Throughout history there is a long list of men who let their wives/girlfriends run their business and lived to regret it (in boxing Shane Mosley comes to mind).
There are a few success stories here and there, but for the most part this is normally a bad idea, but this is how Tim Bradley wanted it.
Here is how he explained his breakup with long-time manager Cameron Dunkin to SI.com.
“Cameron is a great manager. I can’t say anything bad about him. He cares for his fighters, for the amount of money they are making. Cameron has definitely helped my career in many ways. We did business. We did a lot of great business. The fact that I didn’t re-sign is because Cameron didn’t show interest in me after the Marquez fight. He showed no kind of interest. He didn’t call, he didn’t mention the contract was up, he didn’t try to renegotiate. After the Marquez fight, I never heard from him. So I was like, I think i can do this [myself].
“I have a relationship with Top Rank, with Todd duBoef, with Bob Arum, with HBO. I asked my wife [Monica], you think you can do this? She said absolutely. I’ve been in the game almost ten years now, I know enough. There is no better manager than me. I told Cameron what I want, and he got it for me. Now, I tell my wife what I want and she goes and gets it. She did very well for this fight. I felt it was a great move.”
Bradley goes on to say that Top Rank gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse and will be tied to them for the next couple of years. Dunkin’s side of the story is a little different. Here is what he had to say to Boxing Scene.
“I went through a bad health period at that time and he knows that. He knows I was very ill. It was very hard for me. But he’s right, I didn’t call him [after the Marquez fight]. I did call him once or twice [last year]. I called him, I think the day before the Rios fight and the day of the Rios fight [with Pacquiao],” Dunkin told BoxingScene.com.
“But I did contact Monica. 90% of all of my talks have been with Monica. I just wish he would have reached out to me and given me a chance to talk to him, because I did call him and I did leave a message with Monica and I did send an email to Monica. I never heard back from them.”
“He never sent me anything [regarding his decision to part ways]. He told Todd to no longer negotiate with me on their behalf. I wish they would have let me negotiate on their behalf for this fight, because I think they left stuff on the table and I’m good friends with Todd, but I’m much better friends with my fighters. I love my fighters and I take care of them.
“I did a hell of a job for him and it hurts. I love the kid and I have no bad feelings about him at all. I made him a lot of money, he knows that. And he won the fights. He’s a great fighter. He made me look really smart. I don’t have anything bad to say [about him]. I just wish we would have talked, because I get the fights done for my guys, ill or not, and they make a lot of money….like Mikey [Garcia] the other night and Brandon Rios. My guys make a lot of money and they get well taken care of.”
Only time will tell if this was a smart move on Bradley’s part.
