Has Pac-Man Fever Gobbled Up Super Six Momentum?
By Jake Donovan
The right place, at the right time.
There was no better place or time for Manny Pacquiao’s destruction of Miguel Cotto to land than in the heart of sweeps month in the boxing capital of the world. It was a bout that began as the year’s most anticipated superfight, before eventually taking on a life of its own.
Despite an undercard to forget and a main event that neither lived up to Fight of the Year expectations or even proved to be remotely competitive, everyone ranging from hardcore boxing fans who never miss a fight to those who haven’t followed the sport in years, is still abuzz over what took place last weekend in Las Vegas.
Following Pacquiao’s historic title-winning effort in a seventh weight class, all eyes and headlines remain affixed on the possibility of a pound-for-pound collision with Floyd Mayweather Jr, a matchup that threatens to become the most lucrative in the sport’s history.
Meanwhile, there’s plenty of boxing actually taking place in present day. For starters, there’s this weekend’s super middleweight showdown between Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward. The bout, airing live from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA (Saturday, SHOWTIME, 10PM ET/PT), represents the final leg of Stage One of the Showtime Super Six World Boxing Classic.
Ah yes, that tournament – the one that opened to rave reviews last month. Yet not quite so much this week.
The first batch of matchers were met with breathless anticipation, thanks to a spectacular lead in from the “Fight Camp 360º” preview show which aired the week prior on Showtime and its accompanying website.
By fight night, there was nothing else besides the Super Six to be discussed on the pages of any boxing publication. So followed the buzz in the weeks that followed.
There was plenty of high praise over Arthur Abraham’s dramatic last-second knockout of Jermain Taylor. So too was there genuine concern over Taylor suffering his third brutal knockout loss in just over two years, with many calling not just for his immediate withdrawal from the tournament, but retirement from the sport altogether for the sake of his health.
Even with the second half of the split site doubleheader falling way short on the entertainment side, there was plenty of chatter over Carl Froch’s split decision win against Andre Dirrell. The battle of unbeaten super middleweights was a tough affair to watch and even tougher to score, as proven by the debates that raged on well after Froch’s arm was raised in victory.
The first batch of the Super Six World Boxing Classic matches came at the perfect time. There were sprinkles of notable action on the boxing schedule for the month of October, but certainly none bigger than the super middleweight doubleheader Showtime had planned for mid-month.
No matter your flavor, October 17 left plenty to be discussed. It was talked up all throughout the month of October, with the added bonus of Showtime coming back with a Shobox card six days later and yet another edition of Showtime Championship Boxing a week after that.
Giving the series a great assist was the fact that HBO went dark for the month. It was Showtime’s time to shine, with the stage virtually to itself and hopes of building enough momentum to carry over to this weekend’s final opening round bout.
Then came Pac Man fever.
Right place? Right time? 0-for-2 if you’re standing across the street from HBO.
It’s not as if a lack of storylines exist for this weekend’s bout. The problem is that none of them involve Manny Pacquiao and the possibility of his fighting Floyd Mayweather next year.
For those who need it, here come a few reminders of why this matchup is perhaps the most important and intriguing among the opening round lot.
Though considered by many to be the de facto super middleweight leader and the odds-on favorite to win the tournament, Kessler (42-1, 32KO) finds himself in unfamiliar territory this weekend. The bout marks just his second appearance in the United States, with his only other trip stateside having taken place more than nine years ago and in virtual obscurity.
There will be nothing obscure about his walk down the aisle in the Oracle Arena, where he’s set to defend his alphabet title against the undefeated Ward (20-0, 13KO), who enjoys home court advantage.
It’s one of the few checks that can be placed on Ward’s side of the tale of the tape. He’s slightly taller, five years younger and is viewed as being the far more athletic of the two. Ward has also been far more active in the ring, this being his fourth fight of 2009 and fifth fight in less than twelve months.
Compare that to the 30-year old Kessler, who has only fought three times since dropping a heartbreaker to Joe Calzaghe two years ago in what one of the few defining moments of an otherwise spotty 25-year history of the super middleweight division.
Prior to September, Kessler hadn’t fought at all in 2009. The greatest fighter to ever come out of Denmark, the heavily tattooed boxer spent most of the year riding out a messy divorce with longtime promoter Mogens Palle, who at tournament’s start claims to still have paper on the him and threatened to sue all involved.
Few have blinked; least of all Kessler or his new promoter Sauerland Event, whom also guides the career of the tournament’s other favorite, Arthur Abraham.
Of greater concern to the potentially great Dane is the man who will stand in the opposite corner this weekend.
The showdown with Kessler is by far the biggest test of Ward’s young career. But then, that’s the way it should be when challenging for a major title for the very first time, no less against arguably the best super middleweight in the world.
