DONAIRE UPSET WITH PROMOTER GARY SHAW
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 05 Dec 2007
IBF/IBO flyweight champion Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire is upset over the manner in which he is being treated by promoter Gary Shaw.
In a wide-ranging interview on the ?Sports Chat? program of young boxing analyst and writer Dennis Principe over dzSR Sports Radio, Donaire told us that he had only one month to train for the title defense against Luis Maldonado because he was ?stood up by Gary Shaw? even disappointedly revealing that Shaw had Maldonado?s family ?sitting together in the front row while my family was at the back, way behind them.?
He also criticized Shaw for other failures saying ?they never gave me money for my expenses and I had to borrow some money to help me go to the Philippines in order for me to lose that weight.? Donaire who is tall for a flyweight had ballooned to around 140 pounds after the sensational fifth round knockout of previously undefeated Australian Vic Darchinyan to win the title last July 7, especially after a post-fight visit to the Philippines courtesy of the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN.
Shaw had previously acted as promoter for Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao for two fights including his second bout with Erik ?El Terrible? Morales but his contract was not renewed by Pacquiao because Shaw did nothing and Top Rank's Bob Arum handled all the promotions, superbly. After his two-fight promotional contract lapsed Pacquiao, let Shaw go and the promoter assailed Pacquiao for his alleged disloyalty.
Elaborating on his troubles with Shaw, Donaire claimed the promoter was ?paid a lot of money for the TV rights (acquired by Solar Sports) but I didn?t get a cent from it. It's like he is up against me for some reason. He tends to be a nice person when he is in front of me but we were bullied the whole time we we're there.?
The world champion said he knew he was flying to Connecticut on the Monday night before the fight only that morning and ?we had to rush everything." In stark contrast, Maldonado?s plane tickets were already scheduled two weeks before everything but I didn?t even know when I was flying out or know anything really.?
Pointing out that he was supposed to get five rooms which was in the contract, ?he ended up giving it to my manager (Cameron Duncan) who had his own room. It wasn?t supposed to be taken from my contract and when I asked for it he said ?who do you think you are, Manny Pacquiao? We had some issues with him although I never did anything to hurt his feelings.?
He said Shaw had objected to his training in the Philippines which Donaire said ?was my choice.? He suggested that ?maybe me and my dad (Nonito Sr who is also his trainer) are too nice sometimes and we tend to let people walk over us but sometimes we?ve got to realize that we have our rights.?
The 25 year old who is being groomed as a worthy successor to Pacquiao confessed that ?each fighter is getting harder than the last and in this fight (against Maldonado) I had a lot to lose. I need to take each fight seriously. They can't just give me one month?s notice for each fight. It doesn?t work like that for me anymore. I got to lose weight, I got to train hard and each fight is harder for me. If they keep on doing that I am not going to participate in any fight unless I?m ready.?
Donaire conceded that there was probably some ?miscommunication? but said he feels that Shaw "is against us and we will have to sit down with them and put the team together in order for us to really work things out. He wants what he wants but sometimes for me, I gotta do what I gotta do. I don?t pick who I fight, I let people that work with me do that. All I know is I am a fighter and I have to do what I have to do. I?ve got to train, thats all that I have in my head. And I came to the Philippines because I needed that training and he was up against that. It wasn?t my fault. ?
He said Shaw thought he would do what Pacquiao did by signing up with different promoters and ?maybe he was afraid of me doing that but I am really not that type of person. I don?t know what goes on with their camp but for me I was not there to sign anything. We were there to train and that was the best thing that we decided to do.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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