By Jake Donovan
Two days ago, March 12 carried an attractive centerpiece for boxing’s 2016 first quarter. The date now represents a gaping hole in the schedule.
On the heels of the postponement of the welterweight title fight between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter, event handlers have opted to disband the entire show altogether.
Efforts were made to salvage the remaining parts, which would have aired live on Showtime as a televised tripleheader live from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. However, there remained immovable conflicts disallowing such plans to carry forth, thus resulting in the entire card being canceled.
Those displaced fights include:
- Gary Russell Jr. in the first defense of his featherweight title versus Patrick Hyland;
- Abner Mares versus Fernando Montiel in a featherweight non-title matchup of former three division champs;
- Edwin Rodriguez versus Thomas Williams Jr. in a ‘sink or swim’ light heavyweight clash
"Every effort was made to move forward with the remainder of this excellent card, despite the tight time frame," said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment. "However, scheduling conflicts and other factors forced us to make the unfortunate decision to cancel the entire event. There are a number of attractive fights on the table and we look forward to presenting all of them to the fans as soon as possible."
Mares vs. Montiel will remain in tandem with Thurman-Porter, with the intention to still air both as a special CBS primetime doubleheader.
Meanwhile, Russell vs. Hyland and Rodriguez-Williams will land elsewhere, either on an existing show or as part of a set-aside date that hasn't yet been announced. The bouts won't necessarily land on the same show, although it remains a possibility.
The event was initially in trouble when it made the rounds that Thurman was forced to withdraw due to lingering effects felt from minor injuries sustained in a car accident a week ago. The welterweight title fight was months in the making, only to hit another stumbling block upon the latest postponement.
There were no immediate injuries sustained by Thurman other than feeling the impact when the airbags in his car deployed after being struck on the rear passenger side of his Shelby Mustang last Wednesday. The lingering effects were enough to scrap the scheduled main event and, thus, plans to air boxing live on free-to-air CBS in primetime.
A showdown between Thurman and Porter was once targeted for last December, which would have headlined the year-end edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC live from San Antonio, Texas. It was instead decided that such a fight should launch a new series, a role with which Thurman has become accustomed, helping christen PBC on both NBC and ESPN in his two bouts in 2015.
PBC brass flirted with the idea of having the fight top the January 23 debut of PBC on Fox, but decided to hold it back for the launching of boxing in primetime on CBS. The intention was have such an event benefit from an all-day lead-in of live college basketball, with several working dates in place before finally landing on March 12.
Instead of serving as a prelude to the start of NCAA March Madness, the clash won’t take place until well after the completion of the tournament.
The intention is to ensure that the other three bouts occur in the coming weeks, as especially Rodriguez and Williams Jr. have been on standby since shortly after scoring separate knockout wins on the same PBC on Spike TV telecast last November.
Regardless of where the balance of the disbanded undercard lands, Thurman and Porter both are looking at lengthy periods of inactivity once the fight is eventually rescheduled. Neither can take an interim fight without express written or verbal consent from the other party due to the language in their existing contracts.
For Porter (26-1-1, 16KOs), it means waiting a little longer for a fight he craved as far back as his last ring appearance. The former welterweight titlist re-emerged among as a top divisional player following a 12-round decision win over Adrien Broner last June.
The Akron, Ohio native – who now lives and trains in Las Vegas – has been stuck on the sidelines ever since. The majority of that time has been spent waiting for the finalization of his showdown with Thurman, who has been out of the ring since last July.
Thurman’s 2015 campaign jumped out to a strong start, headlining the very first PBC telecast in a 12-round win over Robert Guerrero last March. The NBC main event served as the most watched TV fight – network or cable - in 2015, with the telecast peaking at 4 million viewers.
Four months later came the first installment of PBC on ESPN last July, with Thurman scoring a 7th round stoppage of former welterweight titlist Luis Collazo. The show took place in Tampa, Florida, nearby Thurman’s training headquarters in St. Petersburg and his Clearwater hometown.
Had things gone as planned, Thurman would have topped his third series premiere in as many fights. Plans to kick off the CBS primetime series were budgeted as a one-time deal with a wait and see approach, as to determine whether or not to continue the series throughout the year.
It’s possible that the rescheduling of the fight could still help launch such a series, but would depend on when Thurman is healed up and ready to return, as well as what CBS has going on at the time. The March 12 date was prime real estate, the show would have come in following an full afternoon and early evening of college basketball conference finals and semifinals on the final weekend before the launch of its annual March Madness tournament.
Because of specific language in the contract, rescheduling of the fight isn’t a matter of if but when. Unfortunately for both, it means additional time off until a clearer picture can be painted.
Tickets purchased for the March 12 event will be refunded at the point of purchase.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
