The Super Six represents a blueprint, a plan instead of another accident on a haphazard road littered with the same old mishaps and anarchy. The super-middleweight tournament and concept continue, first with Allan Green and Glen Johnson in a Stage 3 substitute on Nov. 6 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand and then a version featuring bantamweights in December. It’s a reason to applaud. Good ideas need to survive.
After injuries scrambled the 168-pound roster and forced Showtime’s Ken Hershman to look for backups like an NFL coach suddenly in need of a healthy quarterback, there were some inevitable suggestions that the network abandon the idea and move on, which doesn’t mean forward. Business-as-usual is a fast lane down the drain.
“If we’re not creative, if we’re not innovative, if we don’t take chances, we’re going to head more into the shitter than we already are,’’ promoter Lou DiBella said Thursday on a conference call that included Johnson, Green and Showtime spokesman Chris DeBlasio.
There’s no reliable way to tell whether there’s any way out. Boxing’s inherent nature – injuries, feuding promoters and greed- greed- greed – might flush the tournament concept into the sewer along with everything else.
“I think there will always be challenges for the sport because anything that takes any length of time presents difficulties,’’ DiBella said. “You have your legitimate difficulties with injuries. But you also have your political difficulties with guys’ fortunes changing, other opportunities popping up and people hesitating. This tends to be a sport of immediate gratification. People don’t have to look down the line. They look for tomorrow, they look for the immediate payday.
“So, a tournament, a tournament concept, is a difficult undertaking.’’
About the attempt, however, DiBella left no doubt. Without one and a sustained effort to make it work, there is only the undertaker.
Showtime’s concept offers possibilities and even punches instead of tired methods that create headlines, rancor and not much else. The Super Six isn’t what it was intended to be. But chances that it will produce fights and a winner are a lot better than any chance of Manny Pacquiao fighting Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Yeah, the 168-pound tournament has lasted too long for an impatient public. But at least there were fights, a few dramatic upsets and the emergence of Andre Ward, who has used the Super Six as a vehicle to real stardom. Compare that to the ad nauseam produced by the Mayweather-Pacquiao talks that, once again, sums up Jerry Seinfeld’s defining line about his sitcom. It was about nothing. Give me something.
The Super Six has, especially with Ward, who faces Sakio Bika in a non-tournament bout on Nov. 27 after Andre Dirrell, his 2004 Olympic teammate, withdrew from the round-robin because of troublesome neurological symptoms in the wake of his March victory over Arthur Abraham. Based on a scoring system that includes points for knockouts, Abraham and Carl Froch, who face each other on Nov. 27 in Helsinki, also are already in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Green and Johnson will fight for the last spot in the semifinals. Johnson, who is more experienced and comfortable at light-heavyweight, moved into the round-robin in place of Mikkel Kessler, who withdrew because of an eye injury. Green, a one-sided loser to Ward, is a sub for Jermain Taylor, who dropped out after a knockout delivered by Abraham.
In effect, the Super Six became Five. There are lessons in that, perhaps. The bantamweight tournament, scheduled to begin on Dec. 11 in Leon, Mex., starts with four – Abner Mares, Vic Darchinyan, Yonnhy Perez and Joseph Agbeko. It’s a Final Four scheduled to be decided in 2011.
Fewer fighters might mean fewer chances at injury and all in less time, which might mean sustained interest.
Will the second time around work? Are tournaments the way to go? Nobody knows. But if DiBella is accurate about where the business is now, everybody knows it will just go, go away.
“I honestly believe we have to take these kind of chances, we have to go for this kind of innovation,’’ said DiBella, who has looked down and seen no other choice.
Carbajal’s battle continues
Michael Carbajal, a Hall of Fame junior-flyweight from Phoenix, was back in court Wednesday with companion Laura Hall for a hearing in a battle to retain an order of protection against his neighbors, niece Josephine Carbajal and Jose Espinal.
Hall, who continues to wear a cast on her left arm from an alleged assault on Sept. 6, testified. Josephine Carbajal, acting as her own attorney, cross-examined. There were several contentious moments. When Josephine Carbajal approached the stand, Hall asked if she was trying to intimidate her. The acting judge admonished both parties several times.
The lengthy hearing included some comedic relief. Josephine Carbajal tried to establish a pattern of domestic abuse within Michael Carbajal’s residence. She produced a tape recorder that she said included evidence of a fight between Hall and Michael Carbajal. But nothing decipherable could be heard. The acting judge and attorneys gathered around the stand at which Hall was seated, leaned over and tried to listen to the hand-held recorder, almost as if it included a lost Beatles tape. They tried three times and heard only the sounds of static.
The case was continued for a second time. The third session is scheduled for Nov. 2 when the featured witness is Michael Carbajal, who is battling to recover assets worth about $2 million that he says was stolen from him by brother ex-trainer Danny Carbajal. Danny Carbajal, convicted of felony theft and fraud, is in prison. He is scheduled for release in October, 2011.
Notes, quotes
· Glen Johnson and Allan Green are longtime friends and sparring partners. Green sparred with Johnson in 2004 before Johnson’s upset of Roy Jones, Jr. Johnson sparred with Green in 2007 before Green’s loss to Edison Miranda.
· Johnson is 41, but still young enough to dream. “I’m still searching for greatness, no doubt about it,’’ he said. “I’m still waiting for somebody to shout out ‘Glen Johnson is a great fighter.’ ‘’
· And Johnson lost an 11th-round TKO to Bernard Hopkins in the last century, 1997. Hopkins, who faces Jean Pascal on Dec. 18, turns 46 on Jan. 15. When asked what he would have said in 1997 if he had been told he and Hopkins would still be fighting in 2010, Johnson chuckled and said: “I’d be laughing, just like I am right now.’’
