It's
just a few weeks till we officially hit 2012 but like everyone else involved in
boxing, Golden Boy Promotions is setting its schedule for the upcoming year. In
addition to shows on HBO (Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia and James Kirkland vs. Carlos
Molina on January 28th) and Showtime (Victor Ortiz vs. Andre Berto
II on February 11th), they are also setting up their smaller,
developmental cards.
“We're
going to have like 25 live shows with Univision- and I say Univision because
they are the party we have the contract with because Univision owns Telefutura-
and we're going to have 10 “Fight Night Clubs” [at Club Nokia at L.A. Live].
That's the domestic schedule. We are going to be announcing another series but
I'm not ready to disclose that here in the United States. And then we have at
least 12, more likely 20 Televisa shows, which is the largest national free,
over-the-air broadcast network in Mexico.”
As
it relates to Golden Boy, the supposed death of this business is greatly
exaggerated.
On
that issue, Schaefer states, “I just want to clarify the notion of a dying
sport; it really mainly comes from a handful of promoters who feel because
their business is dying that the sport is dying and I just don't think that's
an appropriate reflection. If you ask Bob Arum, he has probably never been as
active and as busy as now and the same for us. So that notion of a dying sport
is negatively spread by a handful of promoters who have, in fact, no dates and
no network deals and so on and therefore, they feel it's a dying sport.
“But
that's inaccurate. Their business is dying- but not ours.”
DC
Golden
Boy is taking some heat for taking Amir Khan into the hometown (Washington D.C.)
of Lamont Peterson, who upset “King” Khan this past weekend for his junior
welterweight titles. Honestly, that sounds like some Monday Morning
Quarterbacking and, in my opinion, GBP should be given credit for putting on an
event that was highly successful and discovering a new market where it looks
like boxing can thrive on a consistent basis.
What
took place last Saturday night was great for boxing in many respects (regardless
of where you stand on the officiating).
“It's
actually funny but I had people asking me, ‘Well, y’ know, Bob Arum is telling
everybody it was ridiculous for us to go to Washington because it's a corrupt
decision and you don't go to Washington,’ and so on. Well, I think, in fact, if
that is the case, then I think it's a much bigger problem than just going there
and I think not going there really does not solve the issues. In fact, there
are issues with certain officials or whatever. Not going there and just
ignoring it, is that the way you fix it? I think what you do is, you cheat the
fight fans out of great fights and obviously, you look at Washington, there are
plenty of fight fans and I can assure you those 9,000, almost 10,000- which
were there- they're going to tell their friends the great night they had and
the next time we go back to Washington- and, by the way, we will go back- we're
probably going to have 15,000 at the Verizon Center.”
The
bottom line is that with the likes of Gary Russell Jr. and Seth Mitchell, Golden
Boy has a lot more business to do in this jurisdiction in the near future. And
D.C. traditionally has had a strong amateur program that regularly churns out talent.
“So I think it's important to cultivate these markets. Some of them big, big
markets like California with ‘Fight Night Club’ but I think it's important to
go to some of the secondary markets as well. And I definitely think that's
going to continue to be a top priority at Golden Boy in 2012.”
REMATCH
If
it were up to Golden Boy and Team Khan, the second chapter of Peterson-Khan
would occur next.
“I
hope that Barry Hunter and Lamont Peterson are going to stay true to their word
where they did promise Amir, us and everyone in the media there that night that,
yes, they would do the rematch,” said Schaefer. “We made them a seven-figure
offer and I'm waiting to hear back from them. But for whatever reason they
decide not to, I would assume they would get stripped of their belts as well
because I'm sure that the sanctioning organizations, given the nature of that
decision, will be ordering an immediate rematch.
“But
let's say for whatever reason they change their mind and they don't want to do
a rematch, then Amir has a date with HBO and there are a lot of names out there
which he could make some exciting fights.”
Regardless,
according to Schaefer, Khan has a date set for him on May 19th at
the Staples Center in Los Angeles. “I asked the Staples people about the first
available Saturday between now and whenever and it's May 19th. So I
told [Chief Operating Officer of AEG] Dan Beckerman to put a hold on that for
us so that we could do that. I'd like to do a Peterson fight but are there
other names? Absolutely. And names that can be as meaningful and as big?
Absolutely. Amir's first preference is obviously to do the rematch but would I
like to see a fight between Amir and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero? Absolutely.
Would I like to see a fight between Amir and the winner of Morales and Garcia?
Absolutely. Would I like to see a fight between Amir and WBA number one-rated
Humberto Soto? Absolutely? So there's a lot of fights out there and, by the
way, each one of the three I just mentioned, I'm sure can sell out Staples
Center.”
IBF
Daryl
Peoples, President of the IBF, confirmed to Maxboxing on Thursday afternoon
that, “We did get a letter from Arnold Joseph on behalf of Golden Boy to ask [IBF
Championship Chairman] Lindsey Tucker and I to review the tape and had asked in
the letter that we order an immediate rematch pursuant to rule 5K, I believe it
is, in our rules. So we did request a tape; we're waiting for that tape to get
sent to us. But as far as a formal appeal under rule 11 of our rules, we
haven't received that yet.”
So
did they refer to the officiating or the scoring of the bout?
“Well...”
said Peoples, with a slight pause, “in the letter that we got from them, they
have a little bit of an issue with both.”
