[ELA]

I think people may end up being surprised how this plays out. Ronnie Ebanks, like him or not and aside from being a bit eccentric, is an extremely sharp agent -- perhaps the sharpest in the game. I won't argue who is right, wrong, whatever; that could be debated from now to who knows when. Joe made his decision and then so did Ronnie -- period.

Some people think that at this level, the agent is not nearly as important. That is very, very seldom true. Joe Bravo at Monmouth -- not anybody, but almost any competent agent could handle his book. Pat Day, back in the day in KY -- 'nuff said. They used to line up to talk to Fred and Doc. Angel Cordero -- period. There are others. But Joe Talamo, as great as many people say he's doing, and as great as many people think he is -- he's simply not there yet. He's a guaranteed winner of the Eclipse, and has a potentially great future ahead of him. But he still has to lose the bug and keep going.

You lose Ronnie, you lose a big asset. He is a tough agent to replace, and in the room out there, that is tough. Frankel may have asked Joe to come out West, but he asked Bejarano to do the same. Being that Joe got business from all over, now we will see if it continues.

Eric