Why are you surprised? Sly once said that Mamadou Thiam would beat Shane. No exaggeration. That REALLY happened.
Doesn't surprise me. HBO has long been known to overpay guys, especially younger up and comers they want to keep off of Showtime. It's one of the things that always bothered my about HBO. They would give Berto or any other guy with a name a Million+ to fight some stiff in a walkover bout, while guys like Izzy Vasquez and Raffy Marquez were beating each other up on Showtime for virtual peanuts in comparison.
:: Thiam. Sly had some other ones that I can't think of at the moment. He really disliked Mosley for some reason. He also said Mayorga would have beaten a PRIME Mosley even though shot Mosley KOd a shot Mayorga. He was wild.
One of the only amusing things DLH ever said was when he was talking about Vargas, who had turned down some lowball money offer from Arum for a possible fight: "Who's he gonna fight? That Mama guy? Even then, he'll probably get knocked out"
Berto has Infinite Blackness. Mosley is more of a badly cooked hamburger. This means Sly goes with Berto Bassett.