By Diarmuid Sherry: In most pay-per-view shows, it is only the main event for which fans have only cared for, however a significant amount of punters, who pay good money for the privilege of watching a bill on television also want to see their money’s worth on the undercard.
Recently, Floyd Mayweather boasted that his undercard on “The Moment” bill, headed by himself and Marcos Maidana was the most expensively assembled undercard cast ever, featuring Amir Khan and Adrien Broner. The undercard was generally well received by writers and fans, although some said it was only ever made, to add value to a pay-per-view show that had a perceived weak top-billing prior to the fight.
On the other side of the coin, the undercard of the Miguel Cotto – Sergio Martinez bill has been widely condemned for its lack of interesting match ups. ESPNs Dan Rafael even stated that the bill had got better due to the sudden retirement of Yuri Foreman.
In regards to the historic Froch-Groves fight in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley then, one argues that the undercard is weak for the occasion. Th
It may be the domestic undercard of the year, but then again most shows aren’t in the national stadium in front of 80,000 fans, with a paying fee of £16.95 to watch on television, on top of a monthly subscription fee just to watch those television channels.
Fights that were initially discussed by promoter Eddie Hearn was Kevin Mitchell challenging Miguel Vasquez for his IBF Lightweight belt, and Jamie McDonnell looking to reclaim his IBF Bantamweight belt that he was wrongfully stripped off and later to be claimed by fellow Brit, Stuart Hall. Furthermore, exciting heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua was looking to be paired with experienced foes such as Matt Skelton, Martin Rogan or Michael Sprott.
Instead what we have is a series of eliminators and pretend world titles. Jamie McDonnell is to fight for the vacant WBA Bantamweight regular title against the Thai contender, Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat. Competitive fight on paper, but the fact that the WBA have a “Super” Champion in Anselmo Moreno diminishes the glamour of the fight, and to label it a “world” title fight is highly deceptive.
Miguel Vasquez was unable to agree terms in time to set up a match with Kevin Mitchell, so Ghislain Maduma, the NABF Lightweight champion from Canada has been flown in to fight an IBF Eliminator, with the winning fighter mandated to face Vasquez next. Maduma is virtually unknown, although he is likely to be very competitive with Mitchell if he is ranked as the number 4 contender by the IBF. A much more relevant fight for UK fans would be a bout between Mitchell, and former WBO titlist Ricky Burns from Scotland, in what would be a rematch from their 2012 fight.
Furthermore, Anthony Joshua has a scheduled 6 rounder, in a bout that would be lucky to reach the end of the first round. Matt Legg has fought only 3 times in 5 years, and was stopped by a shot, overweight, 45 year old James Toney in 3 rounds. The likelihood of Joshua racking up a few rounds is slim to say the least. The 2012 Gold Medallist has been impressive so far in his short pro career, but we need to see what he is like to boxers who can return some fire of their own.
Without doubt, the leading fight on the undercard is between 2008 Olympic Gold Medallist, and recent Matchroom signee James DeGale fighting an Super Middleweight eliminator with the American Brandon Gonzales. This match carries some extra intrigue because the winner has been promised a shot at the winner of victor of Froch and Groves. It is an extremely even bout, though home advantage, big fight experience, plus the physical attributes of DeGale means I have to favour the British fighter ever so slightly, although no fighter trained by the excellent coach Virgil Hunter can ever be underestimated.
Basically however, to go back to the previous argument, the whole boxing show is as important as the main event. Fights are expensive to showcase, and promoters do often have their business caps on regarding undercards, but the undercard must be sizable enough for the occasion, which is in this instance, historic.
It is understandable that the era where you could have Barry McGuigan, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran and Herol Graham on the same card are long gone. However, a boxing bill must fit the occasion, and when you consider the big stable that Eddie Hearn has, including Scott Quigg, Kell Brook, Paul Smith, Lee Selby, Tony Bellew, Nathan Cleverly, Ricky Burns and Luke Campbell, it can be argued that the undercard is much weaker than what was initially proposed, and weak when you consider that the show is pay-per-view, and on what is the most historic boxing event in British history.
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