SI's Al Haymon article

How can a supposed advisor be taking over boxing? Smells fishy to me ***128031; Get ready for more Danny Garcia vs Rod Salka type fights. He's sure looking out for the best interest of his fighter. 0 risk and getting paid... He never gives interviews, hides in shadows, has a clause in his contract to fighters that he gets the final say on who they fight and that they are not allowed to speak about him in a negative or unfavorable way or else that should show you the man is shady he basically has a gag order on all his fighters.

How can a supposed advisor be taking over boxing? Smells fishy to me ***128031; Get ready for more Danny Garcia vs Rod Salka type fights. He's sure looking out for the best interest of his fighter. 0 risk and getting paid...

The boss at Showtime, Espinoza needs to start working with other promoters, like TR, K2 and Roc Nation and even Hearn from the UK. He just cant keep buying these one sided fights, I know he has to deal with Haymon because of Mayweather two remaining fights with the network, but that doesn't mean he has to buy these tune up fights either. Espinoza job could be on the line if he has another bad year like 2014.

This is without a doubt a long-term plan that Haymon has put in a ton of resources into. Putting together mediocre fights like we've seen in 2014 is just not sustainable. NBC unlike HBO/Showtime could do without boxing and it wouldn't affect them one bit. Therefore I dont think he'll be able to play hardball (milk HBO/Showtime for money for mediocre fights) with NBC. We can all agree 2014 was a crap year for Haymon fighters and people have every right to be skeptical but we have seen him make great fights between his star fighters in the past (Garcia vs Matthysse, Broner vs Maidana). Broner-Maidana turned into an unexpected 'great' fight. Schaeffer & Al expected that to go like Alexander-Maidana. As I remember Garcia ran out of exemptions to avoid Matthysse, his mandatory. Back then Haymon fighters weren't dumping belts. But yeah lets hope they make good fights like Garcia-Peterson, Thurman-Porter, and non-in-house fights like Matthysse-Provodnikov.

It's really difficult to get a good assessment on Haymon as his role in the sport is evolving. Yeah I hate what he did at HBO and Showtime raiding their budgets and giving us subpar fights, but he's taking on a role where he's going to be more accountable, where he's not just there to take money from the networks. Haymon's going to have to sell a product directly to the customers now. Subpar fights won't do that. We've been getting subpar fights on ESPN, Fox, and NBC for over 10 years now, there's no gold to mine there... So while Al does have a history of robbing HBO/Showtime and shitting on the fans, he also has a history of successively building a massive infrastructure in the entertainment world. I just don't know how this is going to play out, but I don't think this guy is coming to lose. He's already massively wealthy and had cozy niche in the sport and if he's willing to give up that niche, there must be something there. This is without a doubt a long-term plan that Haymon has put in a ton of resources into. Putting together mediocre fights like we've seen in 2014 is just not sustainable. NBC unlike HBO/Showtime could do without boxing and it wouldn't affect them one bit. Therefore I dont think he'll be able to play hardball (milk HBO/Showtime for money for mediocre fights) with NBC. We can all agree 2014 was a crap year for Haymon fighters and people have every right to be skeptical but we have seen him make great fights between his star fighters in the past (Garcia vs Matthysse, Broner vs Maidana).

Perhaps having a hold of a majority of the fighters would force the promoters of say GGG, Canelo, etc to have no choice but deal with Haymon or in order to get the fights those fighters themselves sign with Haymon. or maybe his fighters will eventually start to leave him if he can not get them the fights they want. a non-ppv, network tv boxing world is great but the BIG money will always be PPV. all the ppv stars outside of floyd, are not with haymon. once floyd is gone, if he can not build a big star, he may be in trouble.

