According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former world champion Robert Guerrero has taken the legal steps to get out of his contract with Golden Boy Promotions.
“What his issues are, I can’t tell you. You’d have to ask him,” Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com on Wednesday. “We have totally complied with our contract with regard to the minimum purses and the number of fights, so I don’t know what they are basing this on.”
“Robert wouldn’t have authorized the arbitration if he was happy with Golden Boy,” Bruce Zabarauskas, Guerrero’s attorney, told ESPN.com, declining to go into the particulars of why Guerrero was unhappy.
“The contract was not signed under California law, it was done under New York law, so you can’t have the California commission rule on a New York promotional contract,” Schaefer said. “Most of our promotional agreements are governed by New York law because that is where most of our sponsor deals and television deals are also governed, and we want to have consistency. Guerrero agreed to have his contract under New York law, and he was legally represented when he signed it.”
Zabarauskas disputed Schaefer’s view of the California commission’s jurisdiction.
“You have a California fighter and a California promoter,” he said of Guerrero, who is from Gilroy, Calif., and Golden Boy, which is based in Los Angeles. “If you buy Golden Boy’s position, they can evade California commission rules whenever they want.”
“He made a career-high payday last year and we put him in with Andre Berto in a big fight before that,” Schaefer said. “We gave him the exposure he wanted and he made a lot of money. I’m proud of how we have promoted Robert Guerrero and of the money we have made for him.
“The guy was on my ass to get him the Mayweather fight for a long time. Finally, I get him the deal and now he is unhappy. I don’t understand.”
“They insisted on the extension or they wouldn’t give him the Mayweather fight,” Zabarauskas said.
“If Robert wants to fight, we have a fight for him. We have lots of fights for him,” Schaefer said, ticking off the numerous name fighters he promotes in and around Guerrero’s 147-pound weight class, including titleholders Shawn Porter and Marcos Maidana, Thurman and former titleholders Adrien Broner, Paulie Malignaggi and Victor Ortiz as well as junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia. “There are more. The list goes on and on. Robert turned down a couple of fights, but I am just going to let this play out and deal with it. We have to wait to hear from California if there is a hearing or not. In the meantime, we will keep offering him fights.”
“They made us one offer for one fight (with Thurman) that didn’t comply with our agreement,” he said.
“I’m going to have to have a serious word with Floyd,” Schaefer said. “These guys beg me for Mayweather and then I deliver them the fight and they lose, and I guess they blame me. You saw it with Juan Manuel Marquez. I got him the fight with Mayweather and he lost every second of every round. You saw it with (Shane) Mosley, who lost almost every second of every round and you saw it with Guerrero. I don’t know what Floyd is doing to these guys.”
