Promoter Gary Shaw has denied mistreating IBF flyweight champion Nonito Donaire in any way in connection with last weekend’s world title tripleheader at the Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
“I?m perplexed, I?m disappointed, I don?t know where it?s coming from and there?s nothing that I did to him,” Shaw told Fightnews.com in response to comments made by Donaire in an interview with Dennis Principe, host of the daily morning radio program Sports Chat. “It?s because of me that Showtime did a tripleheader, which they never do, because I believed in Nonito. I hear all kinds of crazy stories and I don?t know who?s filling Nonito?s head. It can?t be me, he couldn’t produce a bill from a cell phone or a home phone that shows that he called me. These aren?t things coming from me, why would I put him down? I got the tripleheader. I could have put anybody there, I could have put James Kirkland on there. I could have put Alfredo Angulo, I mean I had other fighters I could have put on. I could have brought Darchinian back. But I thought it was right for Nonito and his career. I begged Showtime, I told them how important it is, I told them what a big star Nonito is going to be and then the next thing is I get slapped in the face.”
On Donaire’s claim that Shaw was against Donaire’s decision to train in Cebu:
That’s absolutely untrue. I never even knew that he was going there, he didn’t ask me, he didn’t tell me, so that has to be coming from Cameron Dunkin or someone else, but certainly was not me. Never had any discussion about where he trains. I’ve represented a lot of different fighters in my life, there’s not one fighter that will tell you that I told him where to train or where not to train, or ever got involved in their training. I love the Filipino people. I’ve been in the Philippines so why would I care where he trains? I want him to train wherever he’s comfortable, and that he comes back and he feels that he’s the best he can be. As a matter of fact, Darchinian is going over there in February to fight Z Gorrez in Cebu. Why, if I didn’t trust the people there or whatever, why would I let my fighter go over there and fight? So I don’t know what to say as far as that goes.
On Donaire’s claim that he didn’t know the opponent one month out:
On October 6th we notified Cameron Dunkin that we’re going to try to do the Maldonado fight and get it out of the way. But then he [Maldonado] was on suspension in California and therefore we had to wait until he cleared suspension in order to know if the fight would go or not. If the fight would not go with Maldonado, then there was a good chance Showtime was not going to show the fight at all, not do a tripleheader. So, we got Maldonado cleared. We paid for Maldonado to go the northeast to get cleared up this way. We didn’t take any chances. He was cut very badly in his last fight, and on October 20th, he was cleared and was able to fight. So that’s way more than four weeks, originally October 6th and October 20th is when he was cleared.
On Donaire’s claim that one week before the fight, he didn’t know when he was leaving for Connecticut and had no plane tickets:
On November 14th his tickets were purchased. On November 14th, my office notified Cameron Dunkin about his tickets. So his problem is with Cameron Dunkin, not with Gary Shaw. Because we bought them, obviously we have proof of purchase and obviously we have an email that went to Cameron Dunkin and we told Cameron Dunkin when it was, and that wasn’t me, that was my office, John Beninati the matchmaker and Claudia who works for me. He should not have flown through the night. I feel very badly about that. I feel terrible about that and I also had to pay to make the change because he already had tickets. He didn’t get on the flight that he was supposed to because there was a miscommunication between him and his manager.
On Donaire’s claim that he didn’t get five rooms as per his fight contract:
First of all that discussion did not happen with me, it happened with someone on my staff at the site. And there were five rooms, but when we the rooms we always put one away for the manager. I’ve done that with every fight, whether it was with Winky Wright or Shane Mosley or Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis. The manager always got a room. When he told the staff that he wanted the five rooms and that he didn’t want to give one to Cameron Dunkin, we called Cameron Dunkin and we told him that we’re going to give the five rooms to Donaire, which we did, and Cameron said ‘cancel my ticket, I’m not coming.’ And Cameron did not come and Nonito got his five rooms. And it wasn’t that he wasn’t entitled, there were five rooms, not only were there five rooms, he was the only fighter other than Vernon Forrest and Antonio Tarver that stayed in the main hotel. Everybody else, every other fighter, including members of my staff, stayed off site. That’s Maldonado, Piccirillo, Santiago, all of them, he’s the only one that got special treatment like that.
On Donaire’s claim that when he asked Shaw about the rooms, Shaw replied ‘Who do you think you are, Manny Pacquiao?’:
That conversation never happened. But let me tell you a conversation that did happen because I’m honest. When I was in the Philippines, Peter John from Solar TV said that Nonito and his father didn’t think that I was paying enough attention to them, and I compared it with Manny Pacquiao, and I did say that he’s not Manny Pacquiao yet. He’s 112, Manny’s 130. Manny has fought some of the greatest fighters of all time, the top echelon, has carried HBO shows, has been on pay-per-view. That was a point I was trying to make. I wasn’t trying to put Nonito down. I have a great deal of respect. But I think there is a misunderstanding of what the manager’s job is and what the promoter’s job is. And I’m not sure Nonito understands the difference. The one that should be ‘hand-holding’ is always the manager. He’s the one that has the fiduciary responsibility. But I don’t mind doing things.
On Donaire’s claim that his family was at the back while Maldonado’s family was given front row seats:
Not true. His family was in the third row. Mike Criscio, Maldonado’s manager, bought the arena from me. And the people in the front row happened to be Ken Hirschman from Showtime. I didn’t have those tickets. The first row that I had to give out was the third row. Nonito and his family were in that row. They were in the third row and they were in the fourth row. I didn’t have to give them all ringside, but I did. I just gave it to them. His contract calls for four, I believe I may have given him eight.
On selling TV rights to Filipino TV network Solar Sports:
Yes, I got money for the TV rights, but that’s what a promoter does. Just like Bob Arum, Don King and Lou DiBella and others, we sell foreign rights. So, I’m not ashamed and I really haven’t made a dime on Nonito Donaire yet. He hasn’t held a card, he hasn’t held an HBO card, he hasn’t held a Showtime card.
I like Nonito, but I honestly feel that he’s misinformed. He told me that he may not want to be with his Dad anymore. I told him on Friday, don’t make snap decisions, but I’ll certainly talk to you after the fight. After the fight at the press conference, he sat to my left, Tarver sat to my right and Vernon sat next to Nonito Donaire, so I don’t think I treated Nonito shabbily. And after the press conference, it was very late, the only people around was myself, one of my staff members, John Beninati the matchmaker and Nonito and his team, and of course they were cleaning up the press conference, there was some security. At that point, I was concerned about Nonito’s hand, I told him to ice it, I told him I want to get him a specialist and I told him, ‘let’s sit down, we got time now, we’re relaxed, let’s talk’ and he said, ‘No, everything’s great.’
That’s how I left Nonito Donaire, with this statement: ‘Everything’s great.’