As
for the stories circulating that there was a discrepancy in tabulating the
scores, Peoples said, “From different accounts I've heard, that was an issue
too. We did request all of the original scorecards- well, copies of the individual score tabs from the judges that night and
we're going to look at them. We're going to tally them and see if we can find
any inconsistencies on the individual score tabs against what was announced at
the fights.”
This
will not be a long process, according to Peoples.
“We're
going to try to turn it around as soon as possible because if Golden Boy
doesn't like what we tell them, they do have the option to file an official
protest under rule 12 but that needs to be done within ten business days of the
fight. So it is time sensitive,” he explained.
Just
wondering, will every hard-fought, close contest now be subject to some sort of
review or protest? What happened to just having a competitive fight and moving
on? If you think about it, if Khan has an HBO date waiting for him with the
Staples Center reserved for him, did he really lose all that much? With or without
a Peterson rematch or the title belts, Khan is well taken care of going into
the near future.
“Y’ know,
that seems to be the trend and we've seen it before,” said Peoples, whose
organization earlier this year called for an immediate rematch between Abner
Mares and Joseph Agbeko after their first fight was marred by controversy. “It
seems to come in bunches but, as you know, somebody’s gotta win and somebody’s
gotta lose.”
And
someone's gotta protest.
There
seems to be a belief that the sheet of paper given out to the media on press
row at the fights with the scores handed in by all three judges are the actual
scorecards when really, they are just scores transferred from the scorecards
handed in at the end of the each round by the judges to the referee.
Peoples
explains, “On the master scorecard, you'll see red, white and blue- just as an
example because those are the colors that the IBF uses. But what it is, it's a
snapshot of each of the judges’ individual scores and the person who’s keeping
that master scorecard, all he's doing is copying what's on the individual
scorecards round by round and he's putting it on the master scorecard. Then
he's tallying the total at the end of the bout.”
COOP-A-LOOP
And
the final word on referee Joe “Hangin’ with Mr.” Cooper comes in this email I
received on Thursday:
Loved your “Cooper Recant”, I was like,
finally there’s ONE writer out there who actually sees that rules need to be
followed when it impacts a fight.
Yes, I am a bit biased because I was a
short amateur who always needed to fight inside so two of the fouls employed by
tall boxers that I hated were holding and pushing. Well, duh, I already
took 2 punches just to get inside and now my opponent is allowed to foul and
hold me or MMA me and push me away? I also agree that Cooper should have
stopped the action and gave a clear warning that next push is going to result
in a point deduction.
If fans or writers are cool with
clinches and pushes, go watch MMA (which I love also) where the inside fighter can
body slam or take down a taller fighter to defend themselves. In boxing,
if the inside fighter pays the price and works his way in, the referee really
needs to enforce the rules a la Cooper and Keith Hughes. It was NO coincidence that Khan and Berto were involved in the most
exciting fights of their careers when the referees enforced the rules so their
opponent can actually box them on an even playing field.
JL
SHOWTIME
Why
was Stephen Espinoza still representing Golden Boy and Bernard Hopkins at the
CSAC, regarding the overturning of the first Dawson fight into a no-decision?
Yeah, I realize he may have filed that case originally but given his new role
as the boxing czar at Showtime, while he may have not broken any laws, everyone
that green-lighted this (from the higher-ups at his network to Golden Boy and
Espinoza) sure didn't practice much common sense, given that there is a
perception coming into this job that he will be pro-Golden Boy.
Personally,
I think he should be given a clean slate but this here just has you shaking
your head in disbelief (and trust me, the boxing industry is bewildered by this
hubris). Would Hopkins' argument- which to me, was rock-solid, given the nature
of Dawson's foul on October 15th- have fallen apart if Espinoza had
simply decided to recuse himself from this case?
Who
knows, maybe- just maybe- by making sure that Hopkins had his loss overturned,
therefore ensuring his contract with HBO was still in effect, Espinoza was
actually doing his job for his new employer (Yeah, I just went all Oliver Stone
there).
MAXBOXING RADIO
Here is the latest edition of Maxboxing Radio where
Corey Erdman and I talk about the Peterson-Khan fight and preview the “Super
Six” finals.
STORMY FLURRIES
The WBC mandated a rematch between Bernard Hopkins
and Chad Dawson? I guess they will also mandate sequels to “Gigli,” “Glitter,” “Catwoman”
and “Battlefield Earth”...Both sides have agreed to an IBF junior welterweight
elimination bout between Zab Judah and Vernon Paris...The WBC also mandated
that its middleweight beltholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. face Sergio Martinez (
who had that belt ripped from his boxing trunks for no good reason) immediately
(but both Chavez and Martinez had scheduled bouts on Feb. 4th and
March 17th respectively). This news brought about this tweet from
@FauxBobArum: “The
WBC ordered two fights I don't want to see happen: Hopkins-Dawson and especially
Chavez-Martinez...While the “Super Six” takes place, the best pure slugfest at
168-pounds is taking place in Mexico between Donovan “Da Bomb” George and
Librado Andrade in an IBF eliminator that will be streamed at www.att.net/boxeo starting at 9:30 PM
ET/6:30 PM PT...Geez, “Sudden” Sam Hurd went all Nate Newton...
