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Promoter Rebuts Goodridge
I have never spoken to Gary Goodridge on the phone in my life – that, for me, is the most upsetting part about this whole situation,” Pavelich said. “He’s been in the background saying hello when I talk to Dave Wallace, his manager, but I have never spoken to him beyond that.”
Pavelich claims he attempted to reach Goodridge earlier this week in an effort to resolve their differences. He was unsuccessful.
“I called his house for the first time [Monday] night to ask him why he would say these things about me,” Pavelich said. “He never answered, so I left him a message. How can he say I remind him of his ex-wife and he wants to punch me in the f—ing head and that I’m an a—hole if I’ve never spoken to him before?”
Goodridge’s comments in Monday’s “The Great Fight North” column caught Pavelich off guard. The promoter said he was unaware a rift had developed between him and the 42-year-old kickboxer. Pavelich had already settled on an opponent – King of the Cage and Bodog Fight veteran Eric Pele – for Goodridge’s debut in May.
“He’s disgruntled because I told his manager I wouldn’t give him permission to fight three weeks before he was to fight for us,” Pavelich said. “[His manager] told me he’d look into it and he would handle it, and I’ve never heard another thing about it until I read Gary’s comments on Monday. His manager has been extremely professional with me so I thought this must be some kind of a joke. When I read what he said, I thought he must have been drunk or on some kind of substance for him to be saying such outlandish things.”
Although he remains hopeful fences can be mended, Pavelich admitted he has started looking for a replacement for Goodridge on the May 9 card.
“If I tell people that Gary Goodridge is fighting on my card, he’s fighting on my card,” Pavelich said. “I don’t want him to get hurt fighting for another organization because I’d look like I’m being dishonest to my fans. You’ll never find a fighter that will say that I screwed them or I never paid them. I don’t want to ever say I have someone fighting and then not have them show up. Then people have the right to say Mark Pavelich is a liar.”
Pavelich chalks up part of Goodridge’s actions to the kind of showmanship and bravado that is typically reserved for World Wrestling Entertainment employees.
“This reminds me of when he came out and offered to fight ‘Kimbo Slice’ for free,” Pavelich said. “Sound bites are great, but when they are so far from the truth, they’ve gone too far. This isn’t pro wrestling; this is mixed martial arts. There’s a certain amount of etiquette between fighters and owners that has to be respected.”
Though he admits there’s a place for posturing in the sport, Pavelich thinks Goodridge crossed the line with his offhand remarks and believes the fighter knows he stepped out of bounds with his rant.
“For Gary to say that I’m not paying him enough to not take these other fights makes me laugh,” Pavelich said. “I never held a gun to his head and told him to sign the contract. Gary knew how much he was agreeing to being paid, and now he’s getting offers for more so he wants to take them. That’s too bad. We have a deal.”
Since inking his deal with MFC, Goodridge has also signed to fight for YAMMA Pit Fighting on Friday, April 11 in Atlantic City, N.J., and King of the Cage in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 19. He revealed this weekend that he had been offered a fight with Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at the Dream promotion’s inaugural event in Tokyo on March 15, but the bout never materialized and promoters chose to go with Tatsuya Mizuno instead.
Crediting himself for rejuvenating interest in Goodridge’s waning career, Pavelich said he went against the advice of several promoters when he signed the 42-year-old fighter. He expects him to honor their agreement.
“No one offered Gary anything until I signed him. His name was dead,” Pavelich said. “Now all these other people are calling him to come fight [for their promotions] because they think I’m treating him poorly. Why do you think I only signed him to two fights? I had promoters from the states asking me why I would ever deal with Gary Goodridge.”
Pavelich questioned why Goodridge would have come to an agreement with the promotion if he felt he was not being compensated fairly.
“He should never have signed the contract if he didn’t think he was getting enough money,” Pavelich said. “I deal with fighters all the time that tell me they want more money than I’ve offered. That’s where negotiations come into play. If Gary was represented poorly in the past, that’s not my fault.”
POSTED -- 03/20/08
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Extreme Bias For:
Heath Herring-Josh Barnett-Roxy Modafferi-Kazushi Sakurauba-Murrillo Bustamante-Tatsuya Kawajiri-Megumi Fujii-Dan Henderson-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria-Kazuyuki Fujita-Hideki Kadowaki
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