight a perfect fight that night but it was not exciting, the people were booing and it wasn’t a good fight to watch.”

 

That is a statement Pound4Pound/Boxing2006 made emphatically in our post-fight coverage in which I personally even gave the fight on my score card to Baldomir because Mayweather backpedaled all night and was not the aggressor.

 

Despite Golden Boy's negative view of Mayweather's performance, Schaefer said that there is still an offer sitting on the table and he has set a deadline for Floyd's people to reply by this Monday night.

 

“This is neither a threat nor a negotiating ploy”, Schaefer said. "We already have two major sponsors and with a fight such as this, they need to know who Oscar's opponent will be so they can start their own marketing campaigns. There is a contract in place right now and Oscar will fight someone on May 5, we just need to get the opponent set, and we need to do that soon.”

 

At this point I told Richard that it would be a shame if Oscar were to fight Floyd on May 5 and have Mayweather run for 12 rounds and ruin Oscar's farewell fight. Schaefer immediately jumped in with his revelation that  “May 5 will not be Oscar’s last fight!”

 

We at Pound4Pound/Boxing2006 thank Schaefer for taking the time out from his schedule to discuss issues with us, and again welcome the prospect of more Oscar fights after May 5 -- and further communication with the Golden Boy CEO.








Stay tuned to Boxing2006.com & Pound4Pound.com as we will bring you any updates on these comments as we get them.
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