Comments Thread For: Showtime's Figueroa-Nery Card Was A Throwback To A Golden Era Of Boxing Matchmaking

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Corey Erdman - When people discuss the problems with modern boxing matchmaking, the most common complaint is that the best fighters aren't matched up against one another as regularly as they should be. In the current boxing landscape both promoters and networks lay exclusive claim to entire rosters of fighters. Without wholesale structural change to the sport, greater goodwill amongst competing promoters, or simply fully agnostic networks dangling monetary carrots to produce big matchups, there will always be fights that aren't made at the exact time we would hope they would be --if they're made at all.
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[PBR Streetgang]

Good article. I was brought up on the USA Tuesday Night Fights and ESPN Thursday Night Fights. I still remember fighters and nicknames that never came close to a premier belt, let alone a P4P or HOF consideration.

Far too many fight cards are stacked with "A-side" showcases (all major promotional banners have been guilty of this). I wish there were more cards like what Ring City and ShoBox provide. I'm not sure it would be economically feasible but I'd love a channel or app that just put on fight cards of the old USA and ESPN style: lesser known fighters in regional rivalries or just equally matched for competitive fights.

[Dle]

Yeah, thanks to PBC for making it hard to predict outcomes.

[Kiowhatta]

'Happy accidents' - I never thought I'd hear a common quote from the 'Joy of Painting with Bob Ross'.

Boxing is certainly in a peculiar position. With four major belts, countless other meaningless titles, competing promoters and networks who go through cold wars, and bickering - it still manages to fill the ranks with mostly promising talent.

If that talent were merged under a singular sanctioning body, with two or three networks televising we'd have a hell of a sport, probably one of the best in the world, competing with European football, etc.

That will likely never happen if the current arrangement produces more profits than the alternative. Boxers are pure commodities now, similar to stocks, with promoters and networks trying to pick the next Canelo Alvarez, Lomachenko, Joshua, to invest in, with mountains of digital data about everything from their social media appeal to their expected physical longevity, to their earning potential based on low-risk high reward match-ups.

A.I. analytics and algorithms are acting as modern-day clairvoyants - and coming close to predictable perfection.

The answer must lie in an alternative paradigm that makes everybody happy. And rich.

[Oldskoolg]

Good article. I was brought up on the USA Tuesday Night Fights and ESPN Thursday Night Fights. I still remember fighters and nicknames that never came close to a premier belt, let alone a P4P or HOF consideration.

Far too many fight cards are stacked with "A-side" showcases (all major promotional banners have been guilty of this). I wish there were more cards like what Ring City and ShoBox provide. I'm not sure it would be economically feasible but I'd love a channel or app that just put on fight cards of the old USA and ESPN style: lesser known fighters in regional rivalries or just equally matched for competitive fights.

Bingo...that USA Tuesday night fights in the 80s and 90s was an example of boxing being made available to the masses without the “special viewing” model being the only way to see boxing be it PPV or now this app nonsense. When Americans can turn on regular tv stations and see boxing that’s when the sport will truly grow. When Americans can see boxing the same way they get to see football, baseball, basketball, tennis, nascar, etc etc then the sport will grow. The PPV only model won’t cut it and the app only model sure as hell won’t ever grow the sport.
good on Top Rank and Premier Boxing Champions for keeping boxing alive for the AMERICAN sports fan. Now if only Golden Boy would strike a network deal ALONG with its triller deal then we are in business

[champion4ever]

That was a very entertaining card by Stephen Espinoza and Showtime over the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed it; Especially the under card. Those fights were action packed.

[VashDBasher]

Good article. This fight card was one of the best in a long time, unfortunately it didn’t get enough coverage. These are the type of fight cards that should be put together more regularly.

[Greenfield02]

It was a very good card, I agree. I wonder why PBC will match their fighters in good match ups like with his welterweight fighters or Jermell Charlo at Jr. Middleweight, and like the guys we saw on Saturday in the lighter weight division, but when it comes to Jermall Charlo at Middleweight or some of his Super Middleweights, he puts them in soft? Is it because Haymon knows those fighters are not as good and he's trying to milk things as long as he can? I guess we will never know.

[KTFOKING]

It was a very good card, I agree. I wonder why PBC will match their fighters in good match ups like with his welterweight fighters or Jermell Charlo at Jr. Middleweight, and like the guys we saw on Saturday in the lighter weight division, but when it comes to Jermall Charlo at Middleweight or some of his Super Middleweights, he puts them in soft? Is it because Haymon knows those fighters are not as good and he's trying to milk things as long as he can? I guess we will never know.

It's more who is in those weight classes. PBC is light on MWs, that's why Charlo needs to move up soon or do everything possible to get Andrade or GGG.

As for the SMWs? None of those guys are taking a challenge until they win the Canelo lottery. It's truly disgusting but the SMW division has been straight trash since Canelo made his move there. Benavidez though seems more than willing now to take on guys like Plant and Charlo so I hope he gets a big fight before he gets his shot at Canelo.

But yeah, Saturday night was one of the best cards we will see all year. Fantastic matchmaking all around. May 29 seems like another great card for SHO, and they delivered on the Ennis/Lipinets card.

[57Blues]

I believe a lot of the match ups being what they are has to do with staying undefeated. Something about that as a driver of all fights is wrong. If you match guys close no one is going to stay undefeated except for a few rare cases and only for a short period of time. Ramero fought great over the weekend, and his oppentent did his best. But Romero has a few loses so he is not talked about as much but he already has a lot of great fights to look back on. Personality has taken the place of fighting skill and will anymore. But that is a story for another day.