Is the "May-Per-View" tournament about to take place? Can Showtime and NBC execute their network boxing plans to success? Is Amir Khan expecting to remain the WBA champion without a rematch against Lamont Peterson? Find out the answers to all of these questions and more in this week's "From Pillar to Post"!
The Money May Final Four Begins February 11th
We already know that the big fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao isn't going to happen, not now and likely not ever, and we can probably guess that Saul Alvarez may be the most logical option for Mayweather's May 5th appearance, but is his opponent for a possible winter clash already being lined up? Next month, we will have two fights being staged by Golden Boy Promotions in where the last man standing could potentially be opposite Mayweather. Those fights are the highly-anticipated rematch between Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto on February 11th and Devon Alexander vs. Marcos Maidana on February 25th. Both fights are fixing to be excellent bouts, and so would the prospective matchup of the winner of those two fights in the summer.
Each of the four fighters involved have some connection to Mayweather, whether it be a former challenger in Ortiz, the fighter originally considered for last year's fight in Berto, the #1 challenger to Floyd's WBC belt in Alexander, or a fighter who has gotten personal endorsement from Uncle Roger in Maidana. Though none of these guys will make much of a fight for Mayweather if one of them do make their way across the ring from him, just the prospects of fights to come following this formula is more than enticing.
The possibility of Maidana-Ortiz II would be an excellent grudge match that should happen, even if both fighters lose their upcoming fights. Alexander-Berto isn't all that bad when one considers that both fighters were all machinations of extreme hype and are now fighting to stay afloat as their stocks plunge in lieu of recent performances. While the end result is Mayweather, the journey in and of itself should be a great treat for fight fans.
Khan Trying To Cry Himself a Title Belt
It really does seem like in boxing that you can't lose a fight anymore, doesn't it? Either it's hometown judges, biased referees, or the one-armed man when it comes to world-class crybaby Amir Khan, who is doing everything in his power to regain his belts without having to fight Lamont Peterson again. Khan's rants about this "mystery man" has made him sound as stupid as he is cowardly to admit that he didn't make the adjustments needed to beat Peterson in their December classic. The worst part is that to the average fan, it mars Peterson's excellent effort, which culminated in his victory in one of last year's best fights, again marred by the needless controversy started by Khan and Golden Boy Promotions.
Thankfully for Khan, the WBA sees his plight, and how much more money he'd make them as opposed to Peterson, and are endorsing his campaign to overturn the decision. Strangely enough, the WBA hasn't just decided to make him the WBA interim champion following the loss, something they did to Marcos Maidana after his loss to Khan. I guess higher sanctioning fees come with the full championship status, which is hard to explain considering how many titles the WBA likes to hand out.
Khan's next move, instead of trying to get his belts back like a regular human being, is a rematch with his former conqueror Breidis Prescott, who is also coming off a loss after dominating Mike Alvarado for 10 rounds. While the fight hasn't been announced yet, it'll be interesting to see if the WBA sanctions it as an eliminator to make money off of what would be a big payday overseas. Bottom line is that if Khan is looking for an excuse as to why he lost, he might want to blame his inability to control his pushing habits and the fact that he backpedalled for eight rounds instead some mystery man in a top hat.
Showtime and NBC Making It Happen
Main Events' first card on the NBC network, featuring Eddie Chambers vs. Sergei Liakhovich, is coming next week and it's looking like the deal may produce some excellent fights on regular TV. In addition to Chambers-Liakhovich, it was just announced that the Zab Judah vs. Vernon Paris bout will also be on the network come March, and regardless of what you think of Judah, that has the makings of a great fight. It's looking so far so good for boxing on the regular circuits, but it only gets better.
Showtime will be using their Showtime Extreme platform to show free undercard bouts for their two fights in February, those being the Berto-Ortiz rematch and the Paul Williams vs. Nobuhiro Ishida match a week later, bouts that would normally be untelevised. Now these up-and-coming prospects we'd have to scour YouTube for or wait for them to be on ESPN will be available as they happen, and that's only a big win for fight fans because we all know you don't have to have a 40-0 record to be in a great fight. In just the first three months of the year, it looks like things are getting better for the sport, at least for the time being.
Danny Howard can be reached for comments or questions at dhoward@fighthype.com, Facebook, or follow him on Twitter (@DBHOWARD126). Also don't miss an episode of FightHype Radio, the baddest two hours of boxing on the planet, starting at 8pm EST.