Boxing News Thread
- Thread starter heyzel
- Start date
Unless my reading comprehension is off, no one is arguing that the fight would or wouldn't be on PPV. You were saying that Lemieux should be protected and hyped up so it could be a big PPV, which the argument to that was that Lemieux is a champion and doesn't need hyping or protection and that the fight is likely going to do as well right now as it would in a few fights.
Right.
The only reason this is on PPV is because Lemieux is asking for a really nice payday and HBO couldn't afford it. Team Golovkin needed a solid opponent really bad as they couldn't afford to fight another Willie Monroe type of fighter, so they did what it took which is making it PPV.
The PPV shouldn't do great numbers, 300k at best, which is fine because all they care about is making enough money to break even.
The only reason this is on PPV is because Lemieux is asking for a really nice payday and HBO couldn't afford it. Team Golovkin needed a solid opponent really bad as they couldn't afford to fight another Willie Monroe type of fighter, so they did what it took which is making it PPV.
The PPV shouldn't do great numbers, 300k at best, which is fine because all they care about is making enough money to break even.
Second best fight at 175. Hope it happens! They are trying to make this in Moscow, Russia. Beterbiev has been impressive as a pro to say the least and beat Kovalev twice in the amateurs.
Beterbiev Accepts Kovalev Challenge - HBO is No Issue!
By Rick Reeno
Promoter Yvon Michel of GYM has informed BoxingScene.com that light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (9-0, 9KOs) is ready and willing to face WBO/WBA/IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25KOs) on November 28th.
On Saturday night, Kovalev's promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events informed BoxingScene that her fighter will return on the previously mentioned November date in Moscow, Russia.
Kovalev was in action on Saturday night, when he blew away mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi in three rounds at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
In the coming days, Duva plans to present an offer to Michel for a fight between Kovalev and Beterbiev.
A Kovalev-Beterbiev showdown would be a huge event in Russia. The two fighters do not like each other, with Beterbiev - a deadly puncher in his own right - holding claim to two amateur victories over Kovalev.
"We are going to make an offer to Artur Beterbiev. That's like a monster fight over there. We're going to make [Michel] an offer. I'll send him something on Monday probably," Duva told BoxingScene.com.
Michel reached out to BoxingScene to make it clear that his fighter is ready to face Kovalev next - and there is absolutely no issue with doing the fight on HBO, who hold an exclusive multi-fight agreement with Kovalev.
"We are 100% behind that. Artur Beterbiev is now ranked at number 2 by the IBF. With Mohammedi being knocked out, he was number one and he will be losing his spot next week and we will receive a letter from the IBF for Beterbiev to fight for the mandatory position against whoever will have the guts to get in the ring with him. But if we have the opportunity to fight for the title directly, this is something that we're more than happy about. But we have to have a fair offer for wherever....Russia...wherever will be the best place that Kathy Duva will choose. If we have to be on HBO, no problem, there is no issue," Michel told BoxingScene.com.
While Michel is ready to take Beterbiev to HBO for the fight, there are some conditions that are needed. Michel will not agree to give any future options on Beterbiev - to Main Events or to HBO. But a rematch clause in favor of Kovalev will not be an issue.
"Just have an honest offer. No strings attached. No options and first and last from the network. Except, we will agree to a rematch clause, because there is no problem giving him a rematch after Beterbiev knocks him out. If we can do it that way, we will of course abandon the route of trying to get the mandatory position and take the challenge," Michel said.
Michel also promotes WBC champion Adonis Stevenson. Both Stevenson and Beterbiev are advised by Al Haymon. It's been extremely difficult to put together a fight between Stevenson and Kovalev - especially with the involvement of HBO as the network of choice.
But Michel explains that Stevenson and Beterbiev are in two completely different situations.
"There is no problem [with HBO]. Artur is in a different position than Stevenson. Stevenson is a champion, he has an association with a network in Showtime and wherever he is he demands a big purse. Artur is challenger and he understands the position of being a challenger. And when a challenger has an opportunity to fight against the champion [he takes it]," Michel said.
"All we want is honest and fair offer, and we will also be honest because we know that Kovalev is the champion and has three belts. We are not going to ask for the moon. It's a fight we want to have. It's a fight that Artur Beterbiev has wanted since he did his first pro fight and he's ready any time to do it. Let's just sit down, my phone will be on and we agree with [Duva's position] to do the fight 100%."
Beterbiev Accepts Kovalev Challenge - HBO is No Issue!
By Rick Reeno
Promoter Yvon Michel of GYM has informed BoxingScene.com that light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (9-0, 9KOs) is ready and willing to face WBO/WBA/IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25KOs) on November 28th.
On Saturday night, Kovalev's promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events informed BoxingScene that her fighter will return on the previously mentioned November date in Moscow, Russia.
Kovalev was in action on Saturday night, when he blew away mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi in three rounds at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
In the coming days, Duva plans to present an offer to Michel for a fight between Kovalev and Beterbiev.
A Kovalev-Beterbiev showdown would be a huge event in Russia. The two fighters do not like each other, with Beterbiev - a deadly puncher in his own right - holding claim to two amateur victories over Kovalev.
"We are going to make an offer to Artur Beterbiev. That's like a monster fight over there. We're going to make [Michel] an offer. I'll send him something on Monday probably," Duva told BoxingScene.com.
Michel reached out to BoxingScene to make it clear that his fighter is ready to face Kovalev next - and there is absolutely no issue with doing the fight on HBO, who hold an exclusive multi-fight agreement with Kovalev.
