After reading some derogatory stories unfairly criticizing Irish Ropes Promotions for canceling its March 16th scheduled “Erin Go Brawl II” pro boxing show at WaMu Theater in Madison Square Garden, I am compelled to set the record straight about why we pulled the plug 10 days out and to explain what really happened leading up to the final decision.
First, though, I’d like to offer my condolences to Liam Neeson, and his family, for the loss of his wife. He attended several of the shows we promoted and I met him at many Irish benefits. Liam is a great man.
I’d also like to congratulate Brian Dunne on his great world-title winning performance last weekend and also to his promoter, Brian Peters, and trainer, Harry Hawkins - you reap what you sow! I’d also like to congratulate Mathew Macklin for winning the British middleweight championship, Paul McClosky for successfully defending his British title, and Andy Lee for his good performance.
I am, however, disappointed by what Lee said in newspapers back home about our show being canceled. I had a choice of losing $50,000 by canceling when we did, or to potentially lose $250,000 to go ahead. I was not under any contractual obligation to any of the fighters and chose to take the lesser hit.
The poor economy in New York and back in Ireland played a part in poor advance ticket sales, but the real reason for it was Team Lee. Let’s review the situation leading up to the cancelation. My first call to Manny Steward was for Lee to fight Walid Smichet. He agreed and it was even listed on Boxrec.com. Damien McCann, who is in charge of making deals for Lee, said they would take the fight but not for $30,000. Negotiations went back and forth for a few weeks and we finally agreed on $50,000, $4000 in comps (tickets), plus another $10,000 if the gross gate receipts were more than $425,000.
But then Lee said he wouldn’t fight Smichet because he knew about the animosity between Irish Ropes and John Duddy and he didn’t want to embarrass Duddy by fighting Smichet. Well, as it turned out, fans weren’t interested in buying tickets to watch Lee fight somebody that hadn’t won any of his last eight fights, Antwun Echols, who hasn’t won since 2004 and was knocked out the same night Andy fought in Ireland. Lee ridiculed us for the way we promoted the show and he even trashed the traditional Irish pub we had the press conference at, Jack Dempsey’s, where Gerry Cooney had his press conferences in the old days, as well as John Duddy and James Moore, and even a press conference for a documentary about Billy Collins was held there.
We promoted “Erin Go Brawl II” the same way we promoted any of our shows at Madison Square Garden. People simply weren’t buying tickets to see Lee fight a non-competitive fight against Echols. When I decided to pull the plug on the show, 10 days before the scheduled event, we had sold only 1500 tickets, approximately $130,000 worth, compared to $400,000 at the same time for our previous show (“Erin Go Brawl”) there. Bars that normally sell 300-400 tickets had sold only 20-30 for this one and nobody was going in or calling for tickets. It was inevitable and although I was terribly disappointed, I really didn’t have much of a choice about canceling the show.
Lee goes and talks to papers back home ridiculing me, saying he had to find-out from a third party that the show had been canceled. Within 10 minutes of deciding to cancel the show, I called, in order, the commission (New York State Athletic Commission), Madison Square Garden, (Irish-based boxing promoter) Brian Peters to ask if he could put Andy on his card, and then to Emanuel Steward. I told him the bad news was our show was canceled, but the good news was Andy would be fighting on Peters’ show in Ireland a week later than our show was scheduled. Andy Lee was with Emanuel.
Looking back at what happened, there was also a lot of bitterness about boxing in the Irish community (in New York City) resulting from a very negative article written by Thomas Hauser, of Team Duddy. My hands are tied on the advice of my attorney, but when everything is settled in court, I guarantee you the truth will come out on that subject.
We took the high road and didn’t blast anybody in the media for what’s happened to Irish Ropes Promotions. Too many lies and mistruths have been told, so I felt there was a need to explain everything from our side.
Regards,
Eddie McLoughlin,
Irish Ropes Promotions, President
See you at the Fights.
Thanks for your time.
