Hbo treats "great" don king talent differently

HBO TREATS "GREAT" DON KING TALENT DIFFERENTLY Undefeated WBC/IBF junior welterweight champion Devon Alexander "The Great" is being treated unfairly. Unlike virtually all of the names HBO has told us would be boxing's next generation (Angulo, Arreola, Ortiz), Alexander has already achieved success against world class opposition. He won the WBC title on Showtime Championship Boxing against Junior Witter and became the first person to stop then IBF champ Juan Urango in his first (title unifying) defense. When boxers perform below expecations they should have to earn their way back to HBO. When boxers perform beyond expectations against world class opposition on HBO, they should be rewarded. Obviously the network doesn't share our logic. Just The Facts: G'D UP Victor Ortiz quits like a dog against Marcos Maidana. The only thing worse than his last round was his post fight explaination. Three ESPN wins and a Shobox or something on that level should have been the road back to HBO. What wound up happening, an immediate return against Antonio Diaz, should have been Xavier James embarrassing to the network. Devon Alexander stops Juan Urango to unify the WBC and IBF junior welterweight titles, wants to fight the best. He's made it clear he wants Timothy Bradley. Other than being dubbed something he wasn't before proving his worth, What exactly has Victor Ortiz done on HBO that Devon Alexander hasn't? NOTHING. So why has Ortiz received such preferential treatement from the network? Ya got me. When Bradley appeared to be heading towards an HBO debut against welterweight Carlos Abregu, Team Alexander had a verbal agreement to fight Ortiz conqueror Marcos Maidana. They even flew to Maidana's fight and ultimate victory against Victor Cayo. Then faster than you can say HBO must really not like Don King, Alexander abruptly loses the Maidana fight to Timothy Bradley. Alexander then calls out Maidana conqueror Andreas Kotelnik, who used tune-ups as an excuse in a recent boxingscene.com story. Speaking of Don King and HBO, my firm opinion is that if Devon Alexander were affiliated with Al Haymon, DiBella Entertainment, Gary Shaw Productions, Top Rank Inc or Golden Boy Promotions, fights like Maidana wouldn't be falling out of his lap. As this goes to print, Lamont Peterson and Zab Judah appear to be the last two men standing on HBO's list of opponents for Devon Alexander. Since the relationship with Judah and King ended on a sour note, that fight is unmakeable. Perhaps saying Don King wouldn't want to pay Judah what he deserves because he feels a certain way would be more accurate. Lamont Peterson is a solid fighter, but as the unified champ willing to fight the best HBO has to offer, is this what Devon Alexander should be relegated to? I don't think so. Especially when he's willing to fight undefeated WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto. ********** will never accuse Al Haymon of knowing anything about boxing, but the last thing Haymon's friends at HBO want to see is a fighter like Berto, who is being mentioned in the same sentence as Mayweather, Pacquiao and Mosley getting fed to a Don King fighter. Perhaps they would accept Mickey Rodriguez, who was good enough to fight against Berto on HBO for the vacant world title (Haymon's other client) Floyd Mayweather vacated. At the end of the day all boxing fans could hope for is for HBO to level the playing field at junior welterweight, one of boxing's hottest divisions. Send questions and comments to: **********g