"We are 100% behind that. Artur Beterbiev is now ranked at number 2 by the IBF. With Mohammedi being knocked out, he was number one and he will be losing his spot next week and we will receive a letter from the IBF for Beterbiev to fight for the mandatory position against whoever will have the guts to get in the ring with him. But if we have the opportunity to fight for the title directly, this is something that we're more than happy about. But we have to have a fair offer for wherever....Russia...wherever will be the best place that Kathy Duva will choose. If we have to be on HBO, no problem, there is no issue," Michel told BoxingScene.com.
While Michel is ready to take Beterbiev to HBO for the fight, there are some conditions that are needed. Michel will not agree to give any future options on Beterbiev - to Main Events or to HBO. But a rematch clause in favor of Kovalev will not be an issue.
"Just have an honest offer. No strings attached. No options and first and last from the network. Except, we will agree to a rematch clause, because there is no problem giving him a rematch after Beterbiev knocks him out. If we can do it that way, we will of course abandon the route of trying to get the mandatory position and take the challenge," Michel said.
Michel also promotes WBC champion Adonis Stevenson. Both Stevenson and Beterbiev are advised by Al Haymon. It's been extremely difficult to put together a fight between Stevenson and Kovalev - especially with the involvement of HBO as the network of choice.
But Michel explains that Stevenson and Beterbiev are in two completely different situations.
"There is no problem [with HBO]. Artur is in a different position than Stevenson. Stevenson is a champion, he has an association with a network in Showtime and wherever he is he demands a big purse. Artur is challenger and he understands the position of being a challenger. And when a challenger has an opportunity to fight against the champion [he takes it]," Michel said.
"All we want is honest and fair offer, and we will also be honest because we know that Kovalev is the champion and has three belts. We are not going to ask for the moon. It's a fight we want to have. It's a fight that Artur Beterbiev has wanted since he did his first pro fight and he's ready any time to do it. Let's just sit down, my phone will be on and we agree with [Duva's position] to do the fight 100%."
HBO proves shortsighted in blocking potential Kovalev-Stevenson bout
Even before Sergey Kovalev lay waste to Nadjib Mohammedi, a pedestrian opponent who had climbed the IBF ladder, earned the mandatory position and presented himself as cannon fodder for the most ruthless fighter in the sport, questions swirled about who Kovalev would fight next. Names like Andre Ward, Artur Beterbiev and Seanie Monaghan were kicked around. Hours after Kovalev’s third-round annihilation of Mohammedi on Saturday was complete, Yunieski Gonzalez, the hard-hitting Cuban who was robbed of a win over Jean Pascal on the undercard, became a candidate.
A name rarely mentioned anymore: Adonis Stevenson, the man who holds the lone remaining piece of the light heavyweight crown. It’s a fight many want to see—and one currently being hijacked by HBO.
To be clear, this column isn’t a defense of Stevenson. Far from it. Since taking the WBC version of the 175-pound title from Chad Dawson in 2013, Stevenson has placed the belt in protective custody. A banner, Fighter of the Year ’13 was followed by an abysmal ’14, with a pair of title defenses against inferior opponents. His ducking of Kovalev became comical; an HBO fighter throughout all of ’13, Stevenson reneged on a handshake agreement to fight Kovalev in early ’14, signed with Al Haymon and fled to Showtime. He has long claimed he wanted the fight but his actions are those of a man who wants nothing to do with it
Still, Stevenson isn’t blocking a light heavyweight unification fight today. Instead, that blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Kovalev, Main Events and HBO. Last March, the WBC, in a rare decision, ordered Stevenson to defend his title against Kovalev. A purse bid was ordered. The fight seemed closer than ever. Then, suddenly, Main Events backed out. Main Events CEO Kathy Duva cited Kovalev’s contract with HBO. If Main Events lost the purse bid, Kovalev would be forced to fight on another network, something, Duva said, that was contractually prohibited.
That HBO would want to broadcast Kovalev-Stevenson is understandable. The network has invested time and resources in building Kovalev into a mainstream star. Yet if the network wanted the fight badly enough it would have offered Duva the financial support to compete with a Haymon-fueled purse bid, a bid that likely would have exceeded $5 million. And if it didn’t, well, there are solid reasons why it would benefit HBO to get out of the way.
Consider: A Haymon-won purse bid would have led to Kovalev-Stevenson airing on CBS or NBC, two networks that have sold airtime to Haymon for his PBC series. Slap Kovalev-Stevenson on network TV in primetime and it would register a huge rating; conservatively, say, 2.5 million viewers, an audience that vastly exceeds any that Kovalev draws on HBO. The winner—and let’s be real, Kovalev would be a heavy favorite to pound Stevenson into submission—would emerge a far bigger star than he was coming in.
This is why HBO’s decision to block the purse bid is perplexing. And to be clear, it is HBO. Main Events is the face of this, but Duva is simply marching to HBO’s tune. With Haymon gobbling up most of the television real estate, license fees from HBO have become Main Events’s largest source of income. Think Duva fears a Haymon-won purse bid? Come on. A bigger bid puts more money in her pocket. What she fears is damaging the company’s relationship with HBO. Said Duva, “We were not going to destroy our relationship with HBO over a fight that might not even happen.”
Yet for HBO to stand between a Kovalev-Stevenson fight is remarkably shortsighted. Yes, it would lose a significant show. But it would not lose Kovalev. A mandatory fight does not include a rematch clause. Kovalev recently re-signed a long term deal with Main Events. He is fiercely loyal to his longtime manager, Egis Klimas. He isn’t joining forces with Haymon. A Stevenson fight is a one-off. Kovalev wins, and he returns to HBO a much bigger star.