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©®™2007, 2008 All photos by "EL Boxing Empress" Keisha Morrisey- Empire Morrisey Photo-Studios, Khris Kirkpatrick Morrisey for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved
Showing posts with label Eddie McLoughlin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eddie McLoughlin. Show all posts
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Kimball's story about Irish Ropes & John Duddy
Battles in the ring the easier ones for Duddy
AMERICA AT LARGE: Since falling out with Irish Ropes, the Derry fighter has become the object of an ugly lawsuit, writes GEORGE KIMBALL
WHEN EDDIE McLoughlin hired Patrick Burns to be John Duddy’s new trainer last summer he didn’t anticipate he might be inviting the fox into the henhouse, but in the view of the Mayo-born promoter, that’s pretty much how it worked out.
At Jack Dempsey’s pub off Herald Square in Manhattan yesterday, McLoughlin presided over a press luncheon officially launching what has become a New York staple – Irish Ropes’ annual St Patrick’s Day card at Madison Square Garden. This year’s edition will showcase not Duddy, but another Irish middleweight, Limerick’s Andy Lee, fighting three-time world title challenger Antwun Echols.
Barely four months had elapsed since, following another press conference in the same pub on October 8th, McLoughlin sent Duddy off to Burns’ Miami training camp to begin preparations for a November 21st tune-up bout against Sam Hill. Within weeks Duddy had a new de facto manager, Craig Hamilton, the seven-year-old relationship between the boxer and his promoter was in tatters, the Hill fight (along with an even more lucrative January bout against Ronald Hearns) had been scuttled, and Duddy’s contract with Irish Ropes was the object of an unpleasant lawsuit, filed in US District Court.
At the centrepiece of the court case, which alleges financial improprieties in Irish Ropes’ handling of the Derry middleweight’s affairs, Eddie and Duddy’s erstwhile manager Tony McLoughlin stand accused of being brothers.
The McLoughlins do not deny that relationship, but point out they were already brothers in 2006, when Duddy, in the presence of a representative of the New York State Athletic Commission, signed separate contracts with each. In fact, from 2003 until last autumn, Duddy lived, rent-free, in an apartment owned by Tony McLoughlin, who also provided the boxer with the use of a car and several hundred dollars a week living allowance.
When Duddy appeared at Madison Square Garden a week ago to announce his February 21st date with Matt Vanda, he thanked Hamilton, attorney Gary Friedman and author Thomas Hauser for having effected his nascent emancipation from Irish Ropes. Hauser, himself a lawyer, subsequently objected to our having described him in these pages as a Duddy “adviser”, calling that characterisation “a disservice” to Hamilton and Friedman.
“The only advice I gave to John came when [Duddy’s proposed fight against Verno Phillips] fell through and I told him he should become more proactive in terms of charting his own career,” said Hauser, whose 4,000-word treatise The Truth About John Duddy on the website SecondsOut.com has, in the absence of dissenting views, been widely cited as the definitive view of a complex situation.
“In that same conversation, in response to a question from John, I said I wasn’t the right person to ask about the intricacies of managing a fighter and suggested he talk with Craig Hamilton. John was already aware of Hamilton because Craig manages Kevin Burnett, and Burnett is trained by Pat Burns,” added Hauser.
Within days of that advice, Hamilton (and his long-time lawyer, Friedman) were in charge and Irish Ropes was on the way out. Burns acknowledges having vouched for Hamilton’s integrity, but he also denies having initiated the poaching expedition.
Following the debacle against Walid Smichet last February (Duddy eked out a majority decision but was cut to ribbons, and blew a $1.4 million payday to fight middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik), it was clear to McLoughlin and matchmaker Jim Borzell trainer Don Turner would have to go.
McLoughlin says that even before the Smichet fight Hauser, whose opinion he valued, had lobbied on several occasions for Burns to replace Turner.
While acknowledging a long-time relationship with Burns, Hauser says the Florida trainer’s name was just one of several, including those of Nazim Richardson and Freddie Roach, he put forth to Irish Ropes.
In any case, McLoughlin and Borzell flew to Miami and met with Burns. (That the promoter and his matchmaker and not the manager conducted the job interview with the new trainer underscores the blurring of traditional roles at Irish Ropes, but both McLoughlins insist they acted in Duddy’s best interests.)
“When I asked him about his fee, he said it was ‘No problem, just a few hundred bucks a week’,” recalled Eddie. “He also talked about John’s conditioning, and about accommodation down there. He said neither was a problem, since he had a brother who was a qualified nutritionist who would work, again, ‘for a couple of hundred a week,’ and that his wife would arrange to rent a house for just a thousand or so a month.”
