By Cliff Rold, photo by PBC
Almost two years ago to the day, Al Haymon’s Premiere Boxing Champions began a costly, but daring, venture into expanding the stage for boxing in the United States. While critical successes have been hit and miss at times, and there have been some legal tangles along the way, the PBC arrives this Saturday at a destination that seems now almost serendipitous.
This Saturday on CBS (9 PM EST/6 PM PST), the PBC and Showtime bring us WBA welterweight titlist Keith Thurman (27-0, 22 KO) versus WBC titlist and former lineal Jr. welterweight champion Danny Garcia (33-0, 19 KO). It is a unification battle in a division rich with them, from heralded superfights (Leonard-Hearns, Trinidad-De La Hoya, Mayweather-Pacquiao) to memorable wars just below that level (Brown-Blocker, Mayorga-Forrest).
In a sport which too often fails to see it belt holders collide, welterweight seems more consistent about it than most classes since the WBC and WBA crowns split in the 1970s.
For trivia fans, this is the first unification clash of any kind on free network television in more than a generation. The last time a unification fight took place off premium cable or pay-per-view domestically, Terry Norris won a lopsided decision over Paul Vaden at Jr. middleweight on the undercard of Mike Tyson-Buster Mathis Jr.
Sure, there are too many belts to be won in boxing. That doesn’t mean there isn’t allure when two titlists square off. They both have something to gain, and lose, beyond their purses. That both are undefeated makes it all the better.
Somebody’s “0” must go.
Unless there is a draw.
Or an early cut no-contest.
Outside of that, someone’s “0” goes.
And so too goes what one might call phase one of the PBC. In some ways, this is the only rightful fight that could headline their two-year anniversary. It’s the one things have built to all along, though that picture took time to emerge.
Thurman and Garcia have been the most consistent ratings grabbers of the PBC project and the ones best positioned as stars from the outset. Thurman headlined the first NBC prime time show, winning against former titlist Robert Guerrero with a peak of over four million viewers in March 2015. Garcia fought the following month, winning close against former Jr. welterweight titlist Lamont Peterson to another impressive television audience.
They’ve each headlined a pair of network shows along with those mentioned that outperformed most of their PBC brethren (Garcia against Guerrero and Thurman to strong numbers last year against Shawn Porter) with some other off-free-TV time for both.
This isn’t an economic super fight; the money would force it onto other air if it were. Questions about the strength of ticket sales abound as well. But in non-economic terms, it is a test of the PBC brand that represents a culmination of two years of effort.
If this fight can deliver where they most want it to, in terms of Nielsen ratings, it is a success. And if the fans who tuned in to their previous network encounters remember what they saw there, remember that they were entertained in what were solid television fights, and they tell a friend about the fight this weekend, the chance for numbers is there.
Thurman-Porter wasn’t just a ratings success last year. It was a fight where the viewer numbers increased as the rounds passed. That indicates that, as dials turned and/or word spread that a high intensity fist fight was sitting right there on CBS, more people tuned in.
If those people tune in Saturday, and build from round to round again, this can be a very big night for the sport.
Big time boxing is about a balance between build and payoff. For fans to know they want to see a fight, really want to see it, they need to see the two combatants on the road to each other. No pairing in the last couple years, outside Mayweather-Pacquiao, has featured two men seen by so many.
Could this have been built all along more overtly? Perhaps, but the build has been in earnest since at least last year. Now, it’s an issue of delivery. Can Thurman-Garcia be memorable in the ring?
Can it be the sort of thing that enflames the added eyes that have followed the trajectory of the two towards each other?
If they can deliver, then the first two years of the PBC close on the highest note they can. They will have shown that they can build to an event over a sustained period of time, in house; it’s something that hasn’t quite been the case so far. That takes time. Their proving time arrives this weekend.
It doesn’t mean that a pedestrian affair is bad for the sport or anything. It’s just that a really good fight would be so good for everyone this weekend.
Welterweight might not be in its richest historical period, but the pieces are moving in interesting ways. Pacquiao is still out there. Errol Spence will soon challenge IBF titlist Kell Brook.
And the winner of Thurman-Garcia is going to have their pick of all that litter sooner than later.
One culmination would open the doors to the next avenues of narrative to be played out.
To be anticipated.
To be built upon a foundation that would finally have its full compliment of cement.
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com