By Jake Donovan
Nothing is perfect. Boxing will never be, even if many of us expect it to be.
Short of such preposterous expectations, we look for the next best thing, where the good far outweighs the bad. There will always be some bad, but can be tolerated so long as it comes in moderation.
Boxing’s first quarter schedule easily fits that bill.
On paper, the only true stinker among the lot would be the March 14 date. HBO literally and figuratively pays a heavy price for getting into the Chad Dawson business, as the network has opted to green light a rematch with Antonio Tarver.
Given the way 2008 played out, chances are that Dawson-Tarver II will be loathed by everyone all the way to the opening bell, only to turn out to be a night to remember.
If so, then it will fall in line with the rest of the first quarter schedule that precedes it.
There’s nothing like a kick-ass start to a year to get the hearts racing and boxing fans pounding their chest in glory. It was the same feeling we had at this same time a year ago.
The difference between then and now is that the sport was coming off of a strong finish in 2007, the best fourth quarter in ages, when the good fortunes spilled over into the next year. The opening quarter of 2008 was capped by one of the greatest months in boxing history when one Fight of the Year contender after another emerged in March.
It’s a much different tune in 2009. There’s plenty of notable action to look forward to, but sans the momentum from the prior year. It can also be argued that what lies ahead lacks the significance that came with more than a few bouts in the first three months of ’08, but it’s not as much of a factor in the grand scheme of the things. More often than not, a good fight or even a solid night of boxing is enough, regardless of what’s at stake.
Every weekend from January 9 through March 7 perfectly fits that bill, for a variety of reasons and from a variety of networks. In even a period of downsizing (ESPN2 Wednesday Night Fights and Telefutura Solo Boxeo Tecate no longer a part of our boxing culture), there’s plenty of quality and quality to be found in the next three months.
ESPN2 comes out to perhaps the most explosive start of its 11 years in existence, quite a statement considering The Deuce easily enjoyed its best season ever of Friday Night Fights (with a major assist from the now defunct WNF series).
The rule of thumb in the years past seemed to be that undefeated prospects and contenders, as well as rehabbing ex-champions or title challengers, could score a win in fights the equivalent of a pick-up game while planning their next move. Not the case in a 2008 campaign that saw undefeated fighters fall and several on the rebound bounced off the court altogether.
When such success is enjoyed, the temptation exists to simply put it on auto-pilot and hope for lightning to strike twice. Instead, ESPN2 gets creative with its matchmaking, offering a different look in each of its opening three telecasts of 2009.
Next Friday (January 9, Primm, Nevada) offers a doubleheader featuring two of the very best prospects in the game, undefeated Cuban defectors Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis. The following week is headlined by a junior middleweight bout where both sides (Carlos Quintana and Eromosele Albert) are in must-win situations in Key West, Florida after embarrassing high profile first-round knockout losses on premium networks just three weeks apart in 2008.
It’s Nord de Lignes two weeks later, when the Deuce travels to Montreal on January 30 for an alphabet title fight between Herman Ngoudjo and Juan Urango. Both are considered top ten junior welterweights but also in need of a notable win to earn consideration beyond gatekeeper status.
February on ESPN2 is loaded with contenders. The month’s first Friday has Yusaf Mack and Chris Henry throwing down in a fight that will reap major light heavyweight dividends for the winner. Even more significant to the Salisbury (Maryland) crowd that evening is the return of their prodigal son, undefeated middleweight Fernando Guerrero.
Light heavyweights bookend the month, with Glen Johnson squaring off against Daniel Judah six years after their highly controversial draw, also on ESPN2.
Showtime has certainly enjoyed deeper schedules than what’s offered between now and the end of March. On the bright side, good things come in small packages. With its modest offerings in the next few weeks comes quality broadcasts, beginning with the season debut of Shobox on January 16.
The series had been strictly prospect-based since its inception in 2001, but went outside the box last year, offering several title fights staged beyond America’s borders. This year begins with a return to their roots, with several new faces gracing the broadcast.
With the network going black in the opening Saturday of 2009, Showtime Championship Boxing resumes on February 7, when multi-belted junior bantamweight Vic Darchinyan faces longtime rival Jorge Arce in a bout almost two years in the making.
Because “Finally” was used in the promotion preceding the long awaited first match between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson, a different label is obviously necessary for this fight. But it doesn’t make it any less anticipated among boxing fans, particularly those who prefer their entertainment in its most violent form.
The diminutive bangers have been jawing at each other ever since HBO and Showtime decided the two warranted main event status. This being boxing, a head-on collision was delayed for an assortment of reasons, with the wheels coming off of the wagon after both suffered humiliating defeats in 2007.
