Shaw Wants Tarver-Lacy Showdown

By Robert Morales

Gary Shaw, during a telephone conversation Tuesday, said that he grew up on some rough streets in Jersey City, N.J. It's one of the reasons he treasures his accomplishments as one of boxing's upper echelon promoters.

"I'm a street guy,'' Shaw said. "I appreciate everything I have today. When I drive up to my house today, I can't believe it is my house.''

Shaw has a special love for the sport that has made him a few bucks. But he's not happy just because of the money. In talking with Shaw, one gets a sense that he is a true fan of the game. And there are many fans today who, like Shaw, believe the sport needs to do everything it can to keep many of them from walking away.

Bottom line is, boxing is a maligned sport. If it is going to survive, one sure fire way to help make that happen is for promoters to make the best fights. Shaw has done a good job in this regard. He has Winky Wright, Jeff Lacy, Manny Pacquiao and Diego Corrales in his stable.

None of them have ever ducked anyone.

Thus, Shaw said, it's time to make a fight between Lacy and Antonio Tarver. Lacy, the International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion and a very hot commodity, would move up to fight Tarver, the people's light heavyweight champion and another fighter with a wealth of talent and popularity.
  
Lacy is from St. Pertersburg, Fla. Tarver is from Tampa, Fla. If the fight is made, it would almost certainly be held at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. It would sell out, and the pay-per-view numbers wouldn't be shabby. It's a natural, and it is absolutely being worked on.
  
As of Tuesday, Shaw and Joe DeGuardia, Tarver's promoter, are about $1 million apart on Lacy's purse.

"We are very serious about it,'' Shaw said of pursuing this fight. "We talked to Joe DeGuardia today. He offered us $1 million. You can't make an offer like that and expect to make a deal.''
  
This fight will not happen if that is the best DeGuardia can do. But DeGuardia said Tuesday he is hopeful further negotiations can lead to a deal.
  
"He wants $2 million,'' DeGuardia said via telephone from New York City. "If it is a fight that can be made, we'll make it. Jeff Lacy, I believe, would be making more than he has ever made if he fights for $1 million.
  
"I don't think it was unreasonable to make that offer to him. I have seen deals made when things were further apart. I believe if he (Shaw) really wants to make the fight happen, it will happen.''
  
Shaw never discusses  the salaries of his fighters with the media, so it's difficult to know if $1 million would be Lacy's largest payday. However, it is understandable that Shaw would want more than that.
  
With all the intangibles involved, this seems to be a sure money-maker. The live gate would be large, and revenue from pay-per-view would add to the pot.
  
And as far as Shaw is concerned, he's not even sure that Tarver would automically bring in the most money. Lacy, with every impressive victory, is rapidly becoming more world renown. He is coming off a second-round knockout of Scott Pemberton last Saturday in an IBF title defense at Caesars Tahoe in Stateline, Nev.
  
Lacy, his trainer Dan Birmingham, and Shaw afterward began to call out Tarver.
  
"Antonio Tarver has 27 fights and he has lost three of them, one of them to Eric Harding,'' Shaw said. "Jeff has no losses and he has as many knockouts as Tarver. I believe Jeff Lacy knocks out Antonio Tarver in the ninth round.
  
"It's an easy fight for Jeff.''
  
Tarver, 36, will be 37 on Nov. 21. He is 24-3 with 18 knockouts. Lacy, 28, is 21-0 with 17 knockouts.
  
Shaw went so far as to say that, in his mind, the 400,000-plus pay-per-view buys that Tarver-Roy Jones Jr. III did last month were more because of Jones than Tarver.
  
"If I was Tarver, I would start thinking about where my money is at this age,'' Shaw said.
  
Good point. However, DeGuardia said there is more on Tarver's plate than Lacy.
  
"We are pursuing a lot of different fights right now,'' DeGuardia said. "(Bernard) Hopkins, (Joe) Calzaghe. We have had contact with both of their camps. And there are a few heavyweights out there. Mike Tyson is one of them.''
  
Hopkins will try to win back the middleweight championship when he takes on Jermain Taylor in a rematch Dec. 3 in Las Vegas. (Taylor won their first fight last July via controversial split decision). Hopkins has said that if he beats Taylor, he would move up two weight classes to take on Tarver.
  
Calzaghe is the World Boxing Organization super middleweight champion with 17 consecutive title defenses.
  
As for Tarver-Tyson, we can only ask the boxing Gods not to let that come off.
  
No, Shaw is right. Lacy-Tarver needs to be made. Make no mistake, Hopkins-Tarver would also be big. But you've heard the saying, "Strike while the iron is hot.'' Lacy-Tarver indeed is hot, and Shaw believes the sport needs it.
  
"I want to see the best fights for boxing,'' Shaw said. "Not for my own livelihood, but I'm scared we are losing our sport.''
  
And just imagine what the atmosphere would be at the St. Pete Times Forum.
  
"It would,'' Shaw said, "be rocking off the foundation.''