On Tuesday afternoon, while
Top Rank was concluding its media tour in Mexico City to promote its September
15th showdown between WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez
Jr. and Sergio Martinez, Golden Boy was officially kicking off its promotion
featuring Josesito Lopez's challenge of WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo”
Alvarez, taking place from the aforementioned fight just a few blocks away at
the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In the lunacy that is the boxing business, we have
two competing shows taking place just a couple of minutes from each other.
Folks, the “Cold War” has
officially gone nuclear between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank. And they
aren't giving peace a chance.
There's no doubt in Golden
Boy CEO Richard Schaefer's mind that they have the superior show on this date.
He said on this sunny Los Angeles day at La Placita Olvera that, “In typical
Golden Boy fashion, if people liked what they've seen with Victor Ortiz and
Josesito Lopez or with Lucas Matthysse and Humberto Soto or Danny Garcia and
Amir Khan- just to mention the last three; I could go further back- if they
like toe-to-toe action fights where, going into it, it can be ‘Fight of the Year,’
then there's no question where they are going to be- at the MGM Grand on
September the 15th.” Also on this card is a match-up between WBC
featherweight beltholder Jhonny Gonzalez and Daniel Ponce de Leon and a welterweight
scrap between Marcos Maidana and Jesus Soto-Karass. “Those three fights we
announced today, there can be no dispute they are ‘Fight of the Year’
candidates. These are going to be toe-to-toe battles. That's what people want
to see; that's what Mexicans want to see. That's what fight fans want to see
and that's why this is the card you want to be at.”
What's problematic to many
pundits and observers is that Lopez, for all his grit and toughness, is basically
a career junior welterweight moving up to junior middleweight. But the other
two fights put together by Golden Boy look very appetizing. On many nights,
this card (which still has a fourth feature to be announced) would be the focus
of the boxing world. If you haven't heard by now, it will be a quadruple-header
on Showtime while Chavez-Martinez will be distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View.
And this conflict could be
one continuing for years to come because looking at the landscape, Chavez and “Canelo”-
both young Mexican stars with broad fan bases- are just entering the primes of
their careers. HBO and Showtime aren't getting out of the boxing business
anytime soon and certainly, Golden Boy and Top Rank aren't going anywhere. So
yeah, for the foreseeable future, we could see this dispute over the Cinco de
Mayo and Mexican Independence Day weekend pay-per-view slots be a recurring
issue.
“I hope not; I hope this is
a rare occurrence, sort of a bump in the road and that we'll be able to
coordinate better,” said Stephen Espinoza, head of Showtime Sports, who admits this
current scenario is problematic and not good for the overall long-term health
of the business. “Through this year, Showtime and HBO have been able to avoid
date conflicts till really this event and I think that's the way I would like
for it to continue for the good of the sport. But you're right; it's a
conundrum. You've got the two biggest Mexican stars [going head-to-head].”
Regarding this situation,
Schaefer stated, “Well, you have to ask [Bob] Arum that question. We feel that
we have great fights; we have the right fighters which fit these dates and we
are going to do what we feel is the right thing. So I'm not going to be
influenced by what Top Rank and Bob Arum is doing. We have our business; he has
his business. And we run our business the way we want to run our business.”
It seemed for awhile that
both cards would be pay-per-view events in what wouldn't be an unprecedented
event involving the rivalry between the two promotional titans. Back in 2006,
while Golden Boy staged Bernard Hopkins vs. Antonio Tarver from Atlantic City
on HBO Pay-Per-View, Top Rank did an independently distributed card from Madison
Square Garden featuring Miguel Cotto vs. Paulie Malignaggi. This time around,
with Top Rank having the superior main event (and one that was in place well
before a final dance partner could be secured for Alvarez), it was Top Rank
that had the upper hand (and the support of the cable systems and pay-per-view
providers) which most likely led to Golden Boy placing this show on Showtime (“Free-Per-View”
is how Schaefer describes it now, although Alvarez's aborted bouts against Paul
Williams, James Kirkland and Ortiz were headed to pay-per-view).
There was even talk that
this fight would land on CBS. There is still hope that in the future, the “Sweet
Science” will find its way back to this network which televised the sport for
years. “I have no question about it,” said Schaefer with great confidence. “We
had conversations with Showtime and CBS about multiple, different opportunities
and so on. And that's what we do; we discuss opportunities and deals and we
just wanted to put together a strong card, top-to-bottom, with exciting fights
and whether it's going to be on CBS or Showtime, it didn't really matter. We
just wanted to put on a great card. And I know eventually boxing will be on
CBS.” Espinoza said, “I hope so; we discussed all the various platforms,
obviously, pay-per-view, CBS, Showtime. The reality is that this card has gone
through so many incarnations that it was only natural that it segued to
different platforms. But is it possible in the long run? I certainly hope so. I
like what NBC has done and they've made a commitment and I believe CBS is open
to the commitment with the right circumstances.”
For now, boxing at the
world-class levels in the States is seen almost exclusively on HBO and Showtime.
It seems like alliances are being formed between promotional factions and these
network entities which, in effect, separate and divide the sport almost into
two different leagues. It's clear the networks must be agnostic and buy the best
possible content, not just the best possible content from within a promotional
company. “I don't think it's a good development at all. It's not my desire to
do anything but get the best fights and, the reality is, I'm open to criticism
about the fights that I put on the air,” said Espinoza, who added this caveat, “but
not who I get them from. So for me, what people should be looking at is- am I
getting the best quality fights? That should be HBO's concern as well.”