Think about what HBO could do with that. The network is building towards an eventual Kovalev showdown with super middleweight kingpin Andre Ward. A rematch with Jean Pascal is appealing; the first fight drew 1.15 million viewers. Exposing Kovalev to a network audience in 2015 would result in a huge ratings boost for HBO in 2016, and beyond.
Unfortunately, network execs don’t see it that way. Instead of Stevenson, Kovalev will pursue a fight with Beterbiev, in Moscow, an afternoon show that figures to be a ratings disaster. He will hope for a rematch with Pascal, though based on Pascal’s mediocre performance against Gonzalez, it’s fair to wonder just how much Pascal has left. He will pray that Ward, who doesn’t seem the least bit interested in leaving super middleweight, will have a change of heart.
Kovalev will still be a star; big puncher, big personality, there is no stopping that. Just nowhere near as big of one as he could be.
Even before Sergey Kovalev lay waste to Nadjib Mohammedi, a pedestrian opponent who had climbed the IBF ladder, earned the mandatory position and presented himself as cannon fodder for the most ruthless fighter in the sport, questions swirled about who Kovalev would fight next. Names like Andre Ward, Artur Beterbiev and Seanie Monaghan were kicked around. Hours after Kovalev’s third-round annihilation of Mohammedi on Saturday was complete, Yunieski Gonzalez, the hard-hitting Cuban who was robbed of a win over Jean Pascal on the undercard, became a candidate.
A name rarely mentioned anymore: Adonis Stevenson, the man who holds the lone remaining piece of the light heavyweight crown. It’s a fight many want to see—and one currently being hijacked by HBO.
To be clear, this column isn’t a defense of Stevenson. Far from it. Since taking the WBC version of the 175-pound title from Chad Dawson in 2013, Stevenson has placed the belt in protective custody. A banner, Fighter of the Year ’13 was followed by an abysmal ’14, with a pair of title defenses against inferior opponents. His ducking of Kovalev became comical; an HBO fighter throughout all of ’13, Stevenson reneged on a handshake agreement to fight Kovalev in early ’14, signed with Al Haymon and fled to Showtime. He has long claimed he wanted the fight but his actions are those of a man who wants nothing to do with it
Still, Stevenson isn’t blocking a light heavyweight unification fight today. Instead, that blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Kovalev, Main Events and HBO. Last March, the WBC, in a rare decision, ordered Stevenson to defend his title against Kovalev. A purse bid was ordered. The fight seemed closer than ever. Then, suddenly, Main Events backed out. Main Events CEO Kathy Duva cited Kovalev’s contract with HBO. If Main Events lost the purse bid, Kovalev would be forced to fight on another network, something, Duva said, that was contractually prohibited.
That HBO would want to broadcast Kovalev-Stevenson is understandable. The network has invested time and resources in building Kovalev into a mainstream star. Yet if the network wanted the fight badly enough it would have offered Duva the financial support to compete with a Haymon-fueled purse bid, a bid that likely would have exceeded $5 million. And if it didn’t, well, there are solid reasons why it would benefit HBO to get out of the way.
Consider: A Haymon-won purse bid would have led to Kovalev-Stevenson airing on CBS or NBC, two networks that have sold airtime to Haymon for his PBC series. Slap Kovalev-Stevenson on network TV in primetime and it would register a huge rating; conservatively, say, 2.5 million viewers, an audience that vastly exceeds any that Kovalev draws on HBO. The winner—and let’s be real, Kovalev would be a heavy favorite to pound Stevenson into submission—would emerge a far bigger star than he was coming in.
This is why HBO’s decision to block the purse bid is perplexing. And to be clear, it is HBO. Main Events is the face of this, but Duva is simply marching to HBO’s tune. With Haymon gobbling up most of the television real estate, license fees from HBO have become Main Events’s largest source of income. Think Duva fears a Haymon-won purse bid? Come on. A bigger bid puts more money in her pocket. What she fears is damaging the company’s relationship with HBO. Said Duva, “We were not going to destroy our relationship with HBO over a fight that might not even happen.”
Yet for HBO to stand between a Kovalev-Stevenson fight is remarkably shortsighted. Yes, it would lose a significant show. But it would not lose Kovalev. A mandatory fight does not include a rematch clause. Kovalev recently re-signed a long term deal with Main Events. He is fiercely loyal to his longtime manager, Egis Klimas. He isn’t joining forces with Haymon. A Stevenson fight is a one-off. Kovalev wins, and he returns to HBO a much bigger star.
Think about what HBO could do with that. The network is building towards an eventual Kovalev showdown with super middleweight kingpin Andre Ward. A rematch with Jean Pascal is appealing; the first fight drew 1.15 million viewers. Exposing Kovalev to a network audience in 2015 would result in a huge ratings boost for HBO in 2016, and beyond.
Unfortunately, network execs don’t see it that way. Instead of Stevenson, Kovalev will pursue a fight with Beterbiev, in Moscow, an afternoon show that figures to be a ratings disaster. He will hope for a rematch with Pascal, though based on Pascal’s mediocre performance against Gonzalez, it’s fair to wonder just how much Pascal has left. He will pray that Ward, who doesn’t seem the least bit interested in leaving super middleweight, will have a change of heart.
Kovalev will still be a star; big puncher, big personality, there is no stopping that. Just nowhere near as big of one as he could be.
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HERESY and HERESY
@naner12
your boy
@2-0-Sixx
said GGG vs Lemieux should NEVER be on ppv. I said it's ppv worthy. And the real reason for this fight being on ppv is because HBO needs to test out GGG's star power, not because Lemieux is asking for so much. Oh yeah, Kovalev vs Beterbiev won't happen. Why?... Haymon vs HBO.Borges: Rival promoters file suit against Al Haymon
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Al Haymon
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Sunday, July 26, 2015
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By:
Ron Borges
Al Haymon must be doing something right. Everybody in boxing is suing him.
