"I never left Golden Boy. I didn't say, 'You know what? I'm leaving Golden Boy. I don't want to deal with you guys no more.' I never said that. All the things that are going on right now, all the things that are happening, I feel bad. I feel like, damn, I was dealing with these people? This is who I was working with? It's like everybody came out of the closet and started showing their hand," stated three-division world champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley, who reiterated the fact that it was Golden Boy Promotions who turned their back on him, not the other way around. According to Mosley, despite the fact that he reached out to promoter Bob Arum on his own to secure a bout with Manny Pacquiao, he never planned on giving up his position as a partner with the promotional company.
"It's crazy to me. I told Judd, I said, 'Listen Judd, I'm about to go and talk to Bob myself because you guys can't do it. I'm about to go talk to him myself.' And then, we started talking to him, so they start bugging out. I even told people, 'I'm not signing with Top Rank. I'm just trying to make the fight for myself. I'm trying to make it happen.' And, you know, they didn't like that too much. They're just upset," Mosley explained as he recalled the events leading up to his rift with his former company. Given the pending lawsuit between the two biggest promotional companies in the sport, Mosley had little choice but to act on his own. His attorney at the time, Judd Burstein, was representing Golden Boy Promotions in the pending litigation, making it virtually impossible for him to negotiate with Top Rank on Mosley's behalf without raising concerns about a conflict of interests. It's that notion that prompted Mosley to bring in James Prince to act as his adviser in negotiating matters, a move that seemed to bring the ire of Golden Boy Promotions.
"They're mad at me just because they want to get a piece of what I'm making. If they would have came to me civilized and tried to talk to me, things could have been better. They could have said, 'Let's sit down, have dinner, and talk about this. You got the fight, now are we going to negotiate a percentage of what we're going to get out of that fight with Pacquiao?' It was none of that," Mosley continued as he tried to make sense of what prompted Golden Boy Promotions to react so harshly. "It was just, 'Oh, you left. Here's $1000 for you.' It wasn't like, 'Okay. Let's talk about this and see what we can work out. You got the fight, everything is good, what percentage do you think is fair for us to get for this fight?' None of that. They just discarded me, wanted Marquez to get the fight and that's that. They just showed their hand and it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth."
Regardless of his split with Golden Boy Promotions, it looks like Mosley made the best move for his career. Late last night, the future Hall of Famer revealed that he had agreed to terms with promoter Bob Arum for a May 7 clash with Manny Pacquiao. "J. Prince and Arum came to an agreement on the money minutes ago. Bob is drawing up the contracts and I'll sign either Wednesday or Thursday," he explained. It appears Shane Mosley is doing just fine without the help of Golden Boy Promotions. It makes you wonder how many other fighters are hoping to be "discarded" by the company. If Mosley has any plans to start his own promotional company, I would advise Winky Wright to give him a call.
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