Haymon charges boxers a lower percentage than most managers, often around 10--15%. One contract obtained by SI was between Haymon and featherweight Marcos Forestal, a Cuban defector with some 300 amateur bouts whom Haymon ultimately let go. It granted sole discretion concerning Forestal's career to Haymon and includes a termination clause should the boxer ever make comments that reflect "unfavorably" on Haymon in any news outlet. Both the email and the fax number on the contract are for Haymon's assistant, who is based in Massachusetts. In another contract obtained by SI, between Haymon and former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin, Haymon's take is 10% after the first $1.8 million, all of which Quillin pockets. "You don't hear any fighters complaining about Al," Malignaggi continues. "Guys used to thank Don King, then call him an a------, a scumbag, a bloodsucker. I haven't heard one fighter say that about Al." .................. Yeah Paulie of course none of his fighters complains about Al Haymon because he has it in the contract that boxers are not allowed to speak of him unfavorably or else they will suffer repercussions.

Sugar Ray Leonard knocked out Al Haymon's brother in his 10th pro fight and Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s father/trainer in his 14th pro fight. Small world. Dont forget Micky Ward's brother Dicky Ecklund

We can just sit, wait and watch how all these things play out.

very interesting. i just want whats best for the sport. if haymon can do it, then i'll support it. but i just don't see the ufc model working for boxing. there's no way haymon can ever have every top fighter. boxing is about the best fighting the best. if his heavyweight can never fight klitschko, he can never be the real champ. he's got a bunch of middleweights but if they can't fight cotto, the real champ or ggg, the best, then there really not that important. IMO boxing can only get back to where it was if everybody works together to make the fights. not one guy trying to rule the whole sport. It's really difficult to get a good assessment on Haymon as his role in the sport is evolving. Yeah I hate what he did at HBO and Showtime raiding their budgets and giving us subpar fights, but he's taking on a role where he's going to be more accountable, where he's not just there to take money from the networks. Haymon's going to have to sell a product directly to the customers now. Subpar fights won't do that. We've been getting subpar fights on ESPN, Fox, and NBC for over 10 years now, there's no gold to mine there... So while Al does have a history of robbing HBO/Showtime and shitting on the fans, he also has a history of successively building a massive infrastructure in the entertainment world. I just don't know how this is going to play out, but I don't think this guy is coming to lose. He's already massively wealthy and had cozy niche in the sport and if he's willing to give up that niche, there must be something there.

very interesting. i just want whats best for the sport. if haymon can do it, then i'll support it. but i just don't see the ufc model working for boxing. there's no way haymon can ever have every top fighter. boxing is about the best fighting the best. if his heavyweight can never fight klitschko, he can never be the real champ. he's got a bunch of middleweights but if they can't fight cotto, the real champ or ggg, the best, then there really not that important. IMO boxing can only get back to where it was if everybody works together to make the fights. not one guy trying to rule the whole sport. Perhaps having a hold of a majority of the fighters would force the promoters of say GGG, Canelo, etc to have no choice but deal with Haymon or in order to get the fights those fighters themselves sign with Haymon.

very interesting. i just want whats best for the sport. if haymon can do it, then i'll support it. but i just don't see the ufc model working for boxing. there's no way haymon can ever have every top fighter. boxing is about the best fighting the best. if his heavyweight can never fight klitschko, he can never be the real champ. he's got a bunch of middleweights but if they can't fight cotto, the real champ or ggg, the best, then there really not that important. IMO boxing can only get back to where it was if everybody works together to make the fights. not one guy trying to rule the whole sport.

Good article... I have been saying it for awhile... People hate on Haymon but they don't understand that he is looking out for his fighters... Every fighter needs a guy like haymon looking out for their interests, sadly too many fighters don't have that I hear ya, but they're in the entertainment business which has customers. So while its great that he's looking out for his guys, it's bull**** that he gives the fans, who pay for the sport, bull**** fights. This goes for any promoter.

Good article... I have been saying it for awhile... People hate on Haymon but they don't understand that he is looking out for his fighters... Every fighter needs a guy like haymon looking out for their interests, sadly too many fighters don't have that Yeah give us boring one sides fights and when his fighters get exposed he has the judges in his back pocket just in case yeah looking out for his dithers but bending over the fans. Great job

Good article... I have been saying it for awhile... People hate on Haymon but they don't understand that he is looking out for his fighters... Every fighter needs a guy like haymon looking out for their interests, sadly too many fighters don't have that

Interesting stuff