That’s the way it goes in this self-destructive sport whenever someone tries to do something right. Or even just something different.
Rather than challenge Haymon’s momentary takeover of boxing on free TV and lower-tier cable networks, rival promoters Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya chose to take him to federal court recently, claiming he violated the Ali Act.
They insist Haymon is not only creating a monopoly, but is also functioning as both promoter and manager, which is in theory illegal under the Ali Act.
To which I say, oh really? As if someone is actually managing Manny Pacquiao or many of the young fighters boxing under Golden Boy Promotion’s promotional banner? Most of the guys serving as “managers” these days don’t know the word “no” exists, but they do know the words, “yes, sir!”
Without question Haymon is trying to duplicate the UFC model that swamped prize fighting because of mixed martial arts’ heightened bloodlust, marketing skill and ability to force fighters into matches they would rather avoid. UFC can do this because it has total control. You don’t want to take the match, have a seat.
Boxing is not so centralized and so avoidance is a major part of the game. So too is an unholy reliance with premium cable channels HBO and Showtime as well as pay-per-view. Many fights that in the past would have, at best, been on “HBO Championship Boxing” now masquerade as pay-per-view worthy when in many cases, they’re not even premium cable worthy.
In time, the result was a stultifying situation that began to choke the sport.
Haymon declines to speak publicly on any matters, so few people fully know his plans or his strategy. While Arum stomps his feet and acts like Donald Trump with less hair, Haymon goes about his business, using a $400 million war chest from the investment firm Waddell & Reed to buy time on both free TV (NBC and CBS) and cable to present his stable of 200-plus fighters to a public starved to see them but tired of needing a bank loan to do so.
Last week, Haymon’s organization, Premier Boxing Champions, began circulating T-shirts with the logo “#FreeBoxing4 All.” That double entendre speaks both to the present business model, which is designed to put premium cable out of the boxing business by loosening its stranglehold on the sport’s financing, and to the federal lawsuits Haymon and Waddell & Reed now face.
The early result of Haymon’s efforts has been a number of good bouts, and while ratings have been encouraging, attendance has not, often resulting in arenas being wallpapered with free tickets. Haymon, nevertheless, believes eventually attendance and viewership will both grow as fans begin to know more of his fighters.
Arum sees it differently. His lawsuit claims that Haymon & Co. “are engaged in a sophisticated scheme to gain control of the boxing industry. As the lawsuit explains in detail, they are violating federal law, defying state regulators and absorbing significant short-term losses to drive legitimate operators out of the business.”
Haymon’s rebuttal was to term the lawsuit “a cynical attempt by boxing’s old guard to use the courts to undermine the accessibility, credibility and exposure of boxing that the sport so desperately needs.”
Among the allegations are that PBC blocked Top Rank from leasing venues for fights and prevented it from doing fights with Haymon fighters while freezing the company out of the television market. It also accuses the former music industry millionaire of reviving an old music business scheme: payola.
The suit alleges Haymon paid broadcasters to air fights involving his contracted boxers while taking large financial losses to try and put Arum and other promoters out of business. While the financial losses are real, the result, if it works, may be a radical new way of doing business in boxing. That does not preclude guys such as Arum and De La Hoya from going into their pockets as well but they continue to search for television rights fees and pay-per-view sales instead to support them and their fighters.
Whether Haymon is on to something or not remains to be seen because his investors won’t be willing to hemorrhage money forever, but that the old model that enriched Arum, Don King and many other promoters was broken cannot be denied. While a few fighters got rich, the majority were starving and the sport’s market share was shrinking.
Boxing hadn’t been on network television for over 20 years for an assortment of reasons, but an unwillingness to match the fees premium cable would pay to air the sport to a limited audience was one of them. Haymon got around that by paying to be on national television rather than asking for a check, his theory being that over time viewership would grow and along with it ad revenue, new stars, increased leverage and probably the ability to stage his own pay-per-view shows without having to deal with HBO or Showtime, keeping more of the profits in-house.
Arum’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, claimed the real intention of the suit is “to ensure that Al Haymon and Waddell & Reed play by the same rules as everyone else.” That, of course, is just the point. They don’t want to. They don’t want to sit by and allow short term profits to blind them to the disappearance of boxing from the public eye.
When Arum was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999, he gave a powerful speech about the troubled future of the business and admitted he and King had contributed to boxing’s problems by always selling out to the moment. It appears he may have forgotten he ever gave it.
Froch’s parting shot
Carl Froch, the widely respected WBA/IBF super middleweight champion, couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t avoid throwing one last jab at Joe Calzaghe on his way into retirement.
Froch, 38, made official last week what many had seen coming for months, which was a decision that he had no more worlds to conquer after knocking out countryman George Groves with a crushing right cross on May 31, 2014 in front of 80,000 roaring witnesses at Wembley Stadium. Froch has not fought since and had become growingly aware his time had passed, as had Calzaghe’s before him.
Froch repeatedly challenged Calzaghe when he was coming up, but was ignored, Calzaghe seeing no need to face someone who presented little opportunity for gain. If he beat him, he would have gotten little credit. If he lost, Calzaghe’s hard-earned place atop British boxing would have dissolved.
The bad blood between them never receded, even after Calzaghe retired. Calzaghe gave his heir little credit for his accomplishments and that only served to further raise the ire of a man who made a career out of being simply tougher than almost everyone he faced.
