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One Of The Faces
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 1,855
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Allan Green is an imbecile
Green takes bad advice, turns down biggest payday
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Posted by Dan Rafael
While the headache-inducing search for a fall opponent for middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik continues, one guy who won't be challenging him is Allan Green, who apparently graduated magna cum laude from the Winky Wright School of Dealmaking.
That means he grossly priced himself out of the fight, just another poor decision by a fighter who seems to do nothing but make poor decisions of late.
After his last fight, an ESPN2 win against Rubin Williams on Jan. 4, Green was supposed to return Feb. 29 to face faded Antwun Echols. Instead, Green pulled out at the last minute without explanation. That boneheaded decision infuriated fight organizers, ESPN and Green's own team, and resulted in a suspension and lots of bad publicity.
Then Green, who thinks he's a superstar but has never won a big fight, declared that he would no longer fight on ESPN2 -- a network that has featured him numerous times -- because he deserved the HBO or Showtime limelight. Of course, Green apparently forgot that he got a chance to fight on a Miguel Cotto card on HBO in March 2007 and blew it big-time when he looked horrible losing a clear decision to Edison Miranda.
And now, with no prospect for a fight of consequence, Green was offered a shot at Pavlik on HBO on Sept. 27 in Atlantic City, N.J., according to Pavlik promoter Bob Arum and Green promoter Tony Holden.
Mind you, Green, who would have moved down in weight, had done nothing whatsoever to deserve the shot other than be available. Even without earning the fight, it might have been interesting. I certainly would give Green a chance to win if the right Green showed up.
You'd think Green would have treated the opportunity like it was manna from heaven.
Guess we'll never know how he would have done because he turned down a whopping $450,000 (plus training expenses) for the opportunity. Who turns that kind of money down -- by far Green's biggest payday -- for a free shot at the title in a fight he can win? And who turns it down in this economy? Allan Green, who recently had to get help from Holden to pay his rent, does.
When talks for Pavlik to face Paul Williams or Wright bogged down (they still are), Arum started talking to Holden, who has treated Green like family and done a masterful job guiding his career (even though Green doesn't seem very appreciative).
Like any negotiation, each side threw out numbers and they went from there. Holden said he asked for $750,000. Eventually, he and Arum settled on $450,000. Holden also said he got the fight without having to give Arum options on any of Green's future fights in the event he won (with the exception of a rematch). That's pretty impressive. It should be noted that Pavlik's last opponent, Gary Lockett, made just $250,000 for their fight last month.
Next Holden told Arum he would take the offer to Green for his approval, which should have been a no-brainer. Pretty simple, right? Sure, until an inexperienced adviser gets involved, which is exactly what happened.
Green had recently started working with neophyte Greg Leon, who convinced Green that they should have asked for more than $1 million, a number so preposterous for that fight that it would be funny if it wasn't true. That's when Arum, Holden and Leon got on a three-way telephone call, one Holden said he advised Leon against doing. During the call, Leon angered and disrespected Arum to such an extent that he hung up the phone.
"Bob and I have done millions of dollars worth of deals over the years. We respect each other and have worked well together, and we had a deal," Holden said. "The adviser got on the phone with me and Bob, and it was a disrespectful conversation, and Bob hung up."
Holden said after the call Leon phoned him and said Green would take the offer.
But it was too late.
"I called Bob back, and the offer was off the table. Bob told me, 'I'll never be disrespected like that again,'" said Holden, who added that he had no hard feelings toward Arum.
Arum, so incensed, said he instructed his receptionist not to take Leon's repeated calls.
"They got this genius adviser who doesn't know what the [expletive] he's doing," Arum said. "They were pretty stupid. What they asked for was stupid, so the offer is off the table. You get a guy like Tony Holden, who knows the business, so what the hell does [Green] need that moron who doesn't know the business as a so-called adviser? That so-called adviser gave him bad advice."
Green, however, took it. It was another poor decision, one that cost him a lot of money and a shot at the middleweight championship.
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Allan Green is an imbecile
