By Robert Morris: With news that Al Haymon is taking his entourage of fighters off Premium Cable TV (Showtime, HBO, etc.) and onto Network TV (NBC) in early 2015, how do we see boxing panning out in the New Year?
Well, with Bernard Hopkins’ heroic performance against Sergey Kovalev last weekend and rumours of Canelo Alvarez potentially facing Miguel Cotto next year; it would seem the cracks are beginning to show in boxing’s proverbial ‘Cold War’ (Golden Boy/Showtime vs. Top Rank/HBO)!
To clarify, both Hopkins and Alvarez are Golden Boy fighters. Up until last weekend a Golden Boy fighter hadn’t appeared on HBO since Hopkins faced Tavoris Cloud in March 2013.
Ironically, it was Hopkins who broke that mould with his recent performance against Kovalev Saturday night. Furthermore, Alvarez has been rumoured to face Cotto in 2015, which if happens will be televised on HBO as Alvarez has signed a new multi-fight contract with them.
Surely this means boxing’s ‘Cold War’ is over, right? Wrong! Although both Hopkins and Alvarez are Golden Boy fighters, neither are advised by Haymon. We have not seen a Haymon fighter in a meaningful fight on HBO for some time, and there does not seem to be anything in the pipeline to suggest otherwise.
The pool of Golden Boy talent is actually extremely limited when you take any Haymon affiliated fighters out of the equation, and according to Kathy Duva, we can. “He’s [Haymon] promised NBC that he’s going to take his fighters off premium cable… he’s going to put Showtime and HBO out of the puzzle and he’s going to do away with pay-per-view and create an over-the-top network.” Bob Arum also noted that Richard Schaefer is “gutting [Golden Boy] by transferring in effect fighters who are Golden Boy fighters to Haymon.” This is why Richard Schaefer isn’t CEO of Golden Boy Promotions anymore and relationships between Oscar De Le Hoya and Haymon appear strained.
So where does this leave us for what we can expect to see in 2015? Well anyone who thinks boxing’s ‘Cold War’ is nearing a close has been seriously misguided. It has merely taking on a new persona, one that pits Golden Boy/Top Rank/HBO/Showtime vs. Al Haymon/NBC!
A final puzzlement which piques my sense of intrigue; is now that the ever elusive Haymon appears to be distancing himself from Golden Boy, who will he use to (officially) promote his fighters on NBC? It appears Richard Schaefer will be out of the picture until his Golden Boy contract ends in March 2018, leaving us with Mayweather Promotions or a variety of lesser renowned promoters as possibilities.
Perhaps a more alluring, even bold, suggestion could be that the audacious Al Haymon intends to promote those he ‘advises’ on NBC himself? How though, I hear you asking? Haymon is a manager, and the ‘Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act’ prevents managers from promoting and vice versa. This is where the genius of Haymon really starts to shine through. He is in fact technically not a ‘manager’ but as I’m sure your already aware an ‘advisor’, which would lawfully allow him to promote those he advises if he so wished.
2015 will certainly be an interesting year, if nothing else, within the boxing world, and how the political landscape begins to unravel within this world will certainly be a case of watch this space!
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