Fighting Words - 5 Questions: Golden Boy/Haymon/Jay-Z

by David P. Greisman

The promotional earthquakes that hit the headlines late last week and reverberated through the weekend weren’t completely surprising.

We’d been waiting on the outcome of a number of stories and rumors. Oscar De La Hoya and the former CEO of De La Hoya’s nicknamesake company, Golden Boy Promotions, had split last year. De La Hoya had pursued $50 million in damages from Schaefer for allegedly not looking out for the best interests of Golden Boy.

While Schaefer ran the company — while De La Hoya was absent or dealing with his personal struggles or in rehab — fighters who had been signed with Golden Boy had their deals run out but still fought underneath the banner, all while being advised by the powerful Al Haymon.

Haymon has been on a signing spree, particularly over the past year, and is expected to have a series of shows beginning on NBC Sports Network and the flagship NBC station beginning in March.

Andre Ward had been in an extended legal battle with promoter Dan Goossen, who passed away late last year. Rap icon Jay-Z had extended his Roc Nation Sports reach into boxing and put out offers on a fight (Peter Quillin vs. Matt Korobov) and fighters (Deontay Wilder, Keith Thurman). Roc Nation had been reported to be negotiating to acquire Gary Shaw Productions. Meanwhile, there had been rumors that the inactive super middleweight champion could have his contract with Goossen bought out and wind up with Roc.

Indeed, Roc Nation now has Ward, all of Shaw’s boxers (most notably heavyweight contender Bryant Jennings and junior-welterweight Thomas Dulorme) and Shaw himself. Golden Boy and Schaefer have settled their case, with that settlement having a huge impact on which boxers remain with Golden Boy and which will now solely be Haymon boxers fighting underneath the banner of whichever promoter Haymon chooses to work with for each specific card.

There’s a danger in boxing writing of talking too much inside baseball — the stuff that only some people care about but that many within the larger overall fanbase pay little attention to. Yet these earthquakes and the aftershocks that are likely to follow are important enough that they merit extended coverage and conversation.

As with so much in the sport, the business that happens affects the boxing that is or isn’t to come.

Here, then, are five questions for which we’ll be waiting on answers over these next few months of 2015:

1. Can Golden Boy reconstitute?

From the moment De La Hoya took back the reins from Schaefer, he was asked which boxers actually were under contract still with Golden Boy. He said he didn’t know.

Many of the bigger names you’ve seen on Showtime in recent years will not be affiliated with Golden Boy anymore.

“De La Hoya severed ties with most of the Haymon fighters that Golden Boy had been promoting on a fight-by-fight basis in return for what one of the sources said was ‘substantial financial compensation’ from Haymon,” wrote Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “So while Golden Boy will likely receive millions of dollars, it also means numerous big-name fighters, many built over the years by Golden Boy, will no longer be associated with the company.”

Among those names, according to Rafael, are (from heavyweight on down) Deontay Wilder, Daniel Jacobs, Peter Quillin, Erislandy Lara, Devon Alexander, Andre Berto, Robert Guerrero, Marcos Maidana, Victor Ortiz, Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, Lamont Peterson and Abner Mares.

A handful apparently still have Golden Boy ties, including Amir Khan (though a December report on ESPN U.K. had Khan indicating otherwise, and Ben Thompson of FightHype.com reported last week that Khan is indeed a free agent), Paulie Malignaggi, Lucas Matthysse and Leo Santa Cruz, but even those are expected to be short-lived, with them heading to whatever Haymon is doing once their contracts run out.

While Golden Boy’s cupboard isn’t barren, this is a remarkable loss of star power. Even the announcements last week that Golden Boy had signed a handful of prospects and other fighters — Nick Arce, Jesus Ivan Delgado, Mercito Gesta, Christian Gonzalez, Gilberto Gonzalez, Antonio Gutierrez, Yoshihiro Kamegai, Everton Lopes, Abraham Lopez, Oscar Negrete, Cesar Quiñonez, Emilio Sanchez and Roy Tapia — won’t change that just yet.

