(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV.com)
Fight Hub TV’s Marcos Villegas caught up with Gary Shaw over the weekend and spoke to the former head of EliteXC about Nick Diaz’s boxing aspirations and why Kimbo Slice’s boxing debut never happened.
According to Shaw, he doesn’t feel that it would be worth it for Diaz to square off against a cold commodity like Fernando Vargas or Jeff Lacy because there wouldn’t be a lot of interest from the networks in putting on a b-level bout, especially as a main event.
“I love Nick Diaz, first of all. I think he’s as exciting as can be. I’ve not reached out for him. If he wants to box, he knows my number. They know the name of my company. But if he’s going to box then he’s got to box relevant fighters,” Shaw pointed out. “Fernando Vargas is not a relevant fighter, Jeff Lacy is not a relevant fighter. So what are you proving? That’s just a waste of time. Television’s not going to buy it, so if he wants to really fight, they’ll contact me and then they’ll really want to fight then we’ll do something on Showtime or HBO or ESPN.”
Although Shaw believes that Diaz has star power and says he could do well in the sport, he cautions the Stockton native to think long and hard about competing in The Sweet Science as it is a different animal than MMA-style boxing.
“He’s a good fighter. He’s a very good fighter, but boxing is a lot different than MMA, so… The techniques are different,” Shaw said. “You can knock guys out in MMA, but you’re not knocking out boxers. You’re knocking out other MMA fighters. So he might find it a little more difficult than he believes.”
When asked about what’s up with Slice’s delayed foray into boxing, Shaw said that it isn’t likely that we’ll see Kimbo donning 10-ounce gloves any time soon.
“He realized how hard it is to be a boxer. I had him in training camp in California, but he wasn’t committed…as committed as he had to be. I still love Kimbo. I still think he’s the single biggest attraction in our sports,” Shaw explained incredulously, demonstrating why EliteXC failed. “I’d love to still put him in a boxing ring, but you gotta be really committed. He made a lotta money in mixed martial arts and maybe he just didn’t need the money bad enough at that time.”