It will be Espinoza’s job to
tell the promoters that whatever conflicts that may exist between rival
promoter isn't really his- or his subscribers’- problem.
“That's absolutely right,”
agreed Espinoza. “[Abner] Mares-[Nonito] Donaire is a good example. That's a
fight I've been pushing both sides for for months and without getting into
specifics, it didn't happen. But that's one where I said, ‘Look, I know very
well the dynamic but that doesn't change my desire for our network in what is
really an exciting fight.”
Regardless, he likes the way
this card is shaping up on his network. “I do; our goal here is to provide a
high-quality card from top to bottom without asking people to pony up extra
money and we want a solid three, four hours of boxing through the whole night
in the action from start to finish.”
And don't tell Schaefer that
Lopez, “The Riverside Rocky,” is nothing more than just a blown-up 140-pounder
(who weighed 144.75 pounds versus Ortiz and began his career as a junior
lightweight back in 2003). “All these boxing writers and media members, they
are like ‘Mr. Know-It-All’ and are very opinionated. Are they ever going to
learn? I was hoping they were going to learn after the [Oscar] De la Hoya-[Manny]
Pacquiao fight when everybody said it was a circus; the commission should
intervene, that this was not right, a smaller guy going against De la Hoya and
they were obviously all proven wrong. And again, a couple weeks ago, Josesito
Lopez went in against Victor Ortiz. They were all proven wrong again and when I
say ‘all,’ I mean ‘all.’ And you saw
the same again last weekend with Khan and Garcia; you could check it out- not
one person gave Garcia a chance.
“And it's funny; you see the
same here again, people giving no chance to Josesito Lopez. So I do hope that
boxing writers are going to be a little less opinionated and they're going to
learn a little but that this is boxing and one punch can change it all.”
(For the record, Richard,
I'm also getting sick of these boxing scribes who are so opinionated and always
give their two cents...)
TIX
For those wanting to attend
the Golden Boy card, here is the 411 (from a press release):
Tickets
priced at $400, $300, $200, $100, $50 and $25, not including
applicable service charges and taxes, go on sale Friday, July 20 at
Noon PT. Ticket sales are limited to ten (10) per person. To charge
by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000.
SWIFT
Speaking of Danny Garcia,
Schaefer made it clear that there was no rematch clause in his contract to face
Amir Khan last week at the Mandalay Bay, where he stopped Khan in four.
“There are different
possibilities for Danny,” said Schaefer, who didn't rule out a rematch but
mentioned, “He can fight a Zab Judah; he could fight an Erik Morales rematch.
One fight I've been thinking about is Yuriorkis Gamboa. So there's plenty
of opportunities out there, big fights for Danny Garcia. It's going to be up to
him and his father.”
Schaefer also confirmed that
Lucas Matthysse vs. Ajose Olusegun will open up the Showtime broadcast on Sept.
8th before Randall Bailey puts his IBF welterweight belt on the line
against Devon Alexander.
LIL' GUYS
Gary Gittelsohn, who handles
the career of WBO flyweight king Brian Viloria, firmly believes he can make a
fight for “The Hawaiian Punch” against WBA flyweight titlist Hernan “Tyson”
Marquez and also deliver a fight pitting WBA junior flyweight dynamo Roman “Chocolatito”
Gonzalez versus Donnie Nietes, who holds the WBO strap. This card could take
place on September 29th at the Home Depot Center in Carson,
California. What he's looking for is an American television network to televise
it.
Honestly, I love this
doubleheader. There was a time when a series like “Boxing After Dark” would
have gladly showcased fights like this. Unfortunately, in the programming
world, there is a belief that as you get to the lower weight classes (say,
anything below the bantamweights), only the real hardcore fans are interested
in such bouts. I won’t argue that but at the same time, you could make this
doubleheader at a fraction of the fraction of the price that other supposedly “important”
fights fetch. Bottom line, these are two very good match-ups that could lead to
bigger things for the winners of these fights. It would be a shame if they were
not televised in the States.
Perhaps you couldn't
headline with these two fights but tell me they wouldn't make for two highly
anticipated warm-up bouts before a main event featuring two larger fighters.
I've thought for awhile that the undercards are for the real fans (who would
care about such bouts) while the main events are often for the casual ones.
Let’s hope something can be
worked out.
SEPTEMBER 15TH FLURRIES
Heavyweight Seth Mitchell
will not be part of the Alvarez-Lopez card, I'm told...On Sept. 15th,
Showtime Extreme will once again televise two undercard bouts before the
featured bouts on Showtime...On Thursday, Sept. 13th, ESPN2 will
televise a card from the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas featuring some Top Rank
prospects...Johan Perez faces Pablo Cesar Cano this Saturday night in Mexico on
a card televised by Fox Deportes...HBO has picked up the delay rights for the Vitali
Klitschko-Manuel Charr fight on Sept. 8th...Is Dez Bryant worth the
hassle?...So did the Lakers get Antawn Jamison or not?...Biggest event of Sept.
15th? No doubt about it, the Miami Hurricanes facing
Bethune-Cookman...Can't wait for the return of “Boardwalk Empire” but right now,
“The Newsroom” is more than filling the void for me on HBO...