Arce did enough to tread water for much of last year in putting himself in position for a notable payday in ’09. Darchinyan did more than just enough in ’08 – he put together a campaign that would’ve netted the transplanted Armenian Fighter of the Year honors in most other years. With Manny Pacquiao enjoyed the type of year he had, the best Darchinyan could land was Top Honorable Mention thanks to shockingly one-sided knockout wins over Dimitry Kirilov and Cristian Mijares in back to back fights, collecting three junior bantamweight belts in the process.
Darchinyan-Arce was regarded as more of a pick-‘em two years ago. Today, many believe Arce to be on the downside of his career, and at best, competitive for a time in this fight before getting blasted out of there. Also universally agreed upon is that the fight is can’t miss from an action standpoint.
It is in that regard in which HBO posts a first quarter schedule that has boxing fans believing the self-proclaimed network of champions finally gets it. Shane Mosley is given one more crack at a major title; in order to do so, he’ll have to get past the best welterweight on the planet in Antonio Margarito (January 24, Los Angeles).
One week prior and a little further down the welterweight ladder, undefeated Andre Berto steps up for the biggest challenge of his career when he takes on Luis Collazo. It’s easily the biggest step up in the young career of the 2004 Olympian. Collazo has been on this stage before, but with little to show for it. Still, the heavily tattooed New Yorker brings enough to the table to give Berto a different look, at the very least. At best, potentially the first notable upset of 2009.
HBO allows the NFL (Super Bowl, February 1) and Showtime (February 7) to do their thing before resuming with two action-packed shows in the year’s shortest month.
The fight doesn’t yet have a home, but wherever it lands, the February 14 junior middleweight throwdown between undefeated upstart Alfred Angulo and faded trash-talking Ricardo Mayorga will be explosive for however long it lasts.
Chicago is the most oft-rumored destination, which would truly follow suit with a far more famous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, when Sugar Ray Robinson beat down long time rival Jake LaMotta for the middleweight title on a day normally reserved for lovers.
There’s no love lost between Angulo and Mayorga – really anyone and Mayorga. Both have already begun the war of words and will no doubt bring it to a boiling point and beyond by the time the opening bell rings. As if their fight needed any bells and whistles, serving as a primer will be a lightweight scrap between three-belt titlist Nate Campbell and dangerous mandatory challenger Ali Funeka.
Even more dangerous is the road lineal lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez must travel in order to preserve his standing as one of boxing’s very best. The one active fighter who comes closer than anyone else to slowing down the Manny Pacquiao express, Marquez has not only agreed to take on Top 5 lightweight Juan Diaz, but travel to his challenger’s hometown of Houston, Texas in a fight everyone believes will rival Margarito-Mosley as the best fight of the quarter.
Missing among the lot is boxing fans having to hit their pockets any more than is already the case with their monthly cable or satellite subscription. That’s not to say that the first quarter is completely free of pay-per-view events – Bob Arum had to find a home for his stable of super stars. With none of the proposed matchups particularly appealing to HBO or Showtime, the Hall of Fame promoter hits his own pockets – one of the very few in the sport willing to do so – in securing fights on February 21 for Miguel Cotto and Kelly Pavlik, both of whom return for the first time since suffering the first defeats of their respective careers.
It’s easy to grumble at the thought of watching Cotto-Michael Jennings and Pavlik-Marco Antonio Rubio on PPV, but Arum’s plan for the evening is certainly innovative. Cotto-Jennings will take place at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden, while Pavlik’s faithful fanatics in Youngstown, Ohio are treated to a long overdue homecoming.
Both bouts will appear on the same telecast via split-site, with the lion’s share of the televised undercard to come from Cotto’s show, with fellow boricuas Ivan Calderon and Juan Manuel Lopez rumored for showcase title defenses. If the lineup holds up, then the question must be asked: the matchups notwithstanding, when was the last time you saw a telecast as strong as Cotto, Pavlik, Calderon and JuanMa in one sitting?
With so much to look forward to in the next couple of months, perhaps it’s fitting that the sport take a step back in mid-March when Dawson and Tarver dance for a second time. There may not be such a thing as too much boxing, but the old phrase “too much of a good thing” certainly comes to mind.
If it lives up (or down) to expectations, then Dawson-Tarver II will prove to be the perfect night to sit back and take in what the preceding nine weeks offered. At worst, the evening proves to be the exception to the rule – as in a first quarter that truly rules for boxing fans.
Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
