By Jake Donovan 

There were plenty of in-the-ring fireworks this Independence Day weekend, yet most of the water cooler talk that took place in the past few days bore greater resemblance to one long whine-tasting convention.

Before boxing fans were informed that the folks who run HBO are a bunch of racist bastards, it was discovered that they are not alone in the master plan to make Golden Boy Promotions the only game in town.

Late last week, prior to his own promotion no less, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum threatened to sever all future ties with MGM Properties. The beef is over their reluctance to leave open an option to house his planned November 8 event, featuring the sport's pound-for-pound best Manny Pacquiao in a lightweight fight against Edwin Valero.

Why in the world would any Vegas establishment pass on a major fight? For this instance, they're already booked with two other major fights, November 22 and December 6.

Both events just so happen to be presented by Golden Boy Promotions.

The news didn't sit kindly with Arum, who insisted that the Los Angeles-based promotional outfit is flexing their muscles to keep him out of town during a traditionally strong month – for both ratings and attendance - for the sport.

If Top Rank and MGM already had a date reserved, only for it to be yanked from underneath his chair in favor of any promoter – be it Golden Boy or anyone else, then there's a point to be made. Even if there was a discussion beforehand to possibly host a Pacquiao fight in November, informal or otherwise, only for MGM to instead renege and go in a different direction, Top Rank could at least garner a sympathy feel from those who still find value in handshake agreements.

But to pitch a bitch about being turned away in a town where two other major events are already booked beforehand? People will look up so many times before they get tired of hearing rumors that the sky is falling.

It doesn't help any that Arum's latest rumblings follow last month's tirade that the foundation is being laid for Golden Boy becoming HBO's promoter of choice. The multi-year deal in place calls for HBO to buy X amount of fights from the promotional company, in effect helping them basically corner the boxing market in using their influence with the network to help sway fighters to sign with their company. 

The news was met with much criticism, and while it wasn't Arum who initially kicked up the dust, many found themselves siding with the Las Vegas-based promoter once he voiced his opinion on the subject.

His latest outburst might have people thinking twice before jumping to conclusions.

It's also being suggested that everyone else is being frozen out of televised dates, while Golden Boy can pick and choose slots at their leisure. The aforementioned proposed output deal in place between HBO and Golden Boy would seemingly lend credence to such a statement. But not when you glance at what's just taken place and immediately lies ahead.

In a span of nine weekends, a whopping 11 shows have Top Rank involved in the promotion, including six involving either HBO or Showtime. In that same time period, Golden Boy has five – none of which appear on either premium network. The only groundbreaking news among that period is their upcoming premiere on ESPN2 (July 23).

Going back to the June 6 card in Reading, Pa (presented in association with King's Promotions), Telefutura has hosted or will play host to four cards involving Top Rank (6/6, 6/20, 7/11, 7/25). One each has appeared or will appear on Showtime (last Saturday), Versus (June 26) and TV Azteca (this Saturday, featuring Julio Cesar Chavez Jr).

Beginning with Kelly Pavlik's mandatory title defense last month, HBO will also present four separate Top Rank cards by August 2. The Pavlik fight was on regular HBO, as will be next month's welterweight crossroads fight between Joshua Clottey and Zab Judah. The Manny Pacquiao-David Diaz lightweight fight late last month was the first of two HBO PPV events in store for Top Rank, a mere four weeks apart.

The next one is the year's most anticipated bout, between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. Once word got out that no countdown show was in store, Arum screamed the C-word, with headlines appearing in print and online across the globe until HBO eventually wilted.

What went unchecked was the fact it's the first card since May that will get the Countdown treatment. The last was Oscar de la Hoya's first non-PPV event in seven years, which of course raised eyebrows, as it was the second straight regular HBO event to receive a Countdown special (Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins), both of which were promoted by Golden Boy.

