The Ultimate Mike Tyson Fan Website

By G. Leon
Yesterday afternoon Boxingtalk.com spoke with Shelly Finkel's Mike Tyson "partner", Ted Watley. As Finkel's "partner", Watley was supposed to be kept in the know on anything and everything relating to the business of their client, former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, "Iron" Mike Tyson. In this exclusive interview that won't be found anywhere else, Watley gives us his take on what he describes as Shelly Finkel's "shakedown to rip Mike Tyson off!"

"Greg, why would Mike pass up a $20M fight for someone as tough as Williams in his first fight in over a year and a half to only get $7.5M?"

GL: My guess would be someone advised him to take that fight.

Ted Watley: "Advised by Shelly Finkel. Shelly Finkel, behind his fighter's (Tyson) back, gets a two fight option on the fighter (Danny Williams) goes and gets the Klitschko brothers, and the first fight out of the box is Danny Williams! It sounds like there's a fucking going on doesn't it? The only thing that holds up as an excuse is the fact that Mike Tyson hurt his knee. If he doesn't hurt his knee he probably wins the fight in the second round. But why wouldn't they have a rematch clause in Mike's contract in case he lost? When have you ever heard that they air PPV a fight three times in a row? After it aired live they rebroadcast it two more times as a PPV event. And the guy who put up the money for the fight didn't get any of the money from the other two times!"

GL: Are you talking about Chris Webb?

TW: "Chris Webb didn't put up any money, Johnathan Blue put up the money. If you ask Johnathan Blue if he's been paid yet he's going to tell you he hasn't. Shelly Finkel was telling me he was taking care of everything but he wasn't doing shit. I didn't want to be involved in the Louisville fight after he turned down a $20M fight. Why should we turn down a $20M fight for $7M in Louisville?

GL: And what fights were turned down where Mike could have made $20M?

TW: "Mike had three options. He could have fought Brewster, the guy who knocked out Roy Jones Jr., Antonio Tarver, and one of the Klitschko's. He could have fought Brewster for $20M if we would have made a deal with Don King, which was a possibility. With those fights available, why fight this motherfucker for $7M when we have nothing to do with the foreign sales, and we don't even know where the foreign sales are going. Shelly Finkel is partners with this guy (Chester) English, him and Gary Shaw ripped the fighter off."

GL: And out of the $7M that was Tyson's purse....

TW: (cutting in) "Mike only got $2M dollars."

GL: Do you feel that was Shelly's way to keep Mike under control?

TW: "Absolutely! Shelly's philosophy is to keep the nigger broke so he always has to keep coming back. And legally Shelly and I are partners, but let's make this clear you're getting this from me and the reason I'm telling you this is because rumor has it that Ted Watley was involved in the rip-off and the shakedown! Shelly said Tyson wanted this fight, but when I spoke with Tyson he didn't know what was going on. He said he was just doing what Shelly asked him to do. They went into Louisville and Shelly had them bring in Gary Shaw as an advisor, they tried to turn the fight upside down and they shook them people down like they weren't shit. They shook them down. They made the promoter sign the foreign sales over to them, they made the promoter gives all of his rights over to them and they shook him down.

"After we got there we start finding out the bullshit. But we were too far into the promotion and Mike didn't want to pull out, but we should have. Then they replayed the fight on the undercard of that show in Connecticut (Corrales-Freitas) and I asked Shelly, where was that money going? Where is it? He said, 'Ted, there wan't no money made.' I said Shelly you're full of shit!' Where did this money go to? If he's saying Showtime got it, why would Showtime get any money on a PPV for Mike Tyson? Then the last thing he said was, 'Artie Pelullo got it'

"My next question was, how the hell would Pelullo get any money for a fight that he had nothing to do with? Shelly said that he bought out Gary Shaw promotions for the show. But if he bought Gary Shaw out, Shelly are you telling me he bought the rights to a PPV fight that he didn't have a fucking thing to do with and Mike doesn't get any of that money? Shelly is a liar who has mastered the divide and conquer game."

"I'm not letting anybody fuck Mike Tyson and this bastard has fucked Mike Tyson royally. Mike is a guy who doesn't pay attention to business. He never has. You can put something in front Mike Tyson when he's with you and he's going to sign it without even reading it, just like he did with Shelly. Shelly and Gary Shaw fucked Mike Tyson royally. Out of the $5M John Blue put up he's only received $78,000. Showtime still claims Mike Tyson still owes them money. And to be honest with you, Mike Tyson doesn't owe Showtime shit! Shelly Finkel took the Klitschko brothers from HBO to Showtime and he used Mike Tyson as the springboard.

More quotes available in the extended section of this post (click 'Read More' below).