"If Don, Gary, and HBO come correct, Tim Bradley gets his ass whooped," commented Kevin Cunningham, trainer and manager of WBC & IBF jr. welterweight champion Devon Alexander, who reached out to FightHype.com moments ago to inform us that a potential unification bout with WBO jr. welterweight champion Timothy Bradley won't come cheap. Surprisingly, the comments from Cunningham echo the sentiments of Bradley, who also has remained steadfast in his belief that the money must "be right" in order to see the two best fighters in the division face off. Now, what exactly "come correct" and "be right" translates to in terms of dollar signs remains to be seen, but despite reports that both promoters agreed to a 50/50 split, it's clear that not all parties involved, namely Team Alexander, are happy about whatever they are currently being offered.
"Alexander's ready to give Bradley a beatdown in the Big Easy if the deal is fair," Cunningham reiterated. The Big Easy? It sounds like they've at least narrowed it down to New Orleans as far as the location is concerned for the proposed January 29 bout. The question is will both fighters step into the ring if they don't feel they're getting the amount of money that they believe the fight is worth? More importantly, exactly who is it that's not coming correct? Don King, Gary Shaw, HBO or all of the above? Surely it couldn't be Don King, could it? Not after racing down the highway like Clint Eastwood with a fistful of dollars, or should I say two duffel bags full of $1 million in cash, to pay a bond to prevent Ricardo Mayorga from making his MMA debut back in May. No, it couldn't be Don King, especially after seeing him splurge on that giant lobster, wining and dining Floyd Mayweather as Devon Alexander prepared to defend his titles a couple of weeks ago. No....no way it's Don King.
Although it was previously reported that the promoters and HBO agreed to split the pot 50/50, Gary Shaw would not get into any details regarding the actual numbers. "The fight is absolutely, 100 percent a 50-50 split. I don't discuss money, and I won't discuss any of the other terms except to say that it's a 50-50 split. Both sides are equal partners," he would tell Lem Satterfield of AOL Fanhouse. Whatever that actual number is, it sounds like Cunningham is not pleased with their cut of that 50%, a portion of which of course is kept by promoters.
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