Froch was not the most skillful of warriors, but he had a gladiator’s spirit and the gift of numbing power. He was a workman, always fit for the job and ready to engage in its more unsavory parts, which is how he ended up 33-2 with 24 KOs. His only losses came to Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler, the second avenged.
“It’s difficult to compare my career to Joe Calzaghe’s because there are only a couple of names on his record that stand out,” Froch said. “I’ve beaten more world champions. I’ve beaten more people who have gone on to become world champions.
“My statistics smash his to bits on every angle, apart from the fact he retired undefeated (46-0, 32 KO). Worse fighters than Joe Calzaghe retire undefeated. An undefeated record doesn’t really mean a great deal if you don’t face everybody.
“I’ve had a far more classy and satisfactory and more entertaining career.”
Froch’s one regret is never having fought in Las Vegas, where he was willing to travel to face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. before sustaining an elbow injury in training that forced him to withdraw. The only other match that seems to still interest him is one with the 43-year-old Calzaghe, whom he said he’d be willing to face “on the cobbles,” meaning in the street.
That won’t happen. Whether Froch’s retirement will last is, he admitted, less assured.
“I would never say never because I’ll probably want to fight until the day I die,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a drug out there, I don’t think there’s anything that I could do that would give me that exhilaration, that natural high, that rush, that feeling of winning and defending a world title. I don’t think that gap will ever be filled, but all good things must come to an end.”
All things but a good feud.
Short jabs
Rhode Island junior middleweight champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade may have made a boo-boo. The WBO is threatening to strip him of his title for inactivity. Although never injured, Andrade has not defended his title in 13 months, refusing several fights for career high purses he seemed to feel were beneath him. With his boring style, if Andrade loses that belt he may find out what he’s really worth. Which isn’t anywhere near what he thinks he’s worth, especially without a quarter of a world title coming with him. . ..
Apparently, like father like son. Middleweight prospect Shane Mosley Jr. was suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for testing positive for amphetamines after his 51-second KO of Jason Kelly on June 27. You may recall his father Shane Mosley Sr., testified under oath to a grand jury investigating the Victor Conte BALCO scandal that he had taken undetectable steroids “the clear” and “the cream” and injected himself with EPO sold to him by Conte during training camp for his 2003 rematch with De La Hoya.
26haymon.jpg
Photo by:
AP photo
Al Haymon
1
Sunday, July 26, 2015
1 Comments
By:
Ron Borges
Al Haymon must be doing something right. Everybody in boxing is suing him.
That’s the way it goes in this self-destructive sport whenever someone tries to do something right. Or even just something different.
Rather than challenge Haymon’s momentary takeover of boxing on free TV and lower-tier cable networks, rival promoters Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya chose to take him to federal court recently, claiming he violated the Ali Act.
They insist Haymon is not only creating a monopoly, but is also functioning as both promoter and manager, which is in theory illegal under the Ali Act.
To which I say, oh really? As if someone is actually managing Manny Pacquiao or many of the young fighters boxing under Golden Boy Promotion’s promotional banner? Most of the guys serving as “managers” these days don’t know the word “no” exists, but they do know the words, “yes, sir!”
Without question Haymon is trying to duplicate the UFC model that swamped prize fighting because of mixed martial arts’ heightened bloodlust, marketing skill and ability to force fighters into matches they would rather avoid. UFC can do this because it has total control. You don’t want to take the match, have a seat.
Boxing is not so centralized and so avoidance is a major part of the game. So too is an unholy reliance with premium cable channels HBO and Showtime as well as pay-per-view. Many fights that in the past would have, at best, been on “HBO Championship Boxing” now masquerade as pay-per-view worthy when in many cases, they’re not even premium cable worthy.
In time, the result was a stultifying situation that began to choke the sport.
Haymon declines to speak publicly on any matters, so few people fully know his plans or his strategy. While Arum stomps his feet and acts like Donald Trump with less hair, Haymon goes about his business, using a $400 million war chest from the investment firm Waddell & Reed to buy time on both free TV (NBC and CBS) and cable to present his stable of 200-plus fighters to a public starved to see them but tired of needing a bank loan to do so.
Last week, Haymon’s organization, Premier Boxing Champions, began circulating T-shirts with the logo “#FreeBoxing4 All.” That double entendre speaks both to the present business model, which is designed to put premium cable out of the boxing business by loosening its stranglehold on the sport’s financing, and to the federal lawsuits Haymon and Waddell & Reed now face.
The early result of Haymon’s efforts has been a number of good bouts, and while ratings have been encouraging, attendance has not, often resulting in arenas being wallpapered with free tickets. Haymon, nevertheless, believes eventually attendance and viewership will both grow as fans begin to know more of his fighters.
Arum sees it differently. His lawsuit claims that Haymon & Co. “are engaged in a sophisticated scheme to gain control of the boxing industry. As the lawsuit explains in detail, they are violating federal law, defying state regulators and absorbing significant short-term losses to drive legitimate operators out of the business.”
Haymon’s rebuttal was to term the lawsuit “a cynical attempt by boxing’s old guard to use the courts to undermine the accessibility, credibility and exposure of boxing that the sport so desperately needs.”
Among the allegations are that PBC blocked Top Rank from leasing venues for fights and prevented it from doing fights with Haymon fighters while freezing the company out of the television market. It also accuses the former music industry millionaire of reviving an old music business scheme: payola.
The suit alleges Haymon paid broadcasters to air fights involving his contracted boxers while taking large financial losses to try and put Arum and other promoters out of business. While the financial losses are real, the result, if it works, may be a radical new way of doing business in boxing. That does not preclude guys such as Arum and De La Hoya from going into their pockets as well but they continue to search for television rights fees and pay-per-view sales instead to support them and their fighters.