“That is inaccurate,” Burns insisted yesterday. “I simply couldn’t work for ‘a few hundred’ a week,’ and I wouldn’t have said I would.”
In the wake of the Smichet fiasco it was also clear Duddy needed to redeem himself with a tune-up bout against an unthreatening opponent. Charlie Howe of Ohio, knocked out in the first round of his last fight, had a deceptively impressive 17-3-2 record and seemed to fit the bill perfectly. When the New York commission refused to approve Duddy-Howe, the venue was shifted to Boston. And Burns became Duddy’s new trainer.
Once Irish Ropes had severed connections with Turner, according to McLoughlin, the picture changed dramatically. Between his own weekly fee of $850 and another $650 for Joseph Burns, the “few hundred a week” had grown to $1,500, and the $1,000-a-month house turned out to cost $1,800 a month.
In Boston on June 28th last year Duddy fought well and posted a unanimous decision over the 33-year-old Howe. Because that fight was a low-budget exercise away from the scrutiny of television cameras, Irish Ropes had anticipated running the show at a loss, and Duddy had agreed to a $20,000 purse, and $5,000 for training expenses.
Burns insists the financial terms had been spelled out before he took the job. McLoughlin claims he wouldn’t have agreed to it if that had been the case.
A few days ago, Eddie McLoughlin sifted through a pile of cancelled cheques showing that in May and June of last year alone he had written checks totalling $21,000 to various permutations of the Burns family.
Under the arrangement, Burns’ fee was supposed to cover gym expenses. For the Howe fight, Duddy sparred at the Phantom Gym in Miami. Phantom manager Artie Artwell says that for that camp, Pat Burns paid $60 a month for the use of the gym.
Given the unhappy beginning to the relationship, McLoughlin says he no longer considered Burns trustworthy, but acceded to the fighter’s wishes only because Duddy felt comfortable with him.
So who’s telling the truth? Consider this: that October 8th press conference was a veritable love-fest between Duddy and Irish Ropes, yet less than two weeks later he had new representation. Somebody gave John Duddy Craig Hamilton’s phone number, and it’s a pretty safe bet it wasn’t Eddie McLoughlin.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
See you at the Fights.
Thanks for your time.
Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience The Video Channel Online http://www.youtube.com/ELEmpress1
EL Boxing Empress Keisha Morrisey's Myspace http://www.myspace.com/Keishadivine
Honorable Keisha Morrisey http://www.keishamorrisey.com
©®™2007, 2008 All photos by "EL Boxing Empress" Keisha Morrisey- Empire Morrisey Photo-Studios, Khris Kirkpatrick Morrisey for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved
AMERICA AT LARGE: Since falling out with Irish Ropes, the Derry fighter has become the object of an ugly lawsuit, writes GEORGE KIMBALL
WHEN EDDIE McLoughlin hired Patrick Burns to be John Duddy’s new trainer last summer he didn’t anticipate he might be inviting the fox into the henhouse, but in the view of the Mayo-born promoter, that’s pretty much how it worked out.
At Jack Dempsey’s pub off Herald Square in Manhattan yesterday, McLoughlin presided over a press luncheon officially launching what has become a New York staple – Irish Ropes’ annual St Patrick’s Day card at Madison Square Garden. This year’s edition will showcase not Duddy, but another Irish middleweight, Limerick’s Andy Lee, fighting three-time world title challenger Antwun Echols.
Barely four months had elapsed since, following another press conference in the same pub on October 8th, McLoughlin sent Duddy off to Burns’ Miami training camp to begin preparations for a November 21st tune-up bout against Sam Hill. Within weeks Duddy had a new de facto manager, Craig Hamilton, the seven-year-old relationship between the boxer and his promoter was in tatters, the Hill fight (along with an even more lucrative January bout against Ronald Hearns) had been scuttled, and Duddy’s contract with Irish Ropes was the object of an unpleasant lawsuit, filed in US District Court.
At the centrepiece of the court case, which alleges financial improprieties in Irish Ropes’ handling of the Derry middleweight’s affairs, Eddie and Duddy’s erstwhile manager Tony McLoughlin stand accused of being brothers.
