Just months ahead of a match against current heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, boxer Bryant Jennings will no longer be represented by Roc Nation Sports as promoter Gary Shaw Productions has announced it is breaking off from the company.
Gary Shaw, a veteran boxing promoter with an office in New Jersey, sold his company to Roc Nation Sports in early January and brought a roster of fighters including Jennings, Darleys Perez, Tureano Johnson, Jonathan Maicelo, and Roman Morales to Jay Z’s sports management upstart. Shaw’s split from Roc Nation comes less than a month after his initial signing and he will retain his original client list following the departure.
“We gave it a try and unfortunately it did not work out for both parties,” Shaw told ESPN. “It is an amicable separation. Roc Nation was very professional at our meeting and they allowed me to keep all of my fighters and my company, and terminate any agreements we had together. They gave me back my company.”
Separately, Shaw alluded to the split as a sort of annulment. “We had never actually closed all the documentation to the deal and they were very kind,” he said in a statement to Boxing Scene. “Anything I had signed is now ripped up, for lack of a better term.”
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Shaw’s arrival at Roc Nation Sports came just ahead of the company’s first ever boxing card at Madison Square Garden on January 9. Roc Nation will no longer have a hand in Jennings’ title challenge fight against Klitschko on April 25 but will move ahead with its second card in March as a part of a three-fight deal with Fox Sports 1 according to ESPN.
Last month, former lightweight WBC champ Adrien Broner made headlines after speaking out about Roc Nation Sports’ offer for representation.
“I mean, you know, they sent an email whatever,” he said. “You know, Jay Z didn’t do it literally. They shot the email or whatever, I wasn’t happy with it. The capacity of the contract was $40 million for five years, that’s just bullshit.
“I mean, it is what it is,” he added. “At the end of the day, I felt disrespected. If you gon’ come to me and tell me that I’m gonna fight two times a year getting $8 million a year for five years straight. You got me fucked up. I’m not old. I’m scheduled to fight four times this year.”
