By Jake Donovan
There was no time like the present at this same point a year ago. There was plenty to be thankful for as the boxing family collectively gazed at the upcoming schedule as well as the immediate results.
The highly anticipated Floyd Mayweather Jr – Ricky Hatton showdown was still two weeks away, but we were already in a position where the fight would be the cherry on top rather than the only fight boxing fans anticipated in the final quarter of 2007. The fight would be the third in a span of 11 Saturdays where two undefeated fighters collided in a bout where a lineal title was at stake, with plenty of significant matchups in between.
To say that 2008 as a whole hasn’t produced quite the same magic would be a massive understatement. The same mouthwatering matchups that made 2007 and even the first quarter of ’08 so memorable were suddenly replaced with blasphemy from the past.
It’s not to say the year has been a total loss. This past March went in the books as one of the greatest months in recent years, with every weekend producing Fight of the Year contenders. Chief among them was Israel Vazquez’ split decision nod over Rafael Marquez to wrap up one of the greatest trilogies in boxing history.
It was a month where every weekend offered plenty of Monday morning water cooler talk, and not just limited to the sport’s biggest spenders, HBO and Showtime.
The big two dominated most of the month – Showtime with Vazquez-Marquez III and David Haye’s utter destruction of his top threat in Enzo Macarrinelli, HBO posting contenders for the year’s best fight (Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez II, Joel Casamayor-Michael Katsidis), upset (Nate Campbell-Juan Diaz) and knockout (Samuel Peter-Oleg Maskaev).
But the final two weekends would belong to the lower-budget shows. One night before Joel Casamayor turned back the clock against Michael Katsidis on HBO, previously unbeaten middleweight prospect Andy Lee had his clock cleaned by Brian Vera on ESPN2.
Two Spanish-speaking networks got in on the act the following Friday. Juanito Garcia suffering massive upset knockout loss against Cornelius Lock on Telefutura, about two or three hours before a six-knockdown junior lightweight war would end with Ivan Valle flat on his back at the hands of Jose Reyes in what was easily Telemundo’s best fight of the year.
Then, it ended. Not boxing altogether, just that same Midas touch that had boxing fans banging their chest in celebrating the sport they so love.
The July blockbuster between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito couldn’t come quick enough, but sadly would also prove to be the last truly memorable matchup of 2008, which doesn’t say much for the four months that have preceded it or what’s left in December.
Littering the second half of the boxing schedule have been the same type of disinteresting showcase bouts that helped send the sport into the same rut it found itself prior to last year. The sport’s desperate attempt to recycle, coupled with the current state of our economy, resulted in lackluster attendances and even less-inspiring television and pay-per-view ratings.
It’s been a year so disjointed that even when met with good news, it was immediately trumped with the bad.
ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights posted its finest season since its return a decade ago, and was also accompanied by an unforgettable run on its Wednesday Night Fight series. An end came to the guarantee that undefeated fighters and top contenders would escape unscathed, with upsets galore gracing the spring and summer lineup.
What also came to an end, however, was the Wednesday Night Fights series, with August 13 becoming the last ever mid-week boxing edition from The Deuce. It was hoped that it was merely a measure of downsizing, but that a greater investment would be placed into Fridays. Alas, it was strictly a financial decision, with any funds dumped into the Wednesday series completely removed from 2009’s budget.
One month after boxing learned it would lose at least a dozen televised dates in ’09, 48 more were removed from the itinerary with the announcement of Telefutura’s Solo Boxeo series coming to a close at the end of ’08 after more 400 telecasts.
The greatest irony to come from the announcement was that its best fight of the year would come hours later, as Rogers Mtwaga kept his career afloat with an off-the-canvas bailout knockout of Tomas Villa earlier this month.
A brief ray of light came with the announcement that Versus was revamping its Fight Night boxing series. After having spent the past two years in a nearly exclusive deal with Top Rank, the network opened the doors to any promoter willing to put on worthwhile boxing action.
The dates quickly filled up, airing shows in September, October and November, with three originally on tap for December, as well as Season Four of The Contender. What has yet to follow, unfortunately, is anything in the way of competitive, or even compelling, boxing action.
December 11 should change that, with Tomasz Adamek and Steve Cunningham vying for the vacant lineal cruiserweight crown. That’s the good news. The bad: its December 4 telecast has now hit the scrap heap. Winky Wright, who was to return to the ring for the first time in 17 months, suffered an injury in sparring and was forced to withdraw, prompting Golden Boy Promotions to pull the plug on the entire show.
Rumors have swirled of HBO and Showtime threatening to slash their respective budgets in 2009, though both have repeatedly denied that such plans are in the works.
In fact, Showtime has already discovered ways to make more with less, turning in its most successful season of Shobox, a series normally dedicated to offering tough matchups involving rising prospects, but in recent months dabbling into the title picture.
Last weekend’s junior featherweight alphabet unification match between Celestino Caballero and Steve Molitor was the series’ fifth title fight of the year, with one more in store – Kendall Holt’s rubber match with Ricardo Torres in a December telecast to cap their 2008 campaign. Their one minute of fury in July was an instant frontrunner for Round of the Year, with Holt twice climbing off the canvas to knockout Torres in a rematch to their highly controversial affair a year prior in Colombia.
HBO claims to remain committed to serving as the sport’s leader. That much still holds true, even with their posting career-low ratings in 2008. Not helping matters much is their remaining schedule for this year.
The December 6 super fight between Oscar de la Hoya and Manny Pacquiao has been met with more criticism than anticipation. An announced sellout has now been downgraded to where those very groups who froze out true boxing fans by gobbling up tickets en masse are now struggling to move them, forcing Vegas casinos to run unprecedented specials in a last ditch effort to drum up superfight interest.
Their year-end signoff is more of the same in regards to their commitment toward the heavyweight division. Wladimir Klitschko, who began 2008 by participating in the division’s first unification match in nine years, ends his and HBO’s year with an optional defense against badly faded former lineal champion Hasim Rahman, who serves as a pinch-hitter for injured Alexander Povetkin.
But while their 2008 campaign ends with a whimper, they join the other remaining networks still interested in boxing in ringing in 2009 with a sonic boom.
All systems are now a go for the January 24 welterweight collision between Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley, which airs on HBO World Championship Boxing rather than pay-per-view.
The bout was nearly scrapped after Margarito took issue with the suggested 50-50 split, citing Mosley’s waning popularity as well as the fact that big wins have come few and far between for much of the decade, for the former three-division champion. But rather than fall back into the habit of using its schedules to allow associates to cash in favors, HBO instead stepped up, doing everything necessary to save the fight.
Showtime is working to fill its February slot with a mouthwatering junior bantamweight grudge match between the resurrected Vic Darchinyan and the still bankable Jorge Arce.
ESPN2 returns January 9, with the promise of far greater focus on compelling matchups between top contenders than having those same fighters appear in borderline pre-determined showcase bouts.
Much like the state of the American economy, the present looks rather bleak, but the seeds have already been planted for hope and change in the future. Boxing fans may struggle to flip through the year’s remaining calendar, but can be thankful that there’s always next year.
