Last year, Golden Boy Promotions
was as busy as any promoter in the world. It wasn't unusual for them to have a
card featured on HBO or Showtime and promotions televised on Telefutura and Fox
Sports/Deportes. Things don't figure to slow down all that much in 2013 and
Golden Boy has recently announced plans to get a promoter’s license in the
United Kingdom. Matter of fact, they inked British bronze medalist Anthony
Ogogo to a deal.
They have a full slate set
for the first quarter of the year.
That said, what most fans
and pundits want to know is who will Floyd Mayweather and Saul Alvarez face next in 2013?
Mayweather is reportedly in negotiations to fight Robert Guerrero on May 4th.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO
Richard Schaefer told Maxboxing on Thursday, “I can't tell you anything
official because, obviously, when something is official, it's going to come
from Floyd. We respect Floyd; that's why we have the relationship we have. We
are diligently finalizing Floyd's fight and, frankly, the entire card and
everything that goes with it. It will be - if in fact, something I can pull
off, what I'm working on - one of the biggest events we have ever promoted.”
As for “Canelo,” there was
the possibility of facing WBA junior middleweight beltholder Austin Trout - who
defeated Miguel Cotto in December when he was in line to face Alvarez. Schaefer
said, “I'm still working on all of that. It could or it could not [be Trout]. I
don't want to say yes. We cannot say. I don't want to say yes; I don't want to
say no. Quite frankly, that's what I'm working on.” Earlier in the week,
Schaefer had intimated to Chris Mannix of Sports
Illustrated that he believed that an Alvarez-Trout match-up would probably
not take place. When asked about those comments, he said, “I think Austin
Trout's promoter said there were conversations going on and things like that -
and that's not accurate. So if you ask me today, I really don't think it's
going to be Austin Trout. But again, I don't want to mislead anybody. I just
have to do my job and I have to work and I know what fights fans would like to
see. So I'm going to try to deliver a big fight for Floyd and a big fight for ‘Canelo.’
That's what I'm working on.”
What's not clear is when
Alvarez will be scheduled to go. There has been a lot of speculation that he
would be on the Mayweather undercard but it would be just as hard to see it
come off if the Mayweather-Guerrero fight ends up distributed by HBO
Pay-Per-View. Alvarez looks to be a part of the exodus of Golden Boy clients to
Showtime. Again, all of this is being sorted out.
The rest of the Golden Boy
schedule is set. They begin this weekend with a “ShoBox” telecast this Friday night at the Fantasy Springs Casino where
Rico Ramos and Ronny Rios square off. Then on the following night at the
BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, Steve Forbes faces Johan Perez. But the
meat of their schedule begins on January 26th on Showtime when Lucas Matthysse takes
on Mike Dallas Jr. and Selcuk Aydin battles Jesus Soto Karass. In addition,
Jermell Charlo was just added to this broadcast. It begins a seven-week stretch
where Golden Boy has cards on either Showtime or HBO on six occasions.
What hasn't been decided is
what is in store for Amir Khan, who rebounded with a dominant win over Carlos
Molina on December 15th at the L.A. Sports Arena.
“First of all, we have
targeted either April 13th or
April the 20th, one of those two dates,” said Schaefer on Khan's
expected return to the ring, which could take place in either the States or in
Britain. “I'm actually going next week to Europe for some meetings, a press
conference as well for Anthony Ogogo, so we are going to be talking to the Khans
and discuss potential opponents.” Schaefer noted that Showtime, which recently
signed Khan to a multi-fight deal, has approved both dates.
Then there's this, “We have
April the 27th on hold; the fight we're trying to finalize is Paulie
Malignaggi against ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley. It's not done yet. I'm waiting to get it
done; hopefully, we'll get it done in the next couple of weeks. But that's what
I'm working on.”
Yes, we can hear the
collective groans over this one. It's not even so much that Mosley has hit a
losing skid the past few years (he hasn't won a fight since January of 2009, when
he knocked out Antonio Margarito) but the fact that his fights have been so
hard to watch as we have seen his once formidable skills erode right in front
of our eyes. As he lost to Alvarez in lopsided fashion last year, Mosley
actually announced his retirement.
So why is he being given
this shot?
“Well,” answered Schaefer, “I
think, first of all, Shane feels 147, he can be much more effective and, Shane
was in my office. I talked to him; I saw him with my own eyes and I think that
he still has something left and I believe that one thing Shane deserves is that
last opportunity and it's going to be up to him to make the best out of it.
Now, whether that's going to be enough to beat Paulie Malignaggi or not, I
don't know. I think it's going to be a very close fight and if you ask some
fight fans who is going to win that night, they start thinking and they start
scratching their heads and they start saying, ‘Yeah, y’ know what? Shane can
actually win that fight.’ So I think Shane Mosley has done so much for the
sport, has entertained us for so many years. If he deserves one thing, he
deserves that last chance at a world title. It's going to be up to him to
deliver.”
Some would argue his gold watch
fight came against Alvarez last year.
“OK, if he doesn't deliver and doesn't win that fight, I give you my word -
now, I can't tell you what Shane is going to do but I can tell you one thing -
that I will not be promoting another Shane Mosley fight,” Schaefer stated.
MARES
So what's on tap for WBC
super bantamweight titlist Abner Mares?
“Well, the WBC has that
mandatory supposedly with Victor Terrazas, who I know is promoted by [Fernando]
Beltran and, as an extension, with Top Rank. So they obviously want to enforce
that mandatory and I think after, we'll have to choose if he wants to do the
mandatory or if he has any other plans,” said Schaefer, who is very aware that the
fight most fans want to see is a match-up between Mares and Nonito Donaire. “It's
pretty obvious that Top Rank doesn't want to work with us. I mean, I think [Bob]
Arum can't be clearer in that regard and so, unfortunately, I don't see that
fight happening.
“I would love to do that
fight with Donaire and Mares.”
TV
One other thing I wanted to
mention, I remember watching fights like Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns I and
Aaron Pryor-Alexis Arguello I on replays on ABC and CBS respectively a few
weeks after they took place as a kid (yeah, growing up in Valencia, California,
we didn't have HBO). But I was just wondering why today's big fights aren't at
least shown on replay on these networks. I understand that the distributors (namely
HBO and Showtime) want to retain the rights to these events and premiere them
on replay the following week.
But would it be so bad if
those fights were eventually shown again on CBS or NBC (or ESPN, which has
entered into a marketing deal with HBO Pay-Per-View) a few weeks after they air
them? Again, we're talking about boxing being showcased on the biggest possible
platforms. The bottom line is that being on pay-per-view means you're playing
to a relatively small, niche audience. Just the same, HBO and Showtime play to
a relatively small scope of people.
It says here that part of
the reason why fights like Leonard-Hearns and Pryor-Arguello are so iconic is
whether they watched them live or not, a much bigger spectrum of the general
public eventually had a chance to view them.
FINAL FLURRIES
Yeah, I thought Rances
Barthelemy's decision over Arash Usmanee on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” was
quite rancid...Schaefer noted that talented featherweight Gary Russell Jr. will
appear on the March 2nd Showtime card from the Apollo Theater which
features Daniel Ponce de Leon defending his featherweight title against Jayson
Velez...Again, all aboard the Russell Wilson bandwagon...By the way, it's clear
that if Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan was a trainer, he'd never throw in
the towel...It's ironic; college football has the best regular season in
sports, in my opinion, but the worst, post-season. The NFL by far, has the best
post-season...I think Notre Dame covers the spread versus ‘Bama in the Orange
Bowl...Serious question: Do the Lakers make the playoffs?...Al Golden is a
recruiting fiend; isn't he?...