Promoter Gary Shaw still says he isn't accepting any less than a 50-50 split to put Winky Wright in with Floyd Mayweather Jr., but Bob Arum said he was a hasty in declaring the fight dead last week. Despite Shaw's claims that he tried to shift the split from 50-50 to 55-45 in favor of Mayweather at the last second, Arum said they never agreed on an equal split and he was merely ratcheting up negotiations. "We never had an understanding either way," Arum said. Arum is now insisting he can do a deal with fellow lawyer Jim Wilkes, Wright's adviser, in 15 minutes. Shaw has given Wilkes his blessing. "If Arum or Wilkes think that two attorneys (can get it done), then they should," Shaw said. "There's no pride of authorship in making a fight." Arum said he was meeting with Wilkes in person or by phone late Monday or first thing today, and thinks a Wright-Mayweather fight is a possibility for Nov. 12. "Hopefully between Jim and myself we can put it together," Arum said. "There's a lot of ways to skin a cat. Jim and I as lawyers are in these type of negotiations all the time. We're innovative people and will come to a solution. But who knows, I could be wrong." Shaw insists Arum played dirty, changing the money terms and the two had already wrangled over a series of other demands by the Mayweather camp. "I'm not going to play games," Shaw said. Money is the only thing making this fight worthwhile for Wright. The matchup with Mayweather is a lose-lose proposition for the 160-pounder, unless the right cash is there. If Wright beats Mayweather, the analysts will say: well, he darn well should have beaten him because he's so much bigger. If Wright loses, he'll have fallen to a much smaller fighter, delivering a hit to his marketability. No wonder Wright sounds as enthused about this fight as he would another matchup with Bronco McKart. For the 140-pound champ Mayweather, it's win-win. He'll be a legend if he moves up two weight classes and beats Wright. If he loses, he will be applauded for his guts and courage. "Winky has everything to lose but nothing to gain," Shaw said. "Mayweather has nothing to lose and everything to gain." Wright is behind Shaw all the way. After years of being low-balled by promoters when he wasn't being avoided by them, Wright's "straight-up money chase" no longer involves being taken advantage of. In regards to the 50-50 split that Shaw is insisting on, Wright said he wouldn't do the fight for less (especially now, how could he?). As for Shaw last month turning down $6-million (plus $6 per pay-per-view buy above 600,000 homes) to fight Oscar De La Hoya? "He offers everyone else $10, 15-million," Wright said, referring to the $10-million Felix Trinidad got for beating De La Hoya in 1999. "I ain't doing it." TRIFECTA: In an interview last week, Tampa's Antonio Tarver hinted that he had a big fight coming up Oct. 1 but wasn't ready to reveal his opponent. But only one fighter could make him as excited as he seemed: Roy Jones. According to Tarver's promoter, Joe DeGuardia, "I think it's fair to say we're close." The two Florida fighters have split a pair of previous matchups. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: Monday was the 13th anniversary of a notable if not forgotten date in the history of Tampa Bay boxing: Tyrone Booze's seventh-round knockout of Derek Angol for the WBO cruiserweight championship in Manchester, England. Booze, who lives in Clearwater and was trained by Jim McLoughlin of the Fourth Street Boxing Club, won what is believed to be the first major title by a bay area fighter in dramatic fashion in 1992. He was a 33-1 underdog against Angol, who was 26-0 with 22 knockouts. Booze was 15-10-2 with just two knockouts, but put Angol away with a left hook and a straight right in the best performance of his career.