While his biggest pro moment to date, it’s not the biggest stage on which the Oak-town native has performed. That would have taken place five years ago in Athens, Greece, where Ward would run the tables to capture Olympic Gold in the light heavyweight bracket.
He is the last American boxer to win a Gold medal, as well as the only active American fighter who was won at the amateur’s highest level. David Reid (Class of 1996) has long ago retired, and Oscar de la Hoya (1992) announced his official departure from the game earlier this year.
Whereas de la Hoya consistently fought the best throughout his career and Reid’s rise and fall came in the blink of an eye, Ward’s handlers opted for the slow lane on the road to success. As 2008 became 2009, Ward entered the fifth year of his career without so much as having faced any opponent to legitimately gauge where he stands in the super middleweight mix.
Some questions were answered this past June, when he easily turned away the challenge of former middleweight title challenger Edison Miranda. It wasn’t enough to convince the world that he’s destined for championship status in the immediate future, but enough to have fans regard him as a very live underdog.
Quite a statement considering whom he’s facing.
It can easily be argued that Kessler is by far the most proven commodity in the tournament. He’s a bona fide draw in his Denmark homeland and never shied from a challenge during his first tour as a super middleweight titlist, including a trip to Australia in 2005, where he soundly defeated a very capable Anthony Mundine.
His clash with Mundine was one of the few in which an opponent was actually able to claim any rounds won against Kessler, who has mowed down nearly everyone else in his path over the course of his career, nearly 12 years and still going strong.
The lone exception, of course, would be the aforementioned loss to Calzaghe, whose subsequent defection to the light heavyweight division placed Kessler right back at the top, where he’s since remained on the strength of three straight stoppage wins.
Right place, right time.
Pairing up against the strongest seed of the tournament may not be the best place for Ward to begin his quest for super middleweight supremacy. But if there’s anywhere he has to be in order to endure such a challenge, it might as well be in the comfort of his own hometown.
Much has come of Ward being the only challenger among the six who will not be obligated to travel beyond the borders of his home country, with possibly two of his three fights taking place in Oakland, and the other to be staged elsewhere in the United States.
Both fighters have their advantages and disadvantages, but are otherwise exactly where they want to be for this weekend.
The only true disadvantage facing either is where the bout was placed on the boxing schedule.
When the first preview show for the tournament aired, the only other option for boxing fans that evening was to pony up $40 for a pay-per-view telecast headlined by Juan Manuel Lopez.
Ironically, that fight turned out to be one of the year’s best, and Lopez is considered one of the young rising stars of the sport, but not enough to where he nor his unexpected thriller with Rogers Mtagwa could eclipse the momentum the tournament was about to enjoy.
The second preview show for the tournament wasn’t quite as lacking in competition.
Scheduling the 30-minute documentary opposite the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto pay-per-view telecast was practically begging for viewers to not tune into its broadcast premiere. Fans have since been able to catch a replay, be it on Showtime or its affiliate networks, TiVo or even on its website.
However much they liked it or disliked it (and few if any bad reviews have yet to surface) certainly pales in comparison to their thoughts on any topic regarding Manny Pacquiao.
That problem doesn’t go away even by this weekend.
An exclusive replay of the Pacquiao-Cotto superfight airs on HBO this weekend. The upside is that it’s slated to begin at 9PM, one hour before Showtime goes live with its coverage of Kessler-Ward, the only live bout of the evening.
The bad news; Pac-Cotto coverage on HBO doesn’t end until 10:15PM, which can only mean further post-fight analysis; a round-robin discussion of both fighters’ future; and of course the great push for Pacquiao-Mayweather to become a reality.
Hardcore boxing fans will no doubt tune into Showtime at 10PM, though perhaps going back and forth with HBO on the remote until live action begins.
Boxing writers will be on assignment to cover the Showtime broadcast. How many will actually be in attendance remains to be seen, but it’s fathomable to believe that a mere fraction of those in Vegas last weekend will move their luggage and laptops to Northern California, with more reviews of the event likely to come from the living room couch than at ringside.
And while Ward is a decent draw in the Bay Area, even the most recent press releases indicate a decent amount of tickets are still on sale for this weekend’s event. It’s possible that the venue fills up by fight time, but it’s still a far cry from the scenes enjoyed in Nottingham, England and Berlin, Germany, both of which hosted sold out events for their October entries.
There’s a time and a place for everything. A fight like Kessler-Ward in a tournament like the Super Six should be met with great anticipation no matter when and where it takes place.
No matter when and where, except perhaps in the aftermath of this year’s most anticipate fight and what’s already threatening to become next year’s biggest story.