I expect Golden Boy to have fewer dates on Showtime than before because it no longer has the name fighters. While De La Hoya has reopened a relationship with HBO, that network should also prefer to save its money for bouts that are worth it.

This, then, leads to the question of whether boxers who once considered Golden Boy a powerhouse will now opt to sign elsewhere. And there’s also the question of what happens if Haymon signs on as an “adviser” with any more fighters contracted with Golden Boy.

2. What quality of fights will we get from Haymon on NBC and Showtime?

Haymon’s deal with NBC is expected to be announced on Wednesday. But even those rumored 24 fights dates may not be enough for the expansive stable. While Haymon is supposedly buying the air time for the sake of selling advertising and sponsorships, it’s likely that Showtime would remain a customer for some of the names it has been building up and the fights it has been building toward.

It remains to be seen whether we will get them. Last year was a low point in terms of competitive matchups, reminiscent of the days in which HBO overpaid for Andre Berto mismatches. This isn’t something solely done by Haymon; plenty of promoters have taken network money and put on cards with little doubt over who would win.

Haymon has been willing to put a few of his top fighters in with others. That just tends to come after he’s already gotten as much money as possible out of delaying that pairing — see last August’s card featuring Danny Garcia vs. Rod Salka and Lamont Peterson vs. Edgar Santana rather than just putting Garcia in with Peterson.

3. What will Richard Schaefer’s role be?

De La Hoya had claimed Schaefer, who has a partial stake in Golden Boy, was contracted to the company until early 2018. That will no longer be the case, according to a source who told ESPN’s Rafael that Schaefer will not be allowed to promote for somewhere between one to two years. BoxingScene’s Rick Reeno, meanwhile, had sources say they believe Schaefer could be back before this year is out.

Will he end up with Haymon’s outfit? Will he work on behalf of Floyd Mayweather after Mayweather retires?

Schaefer became the public face of Golden Boy and established connections within and outside of the industry. It’s likely he’ll be back in a prominent position soon.

4. Can Andre Ward become a true star now?

As has been noted time and again, Andre Ward has been remarkably inactive since his star-making turn in Showtime’s “Super Six” tournament.

Ward won that with a decision victory over Carl Froch in December 2011. Since then he moved to HBO and fought twice, stopping Chad Dawson in September 2012 and topping Edwin Rodriguez in November 2013.

Part of that inactivity came from an injury that led to a bout with Kelly Pavlik in early 2013 being postponed and then canceled. But much of that time away was due to Ward’s attempts to get away from Goossen.

Ward may also have turned off some fans due to a style in which he effectively negated his opponents.

Still, one or two notable performances can draw attention. And his new promoter, Roc Nation, will seek to capitalize on its investment. The company has experienced former Golden Boy COO Dave Itskowitch running its boxing operations. Ward, for the moment, will be the biggest name Itskowitch has to work with.

Until this announcement, the only TV deal Roc Nation had was three dates with Fox Sports 1. Ward’s deal with HBO will likely lead to undercard airtime on that network for Roc Nation’s other fighters.

5. Will the Roc Nation/Al Haymon battle continue?

First there was Roc Nation’s huge purse bid for a title fight between Peter Quillin and Matt Korobov. Then Quillin’s adviser, Haymon, had the titleholder drop his belt and take some time off even though he could’ve gotten the biggest payday of his career by far to face an opponent he was expected to beat.

All of this because of Haymon’s own plans, and potentially due to the bad blood from a lawsuit filed against Haymon in the past by Jay-Z’s wife, musical superstar Beyonce.

Keith Thurman and Deontay Wilder also turned down contract offers. Will Roc Nation continue to make plays for Haymon fighters?

That could lead to unease if these boxers — who thank Haymon and God before anyone else — don’t end up earning what they could’ve gotten through Roc Nation deals. And that’s yet another reason why it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Haymon and NBC and Showtime.

The 10 Count will return next week.

“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s new book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com