For the moment, it's the only show scheduled to get an extra 30 minutes of airtime from HBO. There was nothing for Pacquiao-Diaz, despite the fact that Pacquiao is arguably the world's best fighter and rapidly emerging as the sport's biggest full-time box-office attraction. It's possible that no Countdown special will accompany the September 13 Joel Casamayor-Juan Manuel Marquez pay-per-view event. Nothing was ever scheduled for the eventually cancelled Shane Mosley-Zab Judah May 31 card.

Some suggested racism had a hand in the last card not receiving anything beyond the standard treatment. The argument was quickly dismissed, but could once again gain some legs after the latest accusations being levied against the network.

Former undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. spoke out for the first time since his sudden retirement a month ago, though perhaps adding to his reputation gained in recent years as boxing's ultimate villain.

Once upon a time, the media ran with comments made by Mayweather that a proposed contract offer made to him by HBO was akin to being offered slave wages. What was left out of the quote, obviously for the sake of sensationalism, was that his comment was meant in comparison to what other fighters (namely Naseem Hamed, who didn't earn a penny of his contract while an exclusive member of boxing's super power) were making at the time.

This time, there's not as much wiggle room.

There's a hint of truth to his suggestion that the network – any network, really – favors a certain style of fighters, preferably those who willingly trade and slug rather than take a safety-first approach from bell to bell. Where he loses the listening audience is the insistence that it has everything to do with skin color.

Yes, HBO has recently gone ga-ga over Kelly Pavlik, the reigning middleweight champion of the world. But it took for him to destroy Edison Miranda, a dark-skinned Colombian who received a 10-minute pre-fight special that preceded their May '07 showdown – ironically, with Team Pavlik stuck in a tunnel by the locker room because the HBO production crew wouldn't let anyone out until the segment ended.

Even that only got one foot in the door; next step was to climb off of the canvas to knock out Jermain Taylor. This would be the same Taylor who manages to land hard right hands any time he throws a punch, at least according to Jim Lampley, whose affinity for the African-American is exceeded only by his open bias for Oscar de la Hoya and Marco Antonio Barrera.

True, Mayweather's hardly earned similar glowing reviews when he was under contract with the network. It's the price to pay when you're regarded as the best fighter in the world; naturally, you're held to a different – read, higher – standard.

When your fights start and end in the same predictable manner, to which the attending crowd offers more jeers than cheers during the action (or lack thereof), criticism naturally follows. When you score a highlight-reel knockout, like the one he delivered in the final fight of his career against milky white Ricky Hatton, the achievement comes with its fair share of accolades – like being named Fighter of the Year, even though a similar, if not stronger, case could be made for a few other fighters, pale and otherwise.

Let us not forget the number of years Mayweather was free and clear to cherry pick his way through his HBO contract. While tough challenges awaited at lightweight (post-Castillo), junior welterweight and welterweight, the artist formerly known as Pretty Boy was literally racking up millions while driving the Rolls Royce at golf cart speed with HBO-aired competition like Victoriano Sosa, Phillip N'Dou, Henry Bruseles and that version of Sharmba Mitchell.

That someone like Winky Wright of all people would co-sign on such ignorance is even more laughable. How much was Wink paid for a December '06 tune-up against Ike Quartey? A payday that, it's worth noting, accompanied the lowest-rated HBO boxing telecast of the year, and coming AFTER he rejected a lucrative offer for a Jermain Taylor rematch just because it wasn't close enough to purse parity.

Once upon a time. Wright rejected an $800,000 payday to fight then-undefeated Shane Mosley in early 2002. It was Wright's belief that since Shane was moving up in weight to fight for his title, the bargaining chip he held was worth more than what was being offered.

A fair argument, and one that HBO didn't seem to take too personal. He still appeared on the network, in fact the only fight from that point until today to have not aired on HBO or its PPV arm was a February 2002 optional defense against journeyman Jason Papillion. The only reason it didn't make its way to prime time was because HBO offered a split venue doubleheader that evening, featuring Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones in separate fights (Wright's bout took place on the under card of the show Jones headlined).

