Shaw out-bids Golden Boy for Russell-Franco IBF eliminator

Gary Shaw's winning purse bid of $220,000 trumped Golden Boy's of $186,000 for the right to promote an IBF featherweight eliminator clash between Gary Russell Jr., of Captiol Heights, Md., and former Cuban Olympian Luis Franco, of Miami, Shaw announced on Thursday.

The winner between Russell (19-0, 11 knockouts) and Franco (11-0, 7 KOs) would be in line to face titleholder Billy Dib (34-1, 21 KOs), of Australia, said Shaw, who promotes Franco.

Golden Boy, which handles Russell, had targeted a Showtime-televised date of June 30 with the venue being the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, Calif.

Shaw, said, however, that he is aiming for "either August or September, most likely," adding "I will be offering the fight to both Showtime and HBO." As for a venue, Shaw said, "I have some ideas, but I'm just not ready to go public with them yet."

"I think that I shocked everybody. I think that everybody thought that Golden Boy had the fight, and that Golden Boy was going to win the purse bid, and that everything was a done deal," said Shaw.

"I believe that I have a very, very good fighter, and I believe that I have an obligation to protect him, and to do the best job that I can promoting the fighter. So this is a very, very good fight. Louie Franco was one of the only guys to beat Yuriorkis Gamboa in the amateurs, so there is a great story here."

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com