It's all about the fighters, right? That's often the cry when managers and fighters complain about promoters like Dana White or Don King being front and center before big fights. They're dead wrong and the EliteXC CBS card this weekend is feeling the sting of pushing Gary Shaw (pictured w/Diego Corrales) to the background.

The media is looking for compelling conversation, controversy and some trash talk to hook readers, listeners and viewers. Vanilla fighters and unassuming promoters can be a deadly combo in pitching a fight. Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith are good fighters with crowd pleasing styles, but they just don't talk a good game. Someone needed to step up and pitch the second EliteXC card on CBS. It hasn't happened. Fightopinion.com tracks fight stories and says EliteXC has gotten little coverage.

I can't gauge the interest of the average fight fan from a keyboard but I can do it on the air doing a radio show. The Kimbo Slice fight card was a very good talk radio topic. This EliteXC fight card has garnered almost no interest on the phones. And it's not just radio, the media turnout in Stockton has been very light according to a surprised Ariel Helwani from MMARated.com:

"Surprised that there was virtually no media there. Seriously, maybe a handful...tops. Surprised that the Shaws (Gary and Jared) were no where to be found.
Surprised that no one is willing to give a straight answer as to where they are hiding. Trust me, I asked around. Surprised that there appears to be zero excitement online, around town or even in the local media for this event."

Shaw did a great job as the front man. I'd say he was fired but we still don't have a clear answer of where he is or what his role is now. Pro Elite CEO Doug DeLuca deflected the questions in each of three pre-fight teleconferences (AUDIO). Sam Caplan from FiveOuncesofPain.com saw some clarity in these answers, see if you do:

“Gary is still very involved with ProElite,” DeLuca stated, before continuing. “Gary and our team from day one at ProElite basically took MMA at our company from ground zero to a huge network success. So, Gary’s got a lot to be proud of in the MMA world. In the process of doing it, as you can imagine, Gary being from the East Coast and we being a West Coast company, took a lot of time from Gary. He was traveling nonstop. It took a toll on his boxing business, which is very successful and it took a toll on his family. To some degree, it took a toll on his health. We collectively made the decision that Gary was going to back off a little bit, kind of take a little bit of a relaxed role as far as being involved front and center, which is a good thing for all those three things, for his health, for his boxing business, and for his family."

That doesn't sound like much of a role for a guy with Shaw's experience.

“I would say he’s more or less consulting in terms of all his promoter abilities, all his contacts and everything Gary does. So Gary is kind of behind the scenes with us, kind of shaping the direction of the company, the way it’s going, pulling the strings in terms of how we’re going to promote, what we’re going to do. Again, his involvement is very much similar to what it’s always been. The difference is, he’s not going to be front and center.”

So there it is, Shaw's been removed from his most valuable position, pitchman. His connections with the boxing media and on-air saavy played well with the casual fight fan. It's a bad move for EliteXC. Maybe the card has no buzz because the fighters aren't big enough names or it's a hangover from the UFC/Affliction card last weekend. In any case, dumping Shaw didn't help the cause.