The rise of Al Haymon in the boxing world continues apace with the news that he has signed a multi-million dollar deal to take over from Kathy Duva’s Main Events as the promoter on record for NBC Sports Network. It is suggested that a certain number of the shows that Haymon will provide to NBC could actually be shown on their main network channel. Haymon is gradually emerging from the shadows to take his place right at the pinnacle of the sport. This development could make or break the future of the sport in the short term and also have major implications long term.
It has been obvious for some time that a move of this sort was about to take place. Haymon has been signing contracts with new boxers on an almost weekly basis over the past year. He now has a stable which could almost enable him to start his own organisation, maybe something along the lines of the UFC which has been so successful and grown so rapidly in a short space of time. Perhaps that would not be such a bad idea. The old adage about the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence often holds true. In this case, our neighbour certainly does seem to be using superior fertiliser. A study of the UFC model will show that they feature eight weight classes, have ONE champion per weight, have ratings which are genuinely accurate and, apparently, scrupulously fair and that all deserving challengers do, in time, get their shot at the champion.
In the UFC, the champion is compelled to defend his/her belt against the top contender. If a dangerous challenger shoots up the rankings, once they have beaten a couple of top contenders, they will get to face the champion. There is none of the ducking and diving that goes on in boxing, e.g., the Mayweather-Pacquiao farce. If a champion is able to make four or five successful defences of their belt, they can genuinely be called superstars of the sport, because all of those defences will have been made against top 10 (usually top 5) contenders. Their cards frequently involve fights which pit the top two fighters in their division against each other and if the match is suitably close, there are never any issues with making the rematch. Are these not all of the things that we would wish for in boxing? Instead, when we look back into our own garden, we see weeds running wild and unsavoury creatures crawling from under rocks left, right and centre.
Other features of the UFC which do not happen in boxing are that the flyweights receive equal exposure to the heavyweights and that women fighters frequently feature on their cards, often on the main card as opposed to the undercard. Fans of boxing never get to see flyweight action and have to follow the top fighters in this weight class on YouTube or via website streaming sites, whilst women boxers in the U.S. have been campaiging for years to get a look in on some of the HBO and Showtime undercards, but to no avail. Neither do UFC shows feature the horrendous mismatches that appear, often televised, underneath the main event on boxing cards, in order to pad fighters’ records. A study of a UFC card will show that all the matches right down the card are between fighters with similar records and rankings. I am sick and tired of watching no-hopers being blasted out by former amateur star boxers who are three and four levels above their hapless opponents.
A further instance of the shambolic way in which boxing is run could, for example, include the careers of two outstanding champions, Gennady Golovkin and Guillermo Rigondeaux. These brilliant boxers, who with their top class amateur credentials allied to their championship reigns as professionals, could conceivably end their careers being perceived as all time greats of the sport, have no challengers willing to fight them. Due to the fact that there are several other belts on offer for the contenders in their respective divisions, prospective challengers will not take the chance of being hurt and/or outclassed by either. The legacies of these two superb champions are therefore being affected by their lack of serious opposition, with Golovkin being reduced to defending against the likes of serial top-level loser Marco Antonio Rubio and Rigondeaux facing challengers who should not be in the same town as him, let along the same ring.
We also have organisations such as the WBO who are telling us, with a completely straight face, that the winner of the upcoming fight between Matt Korobov and Andy Lee will be the world middleweight champion. The WBO should do us all a favour and crawl back under one of those aforementioned rocks. How can anyone else seriously call themselves world middleweight boxing champion whilst the feared Golovkin walks and breathes on planet Earth? Closer to home, there is now the genuine prospect of Paul Butler who, make no mistake, is a fine little fighter, soon being able to call himself a two weight world champion. He will fight for the IBF super-flyweight title sooner rather than later. The problem with this is that Butler has never yet faced a world class opponent in his boxing career. I challenge anyone to argue with that point. He can call himself world champion for the sole reason that his promoter curries favour with a particular governing body. These instances are almost unbearable to traditionalists and followers of the sport who can even remember when there were “just” the two governing bodies, back in the 70s and early 80s. We did have two “champions” then, but it was far less chaotic. Of course, things quickly deteriorated to the point where we are today.
Despite all the madness that currently prevails at the top of the sport, how good is boxing that it still retains its popularity? Look at the fantastic event put on by Eddie Hearn in London earlier this year when Froch and Groves drew a crowd of 80,000 to their rematch. UFC eat your heart out! Our sport is the best in the world and deserves to be showcased with pride and gusto as that event was. If we did have the organisational skills of the UFC’s Dana White, a huge resurgence of the sport could genuinely be on the cards. Note that even with all the existing wrongs in boxing it still comfortably outdraws UFC in its pay per view events and, love him or hate him, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still the highest paid athlete in the world. Game, set and match!
Boxing therefore has nothing to fear from Haymon’s link up with NBC. It is already in an absolute mess. The sport has needed a serious shake-up for many years now – perhaps this is it. Boxing back on network television on a regular basis in the U.S. is almost a dream come true for long-suffering fans of the sport who have to fork out a fortune to pay for the privilege of watching boxing’s biggest stars on Pay Per View cards which frequently have low quality undercards. Haymon is promising that there will be no pay per view events during his involvement with NBC. This has to be another good thing.
As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with boxing aside from the parasites who run it. Haymon and NBC should tell the four bogus “governing” bodies to take a hike and take their plastic belts with them. I have advocated for the longest time now that these ridiculous belts should be ignored. Genuine followers of the sport know who the top fighters are – they know when a good match has been made and, deep down, they know who the real champions are. So, if Al Haymon can create some kind of order out of this chaos, I, for one, will welcome his increased involvement in the sport with open arms.
@RachelAylett1
