With the increased likelihood of Top Rank being the first stateside promoter to come out of the gate with post-pandemic boxing events, the staff that will be working the events naturally have questions to be asked.
The topic was recently addressed during a recent episode of ESPN’s State of Boxing, a roundtable-style discussion. The show is moderated by Joe Tessitore, the multi-purpose announcer for ESPN who fielded a series of questions to his panel of broadcast partners, fellow former two-division champions Andre Ward and Tim Bradley, and award-winning boxing scribe Mark Kriegel.
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum confirmed on the show that the hope is for Top Rank-presented events “to be operational sometime in June. We are working with commissions in Nevada, California and in Texas. We want to make sure that when we are up and running, it will have to be done without audiences.”
The shows—which will feature no more than five fights per event—will be the first piece of live boxing to take place in the United States in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) health crisis. Such cards will take place behind closed doors and limited to essential personnel—all of whom will be quarantined on site for an indeterminate period and will submit to coronavirus testing and health screenings.
While all parties involved are eager to get back to work, the level of enthusiasms varies.
“Top Rank is one of the smartest promoters in the sport,” notes Bradley, who fought under the Top Rank banner from November 2011 through his retirement in 2016 and has since worked as an ESPN expert analyst. “They got guys like [company president] Todd duBoef who are going to figure these things out. They got guys like Carl Moretti [vice president of operations], guys like Brad Jacobs [chief operating officer] as well at the frontline of this.
“They are going through every worst-case scenario of this. I do believe that June is going to be the time when we see boxing once again. The real reason why is because I believe and know that everyone at TR wanna eat. Everyone at ESPN gotta eat as well, broadcasters included and also fighters. They’re going to do everything they possibly can to make sure this happens in June.”
His ringside peer and fellow in-ring great trusts the process as well, though more inclined to proceed with caution.
“I think Bob has concerns for all of the right reasons obviously from what we’re seeing all across the globe,” stated Ward, who has emerged as arguably the best ringside analyst in the sport, more so since retiring in 2017. “If there’s one thing that concerns me… if one fighter, no matter how much protocol is followed by the other fighters and trainers, if one fighter gets sick the potential to affect everybody and the plan can go awry can easily turn into a failure.
“I don’t want to pessimistic about this. I’m very optimistic about what Bob said. I think this can work. Is it a risk? Absolutely. But this is a sport of boxing. We’re not afraid of risks. We go head-first into things but we do our due diligence like ESPN and Bob Arum are doing. Then you go ahead and take that calculated risk.”
The plan has been in development for weeks and still not yet at a place where it can be considered finalized and ready to announce to the public. However, all of the right steps are being taken which gives hope for the process to work and to provide the path for others to soon follow.
“I like the protocol, I like everything in theory,” Ward points out. “Someone’s going to have to jump up, so to speak and take that calculated risk.
“I think boxing can be the sport to do it.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox