Thursday is Sack day and that means it’s time to reach in and grab some awesomeness. Warning: You may need two hands to grab all of it.
A World Without Arum
Magnanimous Magno, thank you for your magnificent contributions to Fighthype so far. I dug the site before your arrival but it’s now my go-to spot for boxing info.
Widely reviled in the boxing community, Bob Arum is, nonetheless, extremely influential. When he eventually retires, do you think the boxing landscape will improve much, in terms of better fights being made and no more "Cold War" between Top Rank and Golden Boy and Haymon? Or do you see some other slimeball sliding into the void left by Arum?
Thanks again!
--Jeremiah Davis
Hey Jeremiah…Thanks for the kind words.
In boxing, there will ALWAYS be slimeballs-- that much we can all pretty much say for sure.
But there WILL be a change in the sport when guys like Arum disappear.
My sincere hope is that the next wave of boxing powerbroker will be more pragmatic and forward-thinking sports commissioner and less old school carnival barker street hustling con man.
Boxing can’t move forward and rebuild into a bigger, better entity while the sport is divvied up among feuding promoters, managerial companies, and networks. The shot-callers have to ditch that mentality we have now where they take short money at the expense of the sport’s long-term health. You simply can’t clutch at pennies in the here and now at the expense of dollars that could be made down the road.
The only way boxing can pull itself up is by marshalling forces and making the big, important, and entertaining fights in each division without having to deal with self-defeating politics and the need to “marinate” every big fight for years.
The smartest move would be for all of boxing to unite in some sort of gigantic league under one TV deal and with some sort of profit sharing plan in place to encourage signing riskier fights. With this kind of set-up, there would be no business impediment, for instance, to a Crawford-Thurman-Spence round robin. Big fights could be made much easier and boxing’s TV presence would be simplified to one central outlet.
Obviously, the above is easier to propose than implement, but it’s a sure thing that no forward steps will be made with the old school boxing minds in charge. Guys like Arum are all about the bait and switch and the perpetual hustle—giving as little as humanly possible to fight fans for as long as possible, until the time is right to cash out.
Boxing is structured like a confidence game, from its business model right down to the way its officials are selected. To move back into the mainstream, all of that has to change and boxing has to govern itself like a “real” sport.
And again, none of this will happen with guys like Arum in charge.
I’m thinking that the new generation will have no choice but to be more forward thinking because there won’t be much choice for them—work together and stay afloat or stay the current course and sink.
Mikey vs. Top Rank vs. The Media
Hey Paul,
I have a few questions for you. One is what exactly happened between Top Rank and Mikey Garcia? If I understood right Top Rank basically tried to freeze Garcia out then dropped out on the eve of the trial, costing Garcia 2.5 years of his prime! How is this legal and what does the Ali Act do exactly if it can't protect fighters from losing 30 percent of thier prime earning years! Where was the coverage? I've asked all the big names to respond to this and got nothing in return, go figure! Anyway I'm hoping you can she'd some light on this subject,these days we have to many writers pushing the agenda of promoters and not enough coverage of what's happening to these fighters that are being exploited!
Thanks
-- Fats
Hey Fats.
From what we know about Garcia’s grievances, he contends that Top Rank tried to wedge in pretty much indefinite contract extensions as a condition for meeting his terms for the proposed Gamboa fight. He also accused them of withholding required financial disclosures from him and of attempting to act as both manager and promoter of his career. In short, he blasted them with accusations of violating the Ali Act.
On paper, the Ali Act is a good thing. But, like most legislation, it’s only as good as its implementation—and, in boxing, its implementation is pretty much non-existent.
Promoters and managers have fighters over a barrel in this regard because, even if a fighter is in the right, very few will risk losing years in pursuit of justice. Time is a fighter’s real estate and the idea of sitting out several prime years of a career that could, realistically, end at any time is a real detriment to those who may otherwise stand up for their rights. The Ali Act is routinely violated and it’s violated precisely because most fighters don’t have the time, money, or wherewithal to potentially sacrifice their career in the pursuit of justice.
As for how the media covered the Mikey Garcia situation, well it’s all very predictable, right? ESPN’s Dan Rafael angled all of his coverage to pretty much paint the picture of an ungrateful Garcia turning his back on a Top Rank that had made him a star. It was like—“Look how much Arum made for this guy, look how many titles he brought him—and now he wants to leave.”
Like I said, it’s very predictable. The boxing media almost always sides with management in these kinds of disputes and is maliciously eager to carry out vendettas against fighters who strive for the least bit of career independence. This is because boxing writers, especially at the “highest” levels, tend to foster these “cozy” relationships with promoters, relationships which bring access to fights and fighters as well as the occasional paid gig (and maybe other perks as well). So, of course, when push comes to shove in these fighter vs. promoter disputes, the media is going to side with those who may butter their bread.
I’d love to see how Rafael would act if ESPN tried to violate or re-write the terms of his contract. Would he be fine with being screwed over on a new deal because the network has been overpaying him for years?
Teddy Atlas’ P4P: Dumb or Compromised?
Teddy Atlas stood next to a man with a stellar resume, who whipped out two divisions, now in his third division is the undisputed champion, even without the lineal crown, and said that a 9-1 fighter is P4P numero uno!
WHITE PRIVILEGE, and bias is alive and well in boxing!
WTH, is wrong with Teddy? Or is it a simple matter of Top Rank got him in the bank? Top rank makes a television deal with Teddy’s employers ESPN, and suddenly the hype of frankly white fighters is clearly evident!
How the hell does Lomachenko rank higher on anyone's P4P list than Ward, Thurman, and even Terence Crawford, their best fighter over at Top Rank?
The shit stinks and reeks of paid cronyism PM!
-- Yusuf Muhammad
Hi Yusuf.
I honestly don’t get the impression that Atlas is one of “those” guys. My feeling is that he jumped on the Lomachenko bandwagon early and is now riding overly high on it as a testament to his “expert” status. It’s kind of like a music fan discovering a band before they hit it big and then wanting to proclaim their status as no. 1 fan in the face of the “newbies.” At least, I HOPE that’s the case because I really do like and respect Teddy.
As for the pound-for-pound debate in general, ranking Lomachenko ahead of Ward and Crawford is pretty awful. But the fact that someone, anyone is doing so just reinforces the fact that such lists are universally pointless.
Got a question (or hate mail) for Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack? The best of the best gets included in the weekly mailbag segment right here at FightHype. Send your stuff here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com.