By Jake Donovan
Contrary to popular belief among those in the mainstream, the second failed attempt to match together its two biggest stars didn’t kill off boxing once and for all.
Contrary to popular belief among those who defend the sweet science at every turn, however, this is hardly the only problem the sport has faced in recent times.
It’s been well-documented by now that this calendar year to date has been one of the most disinteresting in recent memory, and nothing on the schedule for the immediate future - or any fights in even preliminary negotiations - threatens to change that.
HBO Boxing After Dark color commentator Max Kellerman dug deep at the end of last weekend’s telecast, doing more than just scratching the surface in describing a nasty trend developing within the sport – promoters’ preference to keep everything in-house, and at the expense of freezing out the best of the rest.
The message couldn’t have followed a more befitting example, as undefeated Tim Bradley has struggled as much as any fighter to secure the type of fights that will take him to the next level.
Worse, he resides in a division where his number one ranking to the lineal crown represents a dead-end until Manny Pacquiao states what his promoter Bob Arum has already all but admitted – he has no intention of ever returning to the 140 lb. division, much less to face the sculpted Californian.
But even without the benefit of a Pacquiao or Mayweather manning the other corner to provide Bradley with long-overdue exposure beyond the sport’s hardcore, a lot more could have come of this past weekend. HBO’s interest in his career initially came with the promise of a unification match of sorts with fellow alphabet titlist Marcos Maidana.
That fight fell apart when Maidana first postponed and then pulled out altogether, on both occasions claiming an injury. It was later revealed that the Argentinean was going through managerial issues which he has conveniently worked out once Bradley moved on and agreed to temporarily move up in weight to face Luis Carlos Abregu.
Sometimes fighters pull out of one fight because a better opportunity comes along. Maidana’s next fight will come against faded former titlist DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley.
Not exactly an upgrade.
In a nutshell, Maidana passed on a major payday and the possibility of becoming a unified titlist to instead fight off camera in a stay-busy fight. From there, he hopes that his stateside promoter Golden Boy Promotions will offer him a meaningful fight sometime in the final quarter of 2010, even though the one fight he should be guaranteed – a mandatory crack at Amir Khan – is the least likely scenario.
As absurd as that sounds, his decision is hardly the only head-scratcher in recent weeks and months.
Earlier in the month, it was revealed that HBO was no longer interested in serving as the exclusive stateside network for any fights featuring Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko, particularly when they are fighting overseas.
With that decision came their announcement that they would not invest in Wladimir Klitschko’s lineal heavyweight championship fight against top challenger Alexander Povetkin.
Such a matchup – which is loaded with storylines galore even if not overwhelming with the potential for sustained action – would’ve cost the network $250,000. With the economy what it is today and also the fact that the sport’s ratings aren’t exactly thriving, any efforts to save a buck here or there should be appreciated.
That is, until you consider the fact that for one-third of the amount that they spent on a Boxing After Dark co-feature between Victor Ortiz and Nate Campbell (a fight that meant nothing at all to the promotion on which it was staged), they could’ve hosted a heavyweight championship fight, one featuring rare scenario of pitting Olympic Gold medalists on both sides of the marquee.
HBO’s alleged claim that they are out of the heavyweight business sounds noble in theory – until you hear the fights in which they are interested. They no longer desire to invest any more money into just any given Klitschko fight, but will gladly be first in line should either brother sign on to face beltholder David Haye.
This would be the same David Haye who left the Klitschkos and HBO standing at the altar not once but twice in 2009. The same Haye who has all but went into hiding as both Klitschko brothers have repeatedly called him out throughout the year, and would rather face a never-was, wasted talent like Audley Harrison than challenge for the true heavyweight crown.
But the problems that plague the sport hardly lie solely in the heavyweight division (or with only HBO, for that matter).
Just shy of three years ago, Kelly Pavlik was being sold as the future of the sport. Today, he gears up for the slow road to recovery.
The Ohioan’s last two appearances on HBO-funded telecast have both resulted in losses, first falling way short against Bernard Hopkins in an October ’08 catchweight bout on pay-per-view, then conceding his middleweight crown to Sergio Martinez earlier this year on regular pay-cable.
To say his middleweight title reign was a disappointment would be a major understatement. But the manner in which he and his handlers have coped with both of his career losses has proven to be an even greater letdown.
The loss to Hopkins was followed up by title defenses against a pair of fringe contenders – Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Espino. Neither fight appealed to any of the networks regularly involved in the sport, resulting in promoter Bob Arum staging them as headlining acts for independently distributed Top Rank pay-per-view events.
After twice postponing and ultimately scrapping a planned title defense against Paul Williams, Pavlik returned to the self-proclaimed Network of Champions for his showdown with Martinez this past April. Momentum swayed back and forth before Pavlik fell apart in the final rounds to lose a decision and his middleweight title after more than two years at the top (so to speak).
With the fight came a rematch clause had Pavlik opted to exercise it. He passed, citing a growing difficulty to shrink down to 160 lb., at which point it was believed he would campaign in the super middleweight division.
The decision made since, since HBO was still keen on matching him with 168 lb. titlist Lucian Bute.
What doesn’t make sense is the fact that he can now suddenly get back down to 160, or so his team believes once Top Rank floated the idea of matching him up against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Meanwhile, HBO still has its fall and winter schedule to fill up, and very few attractive fight to offer its subscribing customers.
Martinez and his handlers have lobbied hard for a date on the network, on the strength of their willingness to face any fighter in and around the middleweight division. At the top of their list is a rematch with Paul Williams, against whom Martinez fell just short in a thriller last December.
HBO has pushed equally as hard for the rematch, but Williams – who hasn’t fought at welterweight in more than two years – claims he plans to drop back down in weight as he stands in line with the rest of the boxing world in fantasizing over a crack at Pacquiao.
It’s unclear for the moment what HBO will do should the rematch fail to materialize. In a perfect world. Martinez should be awarded a televised date against an HBO-approved opponent and Williams and his team should be told what to go do with themselves.
History suggests that Williams most likely gets a televised date since even if he turns down the rematch, just because he is the better connected fighter – even if whom he faces is anyone’s guess.
If he doesn’t, then it’s entirely possible that Williams’ lone ring appearance of 2010 will have been his farce of a fight against Kermit Cintron this past May.
Therein lies the more troubling trend developing in the sport – too many of the sport’s top fighters today would rather sit on the sideline in hopes of a big fight falling in their lap than staying busy and improving on their name value.
Similar decisions in any other line of work would cripple any given business, if not put them out of work altogether.
Yet those who run the sport continue to ask for fans to be patient, while coming up with non-answers every time someone begins a conversation with, “So let me get this straight…” in surveying the current landscape of the sport.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
