Promoter 'Nervous' About Tim Bradley-Luis Carlos Abregu

Gary Shaw has a hand in promoting both WBO junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion Tim Bradley (pictured above, at left), of Palm Springs, Calif., and unheralded welterweight (147 pounds) Luis Carlos Abregu of Salta Salta, Argentina, heading into their July 17, HBO-televised, non-title over the limit bout that is slated for the Agua Caliente Casino, in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

As such, Shaw said that he is "nervous" concerning the result.

But the promoter also claims that he has no regrets in scheduling the fight, even though the relatively unknown Abregu (29-0, 23 knockouts) has the potential to knock off Bradley (25-0, 11 KOs), a man who is widely considered to be the world's premiere 140-pounder.

"I'm always nervous. I think Luis is like an Arturo Gatti-type of fighter, you know? He fights to the death. He gets hit, he gets knocked down, he gets back up," said Shaw. "So there is a lot there with Abregu. He's got a lethal right hand. The question now is can he handle the speed of a Tim Bradley."

Shaw said that there was no concern on the part of Bradley's camp members when they were approached about fighting Abregu.

"No, there was no concern at all. When the fight was presented, both Tim's manager, Cameron Dunkin, and Tim Bradley were in agreement," said Shaw. "They all jumped at the opportunity to face Abregu and to have a fight at 147. Tim is already the No. 1 guy in the world at 140, and if Tim wins, it opens up a lot of doors for him."

Shaw believes that, in victory, the effect for Abregu would be similar, if not, frustratingly so.

"Abregu, if he beats Timmy, then he's the man," said Shaw, at the same time acknowledging that Abregu might then be avoided by other fighters due to his relative anonymity.







"This stuff where people say, 'Well I don't want to fight someone, you know, because no one knows who he is,' or because he's not known? Well, that just means that they don't want to fight him," said Shaw. "I don't go for that. I like the Tim Bradley's of the world who will fight anybody."

Shaw said the same of many of the fighters in his promotional stable, such as southpaw WBC interim light heavyweight (175 pounds) titlist Chad Dawson (29-0, 17 KOs), Mexican-born WBO interim junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion Alfredo Angulo (18-1, 15 KOs), Colombian-born IBF bantamweight (118 pounds) king, Yonnhy Perez (20-0-1, 14 knockouts), and Armenian-born, IBO bantamweight belt-holder, Vic Darchinyan (35-2-1, 27 KOs).

"Chad Dawson, he'll fight anybody and he's never turned down anybody. Alfredo Angulo, he'd fight anybody. Vic Darchinyan, the poster boy, he'd fight anybody and only wants the best. So when you have these kinds of fighters, like a Yonnhy Perez, you know, they can just line them up," said Shaw.

"Not one of these fighters has ever turned down a fight -- whether a guy is tall, has a big right hand, is a southpaw or whatever," said Shaw. "All of the fighters that I have will just say 'line them up.' They just don't care."

For now, however, Dawson has an Aug. 14 date to face WBC champion Jean Pascal (25-1, 16 KOs), of Canada, in an HBO-televised match up of talented 27-year-olds from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Pascal's home venue.

Pascal will be looking for his fifth consecutive win as he returns to the site where he made the successful second defense of his title with December's unanimous decision victory over fellow Canadian Adrian Diaconu (26-2, 15 KOs).

On the Pascal-Dawson undercard, Angulo will face former WBA champ Joachim Alcine (32-1, 19 KOs), of Quebec, Canada.

Last month, Darchinyan won a clash of southpaws for the vacant IBO title by 12-round unanimous decision over 28-year-old Eric Barcelona (51-8-4, 19 KOs) before Darchinyan's hometown fans at the Leagues Club, Parramatta in New South Wales.

Nicknamed "The Raging Bull," Darcyninan (pictured at right) was victorious for the third straight time since losing his July bid to win the IBF bantameweight title from then-champion Joseph Agbeko of Bronx, N.Y., by way of Ghana.

Shaw is hoping to line up Darchinyan for a Showtime-televised, November mega fight "hopefully against Fernando Montiel," he said.

Montiel (41-2-2, 30 KOs), however, must get beyond a July 17, WBO bantamweight defense against former WBA flyweight (112 pounds) king Eric Morel (42-2-2, 21 KOs) in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mex. Montiel-Morel will be carried on Top Rank Live (Fox Sports Espanol).

Montiel is coming off of April's fourth-round knockout of Hozumi Hasegawa (28-3, 12 KOs), this after having scored February's first-round knockout over Ciso Morales (14-1, eight KOs), of Bohol, Philippines.

Perez is coming off of last month's majority draw with Mexican-born challenger, Abner Mares (19-0-1, 12 KOs), and Shaw would like to see the two fighters in a rematch.

"But the IBF has mandated that Perez face Agbeko," said Shaw, who would rather see Perez-Mares II, or, Perez in bouts with Montiel or former WBC light flyweight (108 pounds) champion, Jorge Arce (54-6-1, 41 KOs).

Since losing a unanimous decision to unbeaten Simphiwe Nonggayi in September, Arce has won two straight times.

In January, there was his seventh-round, technical decision over Indonesia's Angky Angkota in their WBO super flyweight (115 pounds) title eliminator.

Fighting in April's 119-pound, over the batamweight limit bout agianst Cecilio Santos, Arce earned a seventh-round knockout.