Thanks to his affiliation with Roy Jones at the time, Wright regularly cleared paychecks in the mid-to-high six-figure range against opposition that a fighter like Kassim Ouma was facing (and beating) for perhaps 10% as much – and on a good day.

His last fight with Jones' Square Ring Inc. was the first match with Shane Mosley. Every fight since then has been two-comma paydays, purely based on merit since he's never proven to be a draw on his own.

Multi-million dollar paydays. Multiple televised dates at a time when the sport and the country is undergoing a recession. It amazes me to think what the sport would be like if any of these accusations came with a shred of validity.

MONDAY MORNING MAILBAG

A wide variety of subjects covered in between the last mailbag and this edition. Three worth noting – one on the failure of the sport's power players to clean up today's mess, another calling for the rebirth of a Roycott and the last disagreeing with the media's take on last weekend's junior welterweight shootout between Kendall Holt and Ricardo Torres.

Thanks for clearing up the difference in linear champs and alphabet titles in your article about pacman(i still have a headache). I've been following boxing most of my life and this shit still confuses me. I think pacman should stay at lightweight because there's a lot of good fights for him there but if he gets a shot at hatton at junior welterweight he should take it. it would be a great fight and he would knock him out.  

I cant believe calzage wont fight pavlik so he can fight roy jones. what a disgrace. i didnt hear calzage callin out jones 10 or even 5 years ago. but now you want 2 face a man past his prime. calzage is scared cause he knows pavlik would knock his ass out. i wouldnt watch this fight if it was on free hbo. i would encourage people to boycott this fight. dont get me wrong i was a big roy jones fan but hes washed up and theres 2 much young talent out there. calzage hasnt showed me nuthin. lacy was overrated, manfredos claim 2 fame was contender and that fight was stopped early and kessler was just another european fighter with an inflated record.

One more thing i predict margarito will knock out cotto but cotto wins the rematch and hopefully will have another great trilogy..you heard it here first. - Fresh2Death18

Jake's Take: My pleasure on clearing up the confusion. Aside from being a student of the game, I benefit from having a human boxing encyclopedia in my father, which is how I can readily track lineage without having to trace back very far. All you need is a starting point for titles and trace from there - that's how you come up with REAL (linear) champions.

The Ring is a useful tool for those who got lost in the sea of alphabet titles and no longer recognized from where those reigns originated. Where they get it wrong is refusing to acknowledge past lineages prior to the their revamped championship policy, and it only leads to more confusion. More often than not, their champ and the linear champ is one and the same, but there are notable exceptions - one of which is many failing to realize Pac was a linear flyweight champion.

I agree with you on Pac's course of action. I obviously have no problem with a Pac-Hatton; what I do take issue with is the plan for Top Rank to have Pac tread water until that fight happens. They can spare me the credentials on Soto and Valero; both fights should've taken place at 130. Their moving up to lightweight to face Pac without proving themselves at the weight means little to me.

I have mixed emotions on Calzaghe-Jones. A Calzaghe-Pavlik fight would've been ideal, but the moment it was mentioned I knew it was nothing more than a smoke screen to atone for the fact that Pavlik will instead wind up facing Marco Antonio Rubio or someone along those lines.

I don't have much problem with Calzaghe-Jones, other than agreeing with you on it being upwards of 10 years too late. But win, lose or draw, if Roy intends to hang around longer, then the only other fight that matters at this point is a rematch with Glen Johnson. With Glen's strong showing against Chad Dawson, there's no better time for Roy to pursue the only loss on his record that remains unchecked. Even in losing two straight to Tarver, he still has one win over him, and given their rubber match, I have NO interest in seeing Part IV.

Thanks for the note, stay in touch and keep reading.

Dear Jake I would love you to answer this question for me. I am so damn tired of Golden Boy Promotions saying they are doing great things for the sport. If they are doing so good, I ask them a simple question: how much has the sport of Boxing grown in popularity over the past 7 years since they have been around? The answer is: very little, and if it hasnt grown that much what makes you think it will grow even more under their leadership in another 7 years.

