By Jake Donovan
The year was supposed to end with HBO offering a heavyweight fight featuring its present versus its future, while Showtime was to bring closure to what already rates as one of the most bizarre and controversial rivalries in recent memory.
Top heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko no longer faces undefeated Alexander Povetkin, who weeks ago was forced to watch faded former lineal champion Hasim Rahman take his place in the lineup after suffering an injury in training camp.
Ricardo Torres merely suffered a crippled training camp, as his late withdrawal from his rubber match with Kendall Holt led to a mad scramble for a replacement before undefeated but untested Demetrius Hopkins agreed to pinch hit.
Even if both fights prove to be entertaining in their own way, boxing fans still lose out from a significant standpoint. Even worse is that in a year when boxing saw little return of many of its investments, the timing couldn’t have been worse for either network, both of whom spent the better part of the year – and a decent portion of their boxing budget – investing their time and money in shaping up final broadcasts to help the year end with a bang instead of a fizzle.
HBO’s first non-PPV telecast of 2008 saw a heavyweight elimination match take place between undefeated prospects-turned-contenders Alexander Povetkin and Eddie Chambers, with the winner slated for a mandated title shot against Wladimir Klitschko.
Neither fighter had ever before appeared on the self-proclaimed Network of Champions, but given what was at stake, HBO felt compelled to send a camera crew to Germany.
The fight itself turned out to be good but not great, with Povetkin prevailing in the end, but hardly in a manner that had anyone believing the 2004 Olympic Gold medalist should race toward any title shot in his next fight, never mind against the best current heavyweight boxing has to offer.
The public’s wishes were met, to a degree.
Less than a month later, Klitschko would become the first heavyweight in more than eight years to win a unification match, with his February win over Sultan Ibragimov leaving him with two belts, but now also two mandatories.
Povetkin could’ve just as easily sued to ensure that he would get first crack at the newly unified titlist, but instead opted for a summer tune-up while Kllitschko proceed with a separate mandatory against American challenger Tony Thompson.
In a span of two weekends, both fighters would do their part to preserve their highly anticipated year-end collision. Klitschko stopped Thompson in 11 one-sided rounds, a week before Povetkin would have an even easier time with fleshy American journeyman Taurus Sykes, putting him out of his misery in four of the more embarrassing rounds of the year.
The promotion had plenty of time to build, even with the month-long negotiation period between K2 Promotions and Povetkin’s handlers, Sauerland Event. But by summer’s end, the fight was put together, leaving more than three months to hype up the event.
It turned out to be way too much time.
A seemingly harmless morning run one October morning went terribly awry for Povetkin, tripping over a tree root and suffering torn ligaments in his left foot. The incident would force the undefeated Russian on in the injured list long enough to be removed from the show and forced to wait until 2009 for his coveted title shot.
Gone was the intrigue that came with pitting former Olympic Gold medalists against one another – Klitschko claiming his prize during the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Povetkin eight years later in Athens. In its place, a matchup far too in line with what’s littered the second half of boxing’s schedule, pitting one of the sport’s best (Klitschko) against one of its ghosts of Christmas past in Hasim Rahman (Saturday, 4:45PM ET/1:45PM PT).
Even worse than Rahman getting yet another crack at any portion of the heavyweight crown is how he made it here. True, there were limited options and Rahman happened to be the highest-ranking available contender. But still fresh in the minds of most is his quit job against James Toney earlier this summer, with only an officiating technicality standing in the way of a technical knockout loss and the no-contest that the fight would eventually be ruled.
The closest Rahman’s come to earning the shot was his modest four-fight win streak against a series of journeyman following his repeat knockout loss to Oleg Maskaev two years ago. Granted, that won’t stop HBO from running the hell out of his shocking April ’01 knockout of Lennox Lewis to win the lineal crown, in their best efforts to sell this weekend’s fight as must-see TV.
Plans were already in place for SHOWTIME to run “Holt-Torres – UNPREDICTABLE,” a 90-minute special designed to preview their previously scheduled rubber match this weekend. Included in the package are exclusive replays of not just their July Showtime-aired rematch, but also their first fight, which was only aired locally in Colombia fifteen months ago,
Both fights were mired in controversy. Holt traveled to Torres’ homeland in their September 2007 battle, dropping the defending junior welterweight titlist and enjoying a lead on two of the three scorecards heading into the fateful eleventh round.
That’s when it all fell apart for the New Jersey native, getting buzzed early in the round and suffering a knockdown, not to mention being forced to contend with the flying debris from the rabid – if not uncivilized - crowd on hand in Barranquilla. Under siege and not throwing back enough according to referee Geno Rodriguez, the bout was waved off moments later, much to Holt’s chagrin.
A protest was filed, but he’d have to wait ten months for his chance at vindication.
Be careful what you wish for.
The rematch Holt so badly desired nearly turned disastrous, suffering two knockdowns in the first 30 seconds of his July ShoBox headliner. Torres appeared to be well on his way to a repeat knockout win and possibly permanently removing Holt from the junior welterweight picture. That was before getting caught with a left hook to the body and a follow-up headbutt, the latter perhaps the most damaging blow of the fight.
Torres was all but out on his feet seconds before a follow up right hand would finish him off, sending the Colombian into the ropes, where he unconsciously sat as he was counted out.
All of that, in 61 seconds.
A third fight was an absolute given, with Showtime more than willing to foot the bill. They believed it to be a fitting end to their 2008 ShoBox season that saw a major upgrade in the level of bouts offered on the series normally reserved for prospects. Fans did as well, with many still split on how the rubber match would turn out.
The wait will have to last a little longer. An undisclosed training injury led to Torres pulling out of the fight late Sunday, as reported by Boxingscene.com’s Editor-In-Chief Rick Reeno, Monday morning.
Less than six hours after the story broke, a replacement was found in Demetrius Hopkins. Some argue that the undefeated, albeit untested, estranged nephew of legendary Bernard Hopkins is an upgrade, from a pure talent standpoint. So much that many give him a chance of pulling off the upset this weekend.
The only problem is, such a result would really waste all of the resources Showtime has invested into Saturday’s time slot (11PM ET/PT, from Atlantic City, NJ). Not that boxing has to go the way the networks hope, even attempt to plan. But a Holt win at least keeps alive the possibility of rescheduling a Torres rubber match sometime in 2009, thus hopefully bringing closure to their wild rivalry.
Regardless of what happens this weekend, its original intentions are already shot to sunshine. The winner of Holt-Torres III could’ve went on to bigger and better at junior welterweight, a division that’s about to become the most lucrative in boxing once Manny Pacquiao settles in sometime next year.
The winner of the originally scheduled Klitschko-Povetkin would’ve been mandatory-free for most of 2009, leaving open the possibility of at least one more unification match, if not that one fight that once and for all declares a universally recognized heavyweight kingpin.
Instead, what began as a worthwhile investment into the big picture in 2009 and beyond now becomes a limp toward 2008’s finish line.
Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.