The McLoughlins do not deny that relationship, but point out they were already brothers in 2006, when Duddy, in the presence of a representative of the New York State Athletic Commission, signed separate contracts with each. In fact, from 2003 until last autumn, Duddy lived, rent-free, in an apartment owned by Tony McLoughlin, who also provided the boxer with the use of a car and several hundred dollars a week living allowance.
When Duddy appeared at Madison Square Garden a week ago to announce his February 21st date with Matt Vanda, he thanked Hamilton, attorney Gary Friedman and author Thomas Hauser for having effected his nascent emancipation from Irish Ropes. Hauser, himself a lawyer, subsequently objected to our having described him in these pages as a Duddy “adviser”, calling that characterisation “a disservice” to Hamilton and Friedman.
“The only advice I gave to John came when [Duddy’s proposed fight against Verno Phillips] fell through and I told him he should become more proactive in terms of charting his own career,” said Hauser, whose 4,000-word treatise The Truth About John Duddy on the website SecondsOut.com has, in the absence of dissenting views, been widely cited as the definitive view of a complex situation.
“In that same conversation, in response to a question from John, I said I wasn’t the right person to ask about the intricacies of managing a fighter and suggested he talk with Craig Hamilton. John was already aware of Hamilton because Craig manages Kevin Burnett, and Burnett is trained by Pat Burns,” added Hauser.
Within days of that advice, Hamilton (and his long-time lawyer, Friedman) were in charge and Irish Ropes was on the way out. Burns acknowledges having vouched for Hamilton’s integrity, but he also denies having initiated the poaching expedition.
Following the debacle against Walid Smichet last February (Duddy eked out a majority decision but was cut to ribbons, and blew a $1.4 million payday to fight middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik), it was clear to McLoughlin and matchmaker Jim Borzell trainer Don Turner would have to go.
McLoughlin says that even before the Smichet fight Hauser, whose opinion he valued, had lobbied on several occasions for Burns to replace Turner.
While acknowledging a long-time relationship with Burns, Hauser says the Florida trainer’s name was just one of several, including those of Nazim Richardson and Freddie Roach, he put forth to Irish Ropes.
In any case, McLoughlin and Borzell flew to Miami and met with Burns. (That the promoter and his matchmaker and not the manager conducted the job interview with the new trainer underscores the blurring of traditional roles at Irish Ropes, but both McLoughlins insist they acted in Duddy’s best interests.)
“When I asked him about his fee, he said it was ‘No problem, just a few hundred bucks a week’,” recalled Eddie. “He also talked about John’s conditioning, and about accommodation down there. He said neither was a problem, since he had a brother who was a qualified nutritionist who would work, again, ‘for a couple of hundred a week,’ and that his wife would arrange to rent a house for just a thousand or so a month.”
“That is inaccurate,” Burns insisted yesterday. “I simply couldn’t work for ‘a few hundred’ a week,’ and I wouldn’t have said I would.”
In the wake of the Smichet fiasco it was also clear Duddy needed to redeem himself with a tune-up bout against an unthreatening opponent. Charlie Howe of Ohio, knocked out in the first round of his last fight, had a deceptively impressive 17-3-2 record and seemed to fit the bill perfectly. When the New York commission refused to approve Duddy-Howe, the venue was shifted to Boston. And Burns became Duddy’s new trainer.
Once Irish Ropes had severed connections with Turner, according to McLoughlin, the picture changed dramatically. Between his own weekly fee of $850 and another $650 for Joseph Burns, the “few hundred a week” had grown to $1,500, and the $1,000-a-month house turned out to cost $1,800 a month.
In Boston on June 28th last year Duddy fought well and posted a unanimous decision over the 33-year-old Howe. Because that fight was a low-budget exercise away from the scrutiny of television cameras, Irish Ropes had anticipated running the show at a loss, and Duddy had agreed to a $20,000 purse, and $5,000 for training expenses.
Burns insists the financial terms had been spelled out before he took the job. McLoughlin claims he wouldn’t have agreed to it if that had been the case.
