By Big Moe Elmore: When news broke that former CEO of Golden Boy Richard Schaefer and current Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya had settled their legal battle, blogs, and comments within those blogs fill up within minutes. It was interesting reading the comments. Schaefer, Oscar, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum and manager/advisor Al Haymon all gained and lost some fans. I’m really anxious to see how all this plays out.
Each of these men has brought things to boxing that has either helped or hurt the sport. Let’s face it. There is no way to maneuver in boxing without upsetting people. There are several respectable managers out there such Billy Keane, Cameroon Dunkin and J Prince just to name a few, but fighters continue to sign with Haymon. And with Roc Nation joining the ranks, it’s sure to be interesting. Here’s what we do know and let’s start with the anchor for each of these promotional entities. First Top Rank.
Without question, Manny Pacquiao is Arum’s anchor and has four more fights left before he hangs up the gloves. But there is no one waiting in the wings to replace him immediately. In terms of marquee names, they have Terrance Crawford, Mickey Garcia, Tim Bradley, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Nicholas Walters, Nonito Donaire and those who work on a fight by fight basis..Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Cotto (both are on their way out). Jr. was set to fight Gennady Golovkin last in July, but Top Rank wanted him to sign an extension to get the fight.
Chavez wanted the fight, but not the extension. This caused for Jr. to part ways with Billy Keane and sign up with Haymon. They are now talking about doing a fight with super middleweight champ Carl Froch. Top Rank has tapped the China market and we could see a lot of fights take place there. He’s still in good graces with HBO as well so that helps.
Golden Boy’s anchor is Saul Canelo Alvarez and with the recent signing of David Lemieux gives them an added bonus. Oscar knew, by cutting ties with Haymon that he would lose a host of marquee names. This is why he was busy signing fighters left and right. Oscar has a TV deals with Fox Sports 1 and has re established his partnership with HBO. He has also mended things with Top Rank. They have done fights on a lower scale, but I don’t look for them to do a Canelo/Pac match up. I also do not see Canelo (should he make an official move to middleweight) being matched up with WBA middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin; at least not yet. Lemieux would get that fight before Canelo. Remaining with Golden Boy is Paulie Malignaggi , Leo Santa Cruz, Lucas Matthysee and Amir Khan (Khan’s contract was up after his fight with Devon Alexander). Khan might resign.
Haymon’s anchor is Floyd Mayweather, but Floyd has two fights left on his deal with Showtime and might hang up the gloves once the contract is up. Out of the host of fighters that Haymon represents I would have to pick Deontay Wilder to be the anchor once Floyd leaves. I think that all depends on the outcome of his fight with Bermane Stiverne. Haymon has other marquee names such as Danny Garcia and Adrien Broner, but I don’t think they can carry the torch just yet. It bears repeating. Back in the day, fans had many regular TV outlets they can see their favorite fighter fights.
HBO started offering promoters more money to stage their shows which lead to pulling fighters off regular TV and cut off fans from boxing. With Haymon will still having the support of Showtime and his new TV teal with NBC, it will close the gap. Schaefer could join forces with Haymon and start their own promotional company or sign up with Mayweather Promotions. But I’ll tell you why I really like this separation of powers.
There will no more monopoly. For years Top Rank and Golden Boy had everything on lockdown and basically freezing out other promotional company. Golden Boy, Top Rank, Haymon all have something the other could use. Arum once said as much he and Don King did not like each other at times, they were able to do business. If Mayweather and Pacquiao fight this could be a very good start with Haymon and Arum working together. And if Rock Nation is able to lure some more marquee names, they could make a bigger splash in the market. I think this will all come down to putting egos aside to make the best fights possible. But again, time will tell.
Comments are closed.