Sharnik Invaluable in Starling’s Corner

It is Monday and Mort Sharnik is on the phone. MTV is calling. It wants George Foreman to be host of a show.

It is Tuesday and Sharnik is on the phone. Dan Rooney, the Pittsburgh Steeler president, is on the other end. Sharnik is interested in bringing an NFL franchise to Connecticut and he wants some advice.

It is Wednesday and Sharnik is on the phone again. Hollywood is listening to an idea Sharnik has for a dramatic miniseries.

It is Thursday and--that’s right -- Sharnik is on the phone. He and Seth Abraham from Home Box Office are hooked into a conference call that also includes Steve Wynn, the CEO of the audacious new Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. They are trying to work out an agreement for Marlon Starling’s next fight.

“I like doing things that are imaginative and creative,” Sharnik said. “I’m always running on the road to some place or on the phone.”

This week Sharnik is with Starling for the WBC welterweight champion’s fight with IBF middleweight champion Michael Nunn. It is a fight in which Sharnik, self-proclaimed as “one of the five most influential people in boxing,” played a central role in piecing together.

Part philosopher, part politician, part promoter and part PR man, Sharnik has been spreading the gospel according to Starling officially and unofficially for the past decade. Sharnik, 60, has been Starling’s principal adviser since 1987, and he followed his career closely before that.

The two comprise one of the odd couples of sport. Sharnik is educated and erudite and is prone to quoting Shakespeare. Wearing his customary bow tie, Sharnik conjures images of turn-of-the-century courtrooms and blustery barristers.

Sharnik may know Starling better than anyone. And with 23 years at Sports Illustrated magazine and nine years as the boxing consultant at CBS television, few are more prepared or have better contacts to help keep Starling’s career moving forward.

“Mort is equally at home with with CEOs as with the lowliest sparring partners,” said Gil Rogin, corporate editor of Time Magazine Inc.

Sharnik has been able to open doors, smooth over the rough edges and, in some cases, pick up the broken pieces to keep Starling’s career percolating.

“What I add is the imagination,” Sharnik said. “I’m a presence for him.”

It was Sharnik who led Starling to venerable trainer Eddie Futch and assistant trainer Freddie Roach. Those two helped Starling refine his skills to consistent world championship form.

It was Sharnik who pled Starling’s case and kept his name in the public’s consciousness after Starling lost the WBA welterweight title in 1988 to Tomas Molinares on a punch after the bell at the end of the sixth round.

And it was Sharnik who served as the point man in drumming up interest in a Nunn-Starling title fight. It took some doing, because no one had been contemplating such a match and HBO still was upset with Starling for pulling out of a fight with Mark Breland last spring.

Sharnik first convinced Ten Goose Boxing, the group handling Nunn, that the fight had potential and then smoothed over the HBO situation. It didn’t hurt that HBO is owned by Time, which also owns SI, Sharnik’s former employers.

“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that,” Sharnik said. “I’m persuasive, because I believe in what I say. I am not a liar and I am not a cheat. I have a history with them (HBO).”

The mutual trust is so strong, Starling and Sharnik have only a handshake agreement--Sharnik could realize $50,000 from his 7% take for the Nunn fight. It is money well-earned.

“Mort does his job,” Starling said. “I couldn’t sell it like that. It would be like I was blowing my own horn.

“I’ve been successful as my own manager because I have honest people (with me). I’m lucky to have Mort Sharnik.”

In Sharnik, Starling has more than a well-paid aide. He has a man who has met or been around every U.S. president since Eisenhower, who had Vince Lombardi as a dear friend and who was in the tight fraternity of friends, media and workers that was Muhammad Ali’s entourage.

Since leaving CBS three years ago, Sharnik has been free-lancing, trading on his expertise and his impeccable reputation.

“Mort is almost unique in this business,” Bob Arum, president of Top Rank Boxing, said. “He is an honest guy, a real straight shooter. His name is gold. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about him.”

In addition to his work with Starling, Sharnik has been handling Foreman’s public relations. Sharnik also is a partner in Banner Promotions, which has been staging fights in Las Vegas and other venues.

Sharnik did some major investigative pieces for SI. His car was bombed once when he was working on a story about pitcher Denny McLain’s involvement with the mob.

Sharnik has written some scripts for television, but nothing is imminent. He also has discussed among friends the possibility of an NFL franchise for Connecticut, but it has not got beyond that.

Boxing has been and remains Sharnik’s true love. And Starling has occupied a special place in Sharnik’s heart.