A few days ago, Eddie McLoughlin sifted through a pile of cancelled cheques showing that in May and June of last year alone he had written checks totalling $21,000 to various permutations of the Burns family.
Under the arrangement, Burns’ fee was supposed to cover gym expenses. For the Howe fight, Duddy sparred at the Phantom Gym in Miami. Phantom manager Artie Artwell says that for that camp, Pat Burns paid $60 a month for the use of the gym.
Given the unhappy beginning to the relationship, McLoughlin says he no longer considered Burns trustworthy, but acceded to the fighter’s wishes only because Duddy felt comfortable with him.
So who’s telling the truth? Consider this: that October 8th press conference was a veritable love-fest between Duddy and Irish Ropes, yet less than two weeks later he had new representation. Somebody gave John Duddy Craig Hamilton’s phone number, and it’s a pretty safe bet it wasn’t Eddie McLoughlin.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
See you at the Fights.
Thanks for your time.
Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience The Video Channel Online http://www.youtube.com/ELEmpress1
EL Boxing Empress Keisha Morrisey's Myspace http://www.myspace.com/Keishadivine
Honorable Keisha Morrisey http://www.keishamorrisey.com
©®™2007, 2008 All photos by "EL Boxing Empress" Keisha Morrisey- Empire Morrisey Photo-Studios, Khris Kirkpatrick Morrisey for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Duddy returns June 28th in Boston Headlining “Hassle In The Castle”
NEW YORK– Undefeated world middleweight contender “Ireland’s” John Duddy returns to the ring June 28 with a new head trainer in his corner, Pat Burns, in the 10-round main event against Charles Howe, headlining “Hassle In The Castle” at The Castle in Boston.
Duddy (24-0, 17 KOs), a native of County Derry in N. Ireland, lives and fights out of Queens, New York. He is rated No. 2 by the WBC and No. 3 by the WBO, as well as No. 5 by the WBA and No. 10 by the IBF. Burns trained Jermain Taylor to the world middleweight title. Howe (17-4-2, 9 KOs), fighting out of Ohio, is coming off of the only loss in his last 14 fights, dating back nearly eight years, to WBC USNBC champion Joey Gilbert in their title fight last September.
“We’re returning to Boston out of appreciation to all of his fans there,” Irish Ropes Promotions president Eddie McLoughlin said. “John has a lot of friends in Boston and he sold out The Castle 2 ½ years ago when he beat Julio Jean. There are a lot of Irish and Irish-Americans living there and we’ve received countless requests to return. We’re excited to be coming back on June 28 and John will be fighting for the first time with Pat Burns as his head trainer.”
South Boston middleweight Donald Orr (12-0, 5 KOs), 2000 Canadian Olympian, is scheduled to fight in the 8-round co-feature. On the undercard against opponents to be determined are Worcester (MA) middleweight prospect Edwin Rodriguez (6-0, 5 KOs), 2-time U.S. National amateur champion, faces his stiffest test to date in Marcus Upshaw (8-1, 3 KOs); Boston by way of Clare, Ireland cruiserweight Mark Clancy (7-0-1, 1 KO), 4-time Irish National amateur finalist; Lynn (MA) junior welterweight Simeon Dunwell (7-0, 2 KOs) and Philadelphia super featherweight Frank Trader (1-0, 0 KOs). All bouts and fighters are subject to change.
Tickets are priced at $50.00 $75.00 and $100.00 and are available at The Kells (Jerry Quinn – 617.733.4535) in Allston, Porter Belly’s (Sean McCormack and Past O’Sullivan – 617.254.3300) in Brighton, Shenanigans Bar & Grill (Shay Harris – 617.269.9509) in South Boston, and The Banshee Pub (617.436.9747). Tickets are also available at the usual Irish Ropes outlets in New York City and by going on line at www.irishropes.com. Doors open at 6:30 PM/ET, first bout at 7:30 PM/ET.
Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience The Video Channel Online http://www.youtube.com/ELEmpress1
EL Boxing Empress Keisha Morrisey's Myspace http://www.myspace.com/Keishadivine
Honorable Keisha Morrisey http://www.keishamorrisey.com
©®™ 2007, 2008 All photos by "EL Boxing Empress" Keisha Morrisey- Empire Morrisey Studios, for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved
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