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Bob Arum says Golden Boy/Showtime marriage is only strengthening the opposition

By Zach Arnold | April 1, 2013

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When HBO cut ties with Golden Boy and allowed GB to marry with Showtime, I wrote an article stating that it’s now Golden Boy & Showtime vs. HBO & The Field and that was Ken Hershman, the former Showtime boss, is doing at HBO is no different than what he was doing at his old perch. The only difference is that HBO is HBO and Showtime is Showtime.

With Tim Bradley vs. Ruslan Provodnikov (at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA) and Mike Alvarado vs. Brandon Rios II (in Las Vegas) this past month, Top Rank has had a nice little streak going here. Bob Arum has indicated that holding a fight with Mike Alvarado headlining in Denver is not out of the question.

When Kevin Iole asked Arum about the hot streak Top Rank is on, Bob brought up the subject of the Golden Boy/Showtime marriage and how The Field is basically having to work together to make the fights that the fans want to see.

“Fans want to see action and they want to see exciting fights. That’s what the fans want to see. Now, some people who are involved in boxing want to sign fighters and have them fight tomato cans and have networks pay to show those fights and it goes on and on and on. That’s not what the fans want. The fans want Bradley & Provodnikov. Lou DiBella is going to be doing a fight a little later this year with (Gennady) Golovkin against (Matthew) Macklin. I’m a promoter, I love boxing… but that fight I would pay to see! I mean, that’s going to be a hell of a fight!”

Arum’s announcement of Golovkin/Macklin came as news to the press in the room. Golovkin defeated Nobuhiro Ishida over the weekend in Monaco.

(Grantland: Matthew Macklin vs. Sergio Martinez and the racial politics of boxing)

“So, I think that it’s not only us at Top Rank, I think that other promoters who don’t have a sinecure from a particular network also have that type of mentality. So, I think it’s great, great news for boxing fans because we’re going to give them competition. Goddamn, you see some of these games in March Madness where in the last four seconds somebody sinks a basket and wins the game and it’s like a nail-biter, right till the end. Well, that’s why fans love to watch it. Fans love to watch boxing if it’s exciting, if it’s competitive, and not if it’s appearance fights.

“Now, for years, we were fed a steady diet of this kid (Andre) Berto with guys that nobody remembers their names. That cost millions of dollars to one of the networks and what they did get from it? [Nothing.] And what did their subscribers get? The finger! (media laughs) And some guy who used to be in the music business raped HBO and hoodwinked the public and that hopefully now is over… except maybe (for) the network that gives out sinecures. But they’re second, so who cares? Nobody watches them anyways.”

A reporter then asked Arum about Oscar De La Hoya claiming that he canceled his HBO subscription.

“Oscar is absolutely, you know, one of the brainiest guys that I’ve ever known and he probably did it while he was putting on those, uh, kind of leggings. (media laughs) No, I really mean it, who the hell is Oscar De La Hoya? He’s a moron!”

If The Field continues to work together and remain united against the Golden Boy/Showtime marriage, then one fight we may end up seeing is Andre Ward vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I suspect JCC Jr. will consider fighting Ward on home turf in Oakland. Anywhere but Nevada at this point. It will be interesting to see what fights promoters like Lou DiBella, Gary Shaw, and Danny Goossen are able to produce in tandem with Top Rank (Todd DuBoef, Carl Moretti, & Brad Goodman) in the coming months. Next stop: Macau (Venetian Casino & Resort), this coming weekend w/ Brian Viloria vs. Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman Martinez vs. Diego Magdaleno for HBO.

Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

6 Responses to “Bob Arum says Golden Boy/Showtime marriage is only strengthening the opposition”

  1. Alan Conceicao says:

    It’ll be a cold day in hell before Andre Ward fights Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., IMO. If they all had to be kicking and screaming into a fight with Sergio Martinez, there’s no way they purposely go after Ward.

  2. Alan Conceicao says:

    To be more on topic with the full topic: HBO is still signing guys to individual contracts and still hyping single fighters rather than just fights. It’s more akin to comparing HBO vs. Showtime in the late 90s when Showtime was basically the home of Don King Productions. There’s a few divisions where they have a couple big names but no supporting role characters with which to make fights. Sure, it worked out OK with Provodnikov/Bradley, but will it into the future? Who does Andre Ward fight when he comes back, realistically speaking?

    • edub says:

      WOuldn’t doubt it.

      Its a seller for Ward. They can also pull the angle “he was cutting too much weight”, and treat it as him being reborn in a weight class. Put him against Miranda or some other shot name first though, of course.

      • Alan Conceicao says:

        Miranda is probably a no-go because of weight, but I suppose there’s Manfredo Jr. or even Glen Johnson in the “old shot dude” category.

  3. Chris says:

    Andre Ward has expressed interest in fighting Chavez JR. It makes sense from a business stand point even if the fight won’t be competitive.

    If the goal is to try to a Ward-Chavez fight on PPV it I could see them going for it. Since Chavez is probably the only fighter out there that could generate fan interest for a PPV with Ward in the main event.

  4. liger05 says:

    How much have Rios & Alvarado aged from those two fights? Classics!!!

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