By Jake Donovan
Others would've taken it as a sign that it just wasn't meant to be. But the parties involved in tonight's fight card in Nottingham, England stuck it out through thick and thin – very thin - to piece together a formidable Shobox telecast (SHOWTIME, 10:45PM ET/PT).
Between the two televised bouts, the four contestants – Junior Witter, Tim Bradley, Carl Froch and Albert Rybacki – are a combined 94-1-2.
Not a bad lineup, considering the many facelifts this show has undergone.
The card initially started out as a March 29 telecast, with Nottingham's own Froch (22-0, 18KO) to make his ShoBox debut in a super middleweight elimination bout against Dennis Inkin, a German contender who would postpone not once, but twice.
The first delay pushed back the show six weeks to tonight's date, though the optimist could view it as a blessing in disguise. After all, it allowed for the addition of the Witter-Bradley junior welterweight contest, after both fighters also saw scheduled March dates fall through, for very different reasons.
Witter (36-1-2, 21KO) was slated to defend his alphabet crown against another undefeated American contender, Demetrius Hopkins. That bout fell apart the moment D-Hop's relationship with Uncle Bernard, and ultimately promoter Golden Boy Promotions, went sour.
Had it remained intact, the two would've tangoed on a March 22 HBO telecast that featured two separate Fight of the Year candidates – Joel Casamayor's come-from-behind stoppage of previously unbeaten Michael Katsidis and the exclusive replay of Manny Pacquiao's rematch victory over Juan Manuel Marquez.
Instead, Witter had to read the bad news for himself, with Hopkins' promotional issues reported throughout the Internet and even soliciting a response from Witter himself.
Fortunately for Witter, the downtime wouldn't be as long as expected. A bout that would've determined his mandatory challenger made it as far as the scales in Mexico, before former lightweight titlist Jose Luis Castillo added to his weigh-in greatest misses collection, checking in way over the limit for his scheduled March 8 eliminator with Tim Bradley.
That bout would've appeared on the non-televised portion of an HBO telecast. Bradley (21-0, 10KO) lost out on the payday and experience of fighting a former titlist, and outside of California for the first time in his career.
What he received in exchange was an upgrade; a televised title shot against Witter.
The good news became even better, though at the expense of Froch, who saw his bout with Inkin fall apart for the second time in as many tries after the German once again withdrew due to injury. While Froch's handlers scrambled to find a replacement, Witter-Bradley was elevated to main event status.
Through the comedy of errors, Froch received favorable news from one sanctioning body that decided he should be declared their mandatory challenger by default.
All he needed now was a fight.
After the likes of Jean-Paul Mendy, Alejandro Berrio and Kingsley Ikeke all turned down the opportunity to fight the Brit on television, albeit on short notice, his handlers settled on American fringe contender Rubin Williams. The former Contender castoff's present career state (having not won a fight since 2006) forced Showtime to make a decision that would unfavorably level off Froch's good news: delaying his network debut, and instead rolling with a co-feature between unbeaten lightweights John Murray and John Fewkes.
The switch wasn't that great of a deal: Murray-Fewkes was the original intended chief support for the March 29 bout, in fact the only bout to remain intact from the aborted show.
That remained true until a few days ago. Fewkes pulled up lame earlier this week, with a stomach virus forcing the British prospect off of the show.
This would presumably once again leave Froch in a favorable position; only he was still playing musical opponents. It took mere days for Williams to fall out as the adversaire de jour, with travel issues disallowing him to leave the U.S. in time to make the show.
Enter Albert Rybacki (15-0, 8KO). The unheralded Polish super middleweight prospect was already training for a separate contest before leaping at the opportunity to take on a top contender in Froch, with television exposure to boot.
Through it all, SHOWTIME still presents two bouts that are crucial to the future of their respective divisions.
Witter, presently the greatest threat to Ricky Hatton's linear junior welterweight crown, needs not only a win, but also an impressive (read: exciting) performance to remain relevant and continue to force public demand for the all-U.K. matchup that has been years in the making.
While Froch remains next in line for the super middleweight crown that Joe Calzaghe eventually plans to vacate, a letdown would be disastrous at this point in his career.
Standing in their way are two unbeaten, though untested, makeshift contenders who are looking to make the most of the opportunities presented to them. Bradley travels to England as a considerable underdog, but with the promise of bringing "the green belt" back to the states. Likewise, there's no better way for Rybacki to go from unknown to overnight success than to derail the highly touted Froch, in his own hometown, no less.
Despite the multiple changes from top to bottom, "Collision Course" managed to avoid becoming a train wreck. The four principal parties made weight on the first try Friday afternoon, and barring a freak of nature – which would be par for the course at this point – tonight's show goes on as planned, thanks to the tireless efforts of Showtime, Hennessy Sports and the fighters involved.
Before you suggest that it may not sound like much, consider that all of this happened in a week that saw three major bouts – Shane Mosley/Zab Judah, Ruslan Chagaev-Nicolay Valuev II and Matt Skelton- Sinan Samil Sam – hit the disabled list. Judah, Chagaev and Sam all suffered injuries of sorts, forcing the delay. Strangely enough, all three bouts were scheduled to take place on May 31, though in separate venues.
While May now ends with a whimper, May 10 comes in with a bang, even after being banged around for weeks.
Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .