Two-time welterweight beltholder Paul Williams is being considered for a bout with WBC junior middleweight titleholder Saul Alvarez in September.
NYSAC suspends Golden Boy for 90 days
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New York requires promoters to submit promotional agreements with the fighters but Golden Boy failed to do so until Monday morning in spite of numerous requests. An employee of Golden Boy also told the NYSAC that the firm did not have such agreements for the May 15 card when in fact it did, which placed the honesty of the employee in question. Attorney Judd Burstein, representing Golden Boy, acknowledged that the company failed to fulfill its obligations in a timely manner but said that any mistakes that were made were honest, not malicious. Burstein said that the trouble started when Golden Boy COO David Itskowitch, who normally would handle such details, went on his honeymoon immediately after the May 15 card and his duties fell to other employees. “No one was minding the store,” he told RingTV.com. “The commission made numerous requests for the documents … and no one really paid attention. The commission appropriately decided that Golden Boy was not responding and issued a suspension. “… I understand the commission was upset. The contracts should’ve been produced. It was an innocent error, though. There was no reason to hide anything.” The commission reportedly has the option of shortening the suspension if it is satisfied with Golden Boy’s actions. Meanwhile, a story written by George Kimball on TheSweetScience.com said that HBO provided a $750,000 licensing fee for the Nate Campbell-Victor Ortiz co-feature on the May 15 card yet Golden Boy paid the fighters $125,000 and $100,000, respectively. “The half-million dollar discrepancy was apparently concealed from both of the boxers, and, had Golden Boy had its way, would have been concealed from the NYSAC as well,” the story said. However, Burstein said that its contract with HBO – including the amount of money is provided – was sent to the NYSAC four days after the card. And Terry Trekas, Campbell’s advisor, said his fighter was paid the amount agreed upon during negotiations. He added that no promoter is obligated to pay fighters a set percentage of the money he might receive, unless stipulated in a contract. In this case, there was no such stipulation. “Golden Boy could’ve gotten $400,000 or $16 million, it doesn’t matter,” Trekas said. “There’s no formula as to how much a fighter should be paid. A lot of times promoters even make fights before they get a hard number [from a network or venue].” Burstein is livid over Kimball’s story. “It’s a lie,” he said. “It’s actionable. There’s no truth to it. If I didn’t think he was broke, I’d have Golden Boy sue him. … In my 28 years of practice that was one of the sloppiest, most-outrageous pieces of purported journalism I’ve seen.” Michael Rosenthal can be reached at RingTVeditor@yahoo.com |