Friday, January 21, 2005
KEVIN IOLE: Promoter's greed could pull plug on Corrales-Castillo
All but hard-core boxing fans have probably never heard of Artie Pelullo, and rest assured that Diego Corrales wishes he'd never heard of him.
Pelullo, a fight promoter based in Philadelphia, is obstinately standing in the way of what could be the best lightweight matchup in years.
Corrales, a Las Vegas resident, is slated to fight Jose Luis Castillo on March 5 in a Showtime bout between the world's premier lightweights. Corrales wanted to fight Castillo in December, but his manager, James Prince, wouldn't sign off, so Joel Casamayor became Castillo's opponent instead.
At the Castillo-Casamayor weigh-in Dec. 3, a glum Corrales told Showtime executive Jay Larkin it should have been him, not Casamayor, in the bout. Larkin assured Corrales he'd do everything in his power to make the fight happen.
After Castillo edged Casamayor, Larkin approached Prince, who expressed a willingness to make the bout happen. Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who promotes Castillo, quickly signed off, as did Corrales promoter Gary Shaw, Prince and attorney Jeff Fried.
But because of Pelullo's unmitigated greed, the fight is no sure thing.
As president of Banner Promotions, a small company whose most notable fighters are Acelino Freitas and Antwun Echols, Pelullo has been dogged by allegations of mob ties throughout his boxing career.
Pelullo was rejected for a promoter's license in Connecticut in April 2001 by the state's Division of Special Revenue because he was alleged to be an associate of the Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo crime family in Philadelphia. Pelullo denied the allegation and appealed the ruling. Two years and six hearings later, he was granted a license in May 2003.
Corrales got involved with Pelullo when he knocked out Freitas on Aug. 7. In order to get the fight against Freitas, Corrales had agreed -- if he won -- to give Pelullo options on his next three bouts, one of which was to be a rematch. Pelullo was protecting himself in the event Freitas lost and his value diminished.
Those options are now threatening to kill the Castillo fight. While all other parties have signed off, Pelullo is insisting on a payment of up to $300,000.
Larkin said Showtime is paying a $1.2 million license fee that will serve as the funds for the fighters' pay. Pelullo has suggested no alternate opponents for Corrales and has done nothing to promote or raise interest in him, yet is demanding more than 25 percent of the purse. That would leave about $900,000 to be divided among the fighters, their managers and the other promoters, leaving Pelullo in position to make more than anyone else for doing the least.
Larkin, who correctly called the process of promoters taking options on fighters "inherently corrupt," leaves little doubt why the fight might be scrapped.
"Somewhere in this process, there is one big, enormous fly in the ointment. I'll let you figure out who that is," he said.
Arum was more blunt, saying Pelullo is acting like an extortionist. Shaw offered his entire fee to Pelullo in order to make the fight happen, but nothing has budged Pelullo.
Pelullo failed to return repeated telephone calls.
But his actions might irreparably harm Corrales, who has become a solid citizen and popular figure since serving 14 months in prison in 2001-02 for spousal abuse.
Prince did him a disservice by not making the Castillo fight happen in December, when a victory might've made Corrales the 2004 Fighter of the Year and set him up for more lucrative paydays.
The law should be changed to prevent a fighter from being forced to surrender his future simply to get a fight. But until then, Pelullo needs to do the right thing and make sure his greed doesn't cause Corrales to suffer.
