The remainder of the 2013
boxing schedule is set. Looking ahead, the two promotional titans that are
Top Rank Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions are setting up their itineraries
for the upcoming year on HBO and Showtime respectively.
HBO is scheduled to kick off
the New Year on January 18th from Montreal with the local grudge match
between Jean Pascal and Lucian Bute. Then the following week, Top Rank has a
card that will take place from the Theater of Madison Square Garden in New
York. But what was originally planned will not be on this telecast.
“It will not be [Vasyl]
Lomachenko [against WBO featherweight titlist Orlando Salido] because his hand
is still bothering him,” Arum explained to Maxboxing on Wednesday. “He asked
for a four-week postponement, so that fight won’t take place until February or
the beginning of March.”
According to Arum, the
headlining spot that evening is going to one of the game’s brightest young
stars, “Mikey Garcia is available and we have a lot of guys who are ready to go
like Khabib Allakhverdiev. He may defend his [WBA junior welterweight] title on
that card. So we're talking to HBO about it but we're planning Mikey for that
date.”
There has been a lot of talk
of Garcia facing Juan Carlos Burgos. Garcia has had a big 2013, winning two
world titles (at featherweight and junior lightweight) and securing another
solid HBO rating (1.2 million viewers, according to Kevin Iole of Yahoo!
Sports).
“I think he's an emerging
superstar,” said the veteran promoter. “I mean, he has the personality and the
temperament to go with extraordinary athletic ability. He's very intelligent,
very personable. So he has all the ingredients to be a major star.”
Co-headlining with Garcia in
Corpus Christi last weekend was Nonito Donaire, who had to score a
come-from-behind knockout of the surprisingly spry Vic Darchinyan. His return
won’t be for awhile, according to Arum. “Probably in May because we want to
make sure that the orbital bone, the eye is completely healed and fine.”
But Arum admitted to being
concerned over Donaire's performance.
“I think it goes back to the
training camp. He can't train for three days and take off for three days. He's
got to train seriously for these fights, be in better condition. I think Nonito
realizes that himself,” said Arum.
Top Rank will also stage
another show in Macao on February 22nd.
As for the rematch between
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Bryan Vera, there were plans to stage this bout in
February. Says Arum, “HBO decided that they didn't want to put it on against
the [Winter] Olympics. So we're looking at March 1st.”
The fight could end up in
either Texas or Las Vegas.
So that's how things stack
up at Top Hatfield. Meanwhile at Golden McCoys, they have a busy schedule
planned.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO
Richard Schaefer stated, “I'm actually working on a bunch of dates for 2014
already. I can tell you that we are going to go with a card, it looks like
January 25th, which could be [IBF junior welterweight titlist]
Lamont Peterson and Dierry Jean and then we have January 30th at the
Barclays Center for Fox Sports 1, the Super Bowl show with Victor Ortiz against
Luis Collazo.
“Then I'm holding February
15th, the Staples Center. We're trying to finalize Jhonny Gonzalez
and Abner Mares for that date and maybe have Leo Santa Cruz come back as well
if everything works out [against Cesar Seda on December 14th]. And
then you know we have March 8th, a pay-per-view from the MGM Grand
with [Saul] “Canelo” Alvarez. I'm trying to finalize that. So we're working on
a bunch of dates for early next year.”
Alvarez could be facing
Miguel Cotto, who is mulling over a lucrative offer from Golden Boy. As for
when the Puerto Rican star would make his decision, Schaefer said, “I would say
within the next couple of weeks.”
There has also been talk of
WBO middleweight titlist Peter Quillin defending his belt versus Danny Jacobs. “I
actually have a date from the Barclays Center on March the 29th. So
I'm working on that and I already have that locked in.”
COUNTERPUNCH PROGRAMMING
Schaefer was hesitant to
talk about any more of his future plans, saying bluntly, “Because as soon as I
give out dates, Ken Hershman [President of HBO Sports] will go a
counter-program. It's the funniest thing. So I have a bunch of other dates but
I'm not going to go and talk and give any other dates out.”
So is counter-programming
more prevalent than in the past?
According to Schaefer, “Yes,
worse than ever. But look, we as a promoter can't be worried about what the
others are doing and Stephen Espinoza [Executive Vice President and
General Manager of Showtime Sports] can't really be worried about it either. We
just have to go forward and make fights and make good fights from compelling
venues.”
GOLDEN ARENAS
One point of emphasis in
2013 from Golden Boy and Showtime was to have their fight cards take place in
major league venues providing a certain atmosphere and electricity to their
broadcasts. In other words, they didn't want to be in Chumash.
“We really have put a
tremendous effort on trying to put the fights where they belong and I think
that in itself has generated huge live gates,” said Schaefer, who says that Los
Angeles, San Antonio and Brooklyn will consistently see Golden Boy events in
the future. “We have three key markets that we want to continue with that
trend.”
SATURDAY FLURRIES
So after using the well-worn
James Toney on “Prizefighter” does Eddie Hearn have Evander Holyfield on speed-dial
for Anthony Joshua?...Garrett Wilson has stepped up to the plate to face “Czar”
Glazkov on NBC's main event this Saturday afternoon, replacing Tomasz Adamek
who came up ill...Miami will beat Duke; right?! I'm awfully nervous about this
game...Love him or hate him, Lakers basketball just isn't the same without Kobe
Bean Bryant...It was shorts and sandals weather here in Southern California the
past few days. Yeah, that's why you live out here...
I can be reached
at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing.
We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing,
where you can discuss our content with Maxboxing readers as well as chime in
via our fully interactive article comments sections. |