September Boxing Shuffle
By Steve Kim, MaxBoxing (July 20, 2012) Doghouse Boxing (Photo © Steve Kim)
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Boxing Ring
Sources have told Maxboxing that the HBO doubleheader featuring the return of Sergiy Dzinziruk against Jonathan Gonzalez and Gennady Golovkin against TBA (most likely Gregorsz Proska) has been moved from its original slot of August 25th to September 1st. It seems as though this move was made in no small part to serve as some sort of preview for the network’s September 8 card in Oakland featuring Andre Ward defending his super middleweight championship against Chad Dawson.
 
HBO asked the promoters of this show (Artie Pelullo and Gary Shaw) to make this concession earlier this week. With no site deal finalized, they accommodated the network, which is putting up right around $2.5 million for the Ward-Dawson broadcast. They even went so far as to purchase the tape delay rights to Vitali Klitschko's fight versus Manuel Charr to lead off this show (which also includes the WBC lightweight title bout between Antonio DeMarco and Johnny Molina) in an attempt to bring more viewers to the telecast. Despite their reputation with most stateside fans as being less-than-exciting, the Klitschkos have been consistent ratings grabbers on HBO.
 
It's interesting; is HBO once again trying to anoint or create a star, much like they did prior to the fight between Tim Bradley and Devon Alexander, when it comes to Ward-Dawson? (which also has a companion “24/7” and “Face Off with Max Kellerman” in its lead-up). Some in the industry speculate that Ken Hershman, who came over from Showtime (and created his former network’s “Super Six” tournament), has a bit of an emotional attachment to Ward and is committed to making him into a name-brand fighter as vindication for his faith in him. Others say that long before Hershman was brought aboard, they had their eyes on Ward, believing he was the next American star. They would've made a strong push for him, regardless.
 
But the question has to be asked; if this much has to be done to prop up this fight, is it really worth what HBO is doling out to begin with?


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