Golden Boy along with Top Rank always talk about getting Boxing back to mainstream success, yet they have all the premiere fighters and not one time have they put them on live HBO against elite competition or have been in negotiations with any of the big three networks to get them on TV.

Are they honestly going to lie to my face and say all three big networks or all respected basic cable channels would reject a fight with Oscar and Floyd Mayweather or a card featuring Manny and Miguel Cotto on the same bill. I mean come on if they really wanted Boxing back in th sports page they could have had it done already! In just three years the UFC has accomplished what Boxing hasn't been able to do in the last 20 years (and trust me I love Boxing far more than mma) Anyway that's the damn truth! Please answer this Jake. Thanks - David Ortiz Jr

Jake's Take: Hey Li'l Papi, I'm 100% in agreement with you, and believe it or not, those who still actually report are calling both companies to task. Elite XC making its way to CBS opened up a lot of eyes; I believe boxing fans (and writers) are now getting a feel for just how far our beloved sport has dropped off, and just how full of shit today's promoters are.

The answer Golden Boy will give you is that their events generated over 4 million PPV buys and an absurd amount of revenue last year. But beyond the numbers, their interests are self-serving, none of which has been for the greater good of the sport.

In a way, Top Rank is just as bad. Yes they're putting on better cards, but in playing the innocent victim role to GBP's corporate raider, they've actually done a good job of screwing the pooch in recent years, much of which remains unchecked by today's soft media coverage.

Now they're claiming an aggressive push to take boxing to the networks, but I say I'll believe it when I see it. I have to laugh when I see respected news outlets like ESPN taking a promoter's word at face value. The truth is, the sport's no closer to returning to free TV than it was at the start of the 21st Century.

And just how morally bankrupt has the sport become? The fights you mentioned are automatically assumed by todays standards to land on PPV. How sad that we can say with a straight fact that Cotto-Margarito is WORTH a $50 price tag on TV, when the equivalent of other sports is already on ABC, CBS and Fox.

Thanks for the note. Keep in touch, and keep fighting the good fight!

Your summary of the (Holt-Torres) fight is terribly biased and innacurate. You wrote on MaxBoxing: "Holt landed a left hook to the body. Torres doubled over, at which point their heads appeared to collide."

That is complete rubbish. I'm not sure if you're intentionally skewering the event to praise Holt or legitimately missed it. Here is a video of the incident in slow-motion, where Holt's only meaningful "punch" is the headbutt. The body shot had no affect, Holt's only counter was the concussive headbutt, which put Torres into a sitting-duck position to be knocked out.

It's unjust the way you and other media outlets are representing this fight as an incredible comeback by Holt, when in fact it was sheer luck that Torres was in a defenseless position to be knocked out. Torres is being unfairly criticized for being the victim of an unintentional, but fight-altering, foul.

Thanks for reading, - Dan

Jake's Take: I agree with you on the headbutt part; a better term should be that their heads collided, not merely appearing to collide.

We agree to disagree on the body shot. It had an effect on Torres, though not as much as the headbutt. Still, not even Torres is claiming the butt permanently altered the course of the fight - he thought he had Holt, and wound up getting caught and eventually put into a position where he could get knocked out. If anything, he's consistent with his belief that fists do the talking; to this moment, he still sees no controversy from the first fight.

All that said, Holt was a punch away from being knocked out inside of a minute. Headbutt or not, that he was that clear-headed to be in that position is in fact a remarkable comeback. Nor is anyone criticizing Torres - I called it the round of the year, and don't discredit Ricardo in the slightest. Honestly, I didn't think much of either fighter going in. I thought Torres was overrated (particularly his power) and that Holt would stink his way to a decision. I was wrong on both accounts.

Thanks for reading, though, and taking the time to offer your feedback. Hope this difference of opinion doesn't prevent you from reading more of my material on Max and B-Scene.

Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com