Whether Haymon is on to something or not remains to be seen because his investors won’t be willing to hemorrhage money forever, but that the old model that enriched Arum, Don King and many other promoters was broken cannot be denied. While a few fighters got rich, the majority were starving and the sport’s market share was shrinking.
Boxing hadn’t been on network television for over 20 years for an assortment of reasons, but an unwillingness to match the fees premium cable would pay to air the sport to a limited audience was one of them. Haymon got around that by paying to be on national television rather than asking for a check, his theory being that over time viewership would grow and along with it ad revenue, new stars, increased leverage and probably the ability to stage his own pay-per-view shows without having to deal with HBO or Showtime, keeping more of the profits in-house.
Arum’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, claimed the real intention of the suit is “to ensure that Al Haymon and Waddell & Reed play by the same rules as everyone else.” That, of course, is just the point. They don’t want to. They don’t want to sit by and allow short term profits to blind them to the disappearance of boxing from the public eye.
When Arum was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999, he gave a powerful speech about the troubled future of the business and admitted he and King had contributed to boxing’s problems by always selling out to the moment. It appears he may have forgotten he ever gave it.
Froch’s parting shot
Carl Froch, the widely respected WBA/IBF super middleweight champion, couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t avoid throwing one last jab at Joe Calzaghe on his way into retirement.
Froch, 38, made official last week what many had seen coming for months, which was a decision that he had no more worlds to conquer after knocking out countryman George Groves with a crushing right cross on May 31, 2014 in front of 80,000 roaring witnesses at Wembley Stadium. Froch has not fought since and had become growingly aware his time had passed, as had Calzaghe’s before him.
Froch repeatedly challenged Calzaghe when he was coming up, but was ignored, Calzaghe seeing no need to face someone who presented little opportunity for gain. If he beat him, he would have gotten little credit. If he lost, Calzaghe’s hard-earned place atop British boxing would have dissolved.
The bad blood between them never receded, even after Calzaghe retired. Calzaghe gave his heir little credit for his accomplishments and that only served to further raise the ire of a man who made a career out of being simply tougher than almost everyone he faced.
Froch was not the most skillful of warriors, but he had a gladiator’s spirit and the gift of numbing power. He was a workman, always fit for the job and ready to engage in its more unsavory parts, which is how he ended up 33-2 with 24 KOs. His only losses came to Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler, the second avenged.
“It’s difficult to compare my career to Joe Calzaghe’s because there are only a couple of names on his record that stand out,” Froch said. “I’ve beaten more world champions. I’ve beaten more people who have gone on to become world champions.
“My statistics smash his to bits on every angle, apart from the fact he retired undefeated (46-0, 32 KO). Worse fighters than Joe Calzaghe retire undefeated. An undefeated record doesn’t really mean a great deal if you don’t face everybody.
“I’ve had a far more classy and satisfactory and more entertaining career.”
Froch’s one regret is never having fought in Las Vegas, where he was willing to travel to face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. before sustaining an elbow injury in training that forced him to withdraw. The only other match that seems to still interest him is one with the 43-year-old Calzaghe, whom he said he’d be willing to face “on the cobbles,” meaning in the street.
That won’t happen. Whether Froch’s retirement will last is, he admitted, less assured.
“I would never say never because I’ll probably want to fight until the day I die,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a drug out there, I don’t think there’s anything that I could do that would give me that exhilaration, that natural high, that rush, that feeling of winning and defending a world title. I don’t think that gap will ever be filled, but all good things must come to an end.”
All things but a good feud.
Short jabs
Rhode Island junior middleweight champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade may have made a boo-boo. The WBO is threatening to strip him of his title for inactivity. Although never injured, Andrade has not defended his title in 13 months, refusing several fights for career high purses he seemed to feel were beneath him. With his boring style, if Andrade loses that belt he may find out what he’s really worth. Which isn’t anywhere near what he thinks he’s worth, especially without a quarter of a world title coming with him. . ..
Apparently, like father like son. Middleweight prospect Shane Mosley Jr. was suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for testing positive for amphetamines after his 51-second KO of Jason Kelly on June 27. You may recall his father Shane Mosley Sr., testified under oath to a grand jury investigating the Victor Conte BALCO scandal that he had taken undetectable steroids “the clear” and “the cream” and injected himself with EPO sold to him by Conte during training camp for his 2003 rematch with De La Hoya.
I'm not gonna speak for 2-0 but it seems like he was talking about the quality of the fight. Hell Orlando Salido just defended his title on PPV in April as the headliner, doesn't make it a PPV quality fight. Got look at all those Pinoy Pride & Latin Fury PPVs that used to take place, just because a fight lands on PPV doesn't make it PPV quality.
Now if they stack the undercard - I'd love it.
I wouldn't doubt Lemieux was asking for a big payday since he's bringing a belt to the table, considering him and N'Dam got paid sparring partner money to fight for a title.
Now if they stack the undercard - I'd love it.
I wouldn't doubt Lemieux was asking for a big payday since he's bringing a belt to the table, considering him and N'Dam got paid sparring partner money to fight for a title.
@naner12
your boy
@2-0-Sixx
said GGG vs Lemieux should NEVER be on ppv. I said it's ppv worthy. And the real reason for this fight being on ppv is because HBO needs to test out GGG's star power, not because Lemieux is asking for so much. Oh yeah, Kovalev vs Beterbiev won't happen. Why?... Haymon vs HBO.
Ringside Reporter @Ringside73
Adrien Broner to face Stephen Upsher in Cincinnati? Boxing News and schedules updated 24 hours a day. Ringside Reporter - The best news on the web.: Adrien Broner to face Stephen Upsher in Cincinnati … #boxing #boxingnews
3:28 PM - 27 Jul 2015
Retweets
Adrien Broner to face Stephen Upsher in Cincinnati? Boxing News and schedules updated 24 hours a day. Ringside Reporter - The best news on the web.: Adrien Broner to face Stephen Upsher in Cincinnati … #boxing #boxingnews
3:28 PM - 27 Jul 2015
Retweets
Canelo vs Cotto is at a catchweight and Oscar fought Bernard Hopkins at a catchweight of 157 pounds was Bernard at his best weight there? Lol basically Oscar saying stupid shit again.
The real funny comment over the weekend came from Ricardo Mayorga, who has a BKB PPV against Mosley coming up. He was saying "Floyd fights faggot style" lol and that him and Mosley will come to fight each other and go for KOs not "faggot style running".
The real funny comment over the weekend came from Ricardo Mayorga, who has a BKB PPV against Mosley coming up. He was saying "Floyd fights faggot style" lol and that him and Mosley will come to fight each other and go for KOs not "faggot style running".
Props:
T-Rip and T-Rip
Dan Rafael
✔ D @danr afaelespn
9/12 Floyd fight still not set. Issues there. Floyd says he's retiring but Show/CBS want rights to future fights should he change mind.
4:53 PM - 27 Jul 2015
68 68 Retweets
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Dan Rafael
✔ D @danr afaelespn
Show/CBS not about to let Floyd decide to return to possibly go 50-0 & take fight across street. This is 1 of reasons for long delay.
4:54 PM - 27 Jul 2015
47 47 Retweets
24
Dan Rafael
✔ D @danr afaelespn
Can't blame Show/CBS for protecting their considerable investment in Floyd. I'd do the same thing.
4:55 PM - 27 Jul 2015
27 27 Retweets
28
✔ D @danr afaelespn
9/12 Floyd fight still not set. Issues there. Floyd says he's retiring but Show/CBS want rights to future fights should he change mind.
4:53 PM - 27 Jul 2015
68 68 Retweets
35
Dan Rafael
✔ D @danr afaelespn
Show/CBS not about to let Floyd decide to return to possibly go 50-0 & take fight across street. This is 1 of reasons for long delay.
4:54 PM - 27 Jul 2015
47 47 Retweets
24
Dan Rafael
✔ D @danr afaelespn
Can't blame Show/CBS for protecting their considerable investment in Floyd. I'd do the same thing.
4:55 PM - 27 Jul 2015
27 27 Retweets
28
Finally, the truth is coming out about Kovalev not wanting the fight. But I was telling you all this years ago and put it together, all the evidence was there, but now more and more people are seeing the truth. HBO dropped the ball just like I said and so did that liar Duva. And we'll throw in BHOP and how he was suckin up to Kovalev for good measure and you can see what really happened.
Props:
heyzel and heyzel
Kovalev isn't scared of Adonis, he has always wanted the fight. Boxing politics has gotten in the way.
Btw, You see Stevenson's next opponent? lol! I want PBC to be successful but fights like that are exactly why Haymon gets criticized so much.
Btw, You see Stevenson's next opponent? lol! I want PBC to be successful but fights like that are exactly why Haymon gets criticized so much.
Props:
CZAR and CZAR
Bernard Hopkins Targets Arthur Abraham Showdown
Posted by: Steve Kim on 7/27/2015 .
>>>Click Here For Tons of More Breaking Boxing News, Articles and Insider Information<<<
By Steve Kim
Bernard Hopkins has made it very clear that even at the ripe old age of 50 that he's still like one more fight before calling it a day. And he has someone one in mind - Arthur Abraham, the current WBO super middleweight titlist.
Hopkins, who was last seen losing a 12-round decision to light heavyweight king, Sergey Kovalev, back in November told BoxingScene.com:
"I'm not retired but I do have an itch that I happened to want to entertain as far as at least a conversation and hopefully it will lead into a fight - and that is with the '68(pound) WBO champion. One reason is yeah, I'm 50 and I know that I'll have a lot of support from people of age and even the ones who believe that it can be one.
"I want to go out on my terms and I see that as a fight that can be made. 'Paco' (Valcarcel) the president of the WBO also believes it's a fight worth entertainig and trying to see if possibly it can happen. Where? I don't know, it's really in the early stages for that, right now."
The 35 year old Abraham (43-4, 29 KO's) stopped Robert Stieglitz in six rounds in Germany on July 18th in his most recent fight.
For the vast collection of world title belts that Hopkins has, he has never competed as a full-fledged super middleweight.
"I would love to go back one step and capture a world championship in a division, if you remember I skipped over that division to make history with Antonio Tarver at 175," said Hopkins, who in June of 2006, went from middleweight straight to light heavyweight to capture the lineal title in that weight class.
Bernard Hopkins Targets Arthur Abraham Showdown
Posted by: Steve Kim on 7/27/2015 .
>>>Click Here For Tons of More Breaking Boxing News, Articles and Insider Information<<<
By Steve Kim
Bernard Hopkins has made it very clear that even at the ripe old age of 50 that he's still like one more fight before calling it a day. And he has someone one in mind - Arthur Abraham, the current WBO super middleweight titlist.
Hopkins, who was last seen losing a 12-round decision to light heavyweight king, Sergey Kovalev, back in November told BoxingScene.com:
"I'm not retired but I do have an itch that I happened to want to entertain as far as at least a conversation and hopefully it will lead into a fight - and that is with the '68(pound) WBO champion. One reason is yeah, I'm 50 and I know that I'll have a lot of support from people of age and even the ones who believe that it can be one.
"I want to go out on my terms and I see that as a fight that can be made. 'Paco' (Valcarcel) the president of the WBO also believes it's a fight worth entertainig and trying to see if possibly it can happen. Where? I don't know, it's really in the early stages for that, right now."
The 35 year old Abraham (43-4, 29 KO's) stopped Robert Stieglitz in six rounds in Germany on July 18th in his most recent fight.
For the vast collection of world title belts that Hopkins has, he has never competed as a full-fledged super middleweight.
"I would love to go back one step and capture a world championship in a division, if you remember I skipped over that division to make history with Antonio Tarver at 175," said Hopkins, who in June of 2006, went from middleweight straight to light heavyweight to capture the lineal title in that weight class.
Bernard Hopkins Targets Arthur Abraham Showdown
Issues holding back Mayweather’s September 12th fight
date July 27th, 2015 | Post FB Comment - 55 Comments
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Floyd Mayweather vs Manny PacquiaoBy Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr’s September 12th fight is being held back by issues involving his future fights if he chooses to continue fighting beyond his September 12th date.
According to Dan Rafael, Showtime/CBS wants rights to Mayweather’s future fights if he decides to keep his career going after his next fight date. Supposedly, this is going to be Mayweather’s last fight of his career in September. However, if he changes his mind about retiring and decides to sign up with HBO to go for his 50th win of his career, Showtime/CBS is looking to protect their investment, says Rafael.
Stephen Espinoza, the vice president of sports for Showtime, totally disagrees with Rafael. He says none of this is true about Showtime holding up Mayweather for his September 12th fight.
Mayweather’s six-fight contract with Showtime/CBS ends in September, so it’s hard to see why Mayweather would be obligated to continue fighting with them if he chooses to fight in 2016 and beyond. Of course, it’s impossible to know what contract language was in the original six-fight contract.
“9/12 Floyd fight still not set. Issues there. Floyd says he’s retiring but Show/CBS want rights to future fights should he change mind,” Rafael said on his Twitter. “Show/CBS not about to let Floyd decide to return to possibly go 50-0 & take fight across street. This is 1 of reasons for long delay. I can’t blame Show/CBS for protecting their considerable investment in Floyd. I’d do the same thing.”
If Mayweather chooses to fight for HBO in 2016 rather than Showtime, then it would bring a lot of viewers to HBO, as well a lot of money. It would really bring a lot of money potentially if Mayweather were to fight someone good like Manny Pacquiao in a rematch, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Miguel Cotto or Gennady Golovkin.
Mayweather would have a lot of options to fight if he were to move over to HBO for 2016. He wouldn’t have to worry about the hassle of trying to negotiate a fight between different networks.
If Mayweather stays with Showtime and is limited to only fighters that fight on the network, then his options could be limited if he decides to continue fighting next year unless Showtime and HBO were willing to work out a deal to televise the fight on both networks like what we saw in Mayweather’s recent fight against Manny Pacquiao on HBO/Showtime.
Mayweather is expected to fight Andre Berto on September 12th on Showtime PPV from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not too many boxing fans are interested in seeing that fight whether on Showtime or free television on CBS. If this is going to be Mayweather’s last fight for Showtime/CBS, he’s not exactly giving them a great sendoff fight.
date July 27th, 2015 | Post FB Comment - 55 Comments
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Floyd Mayweather vs Manny PacquiaoBy Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr’s September 12th fight is being held back by issues involving his future fights if he chooses to continue fighting beyond his September 12th date.
According to Dan Rafael, Showtime/CBS wants rights to Mayweather’s future fights if he decides to keep his career going after his next fight date. Supposedly, this is going to be Mayweather’s last fight of his career in September. However, if he changes his mind about retiring and decides to sign up with HBO to go for his 50th win of his career, Showtime/CBS is looking to protect their investment, says Rafael.
Stephen Espinoza, the vice president of sports for Showtime, totally disagrees with Rafael. He says none of this is true about Showtime holding up Mayweather for his September 12th fight.
Mayweather’s six-fight contract with Showtime/CBS ends in September, so it’s hard to see why Mayweather would be obligated to continue fighting with them if he chooses to fight in 2016 and beyond. Of course, it’s impossible to know what contract language was in the original six-fight contract.
“9/12 Floyd fight still not set. Issues there. Floyd says he’s retiring but Show/CBS want rights to future fights should he change mind,” Rafael said on his Twitter. “Show/CBS not about to let Floyd decide to return to possibly go 50-0 & take fight across street. This is 1 of reasons for long delay. I can’t blame Show/CBS for protecting their considerable investment in Floyd. I’d do the same thing.”
If Mayweather chooses to fight for HBO in 2016 rather than Showtime, then it would bring a lot of viewers to HBO, as well a lot of money. It would really bring a lot of money potentially if Mayweather were to fight someone good like Manny Pacquiao in a rematch, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Miguel Cotto or Gennady Golovkin.
Mayweather would have a lot of options to fight if he were to move over to HBO for 2016. He wouldn’t have to worry about the hassle of trying to negotiate a fight between different networks.
If Mayweather stays with Showtime and is limited to only fighters that fight on the network, then his options could be limited if he decides to continue fighting next year unless Showtime and HBO were willing to work out a deal to televise the fight on both networks like what we saw in Mayweather’s recent fight against Manny Pacquiao on HBO/Showtime.
Mayweather is expected to fight Andre Berto on September 12th on Showtime PPV from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not too many boxing fans are interested in seeing that fight whether on Showtime or free television on CBS. If this is going to be Mayweather’s last fight for Showtime/CBS, he’s not exactly giving them a great sendoff fight.