You know the cliché. It’s trotted out after nearly every controversial decision. Yeah-yeah, reasonable people can disagree. Trouble is, that’s all they ever seem to do in boxing.
As the business approaches a potential fiscal cliff of its own making on Sept. 15, however, there’s an opportunity for reasonable minds to actually work in behalf of the customers who just seem to be in the way of promoters hell-bent on destroying each other with dueling cards — the Golden Boy-promoted Canelo Alvarez-Josesito Lopez at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand and Top Rank’s Julio Cesar-Chavez Jr.-Sergio Martinez just a fast-break away at Thomas & Mack Center.
Here’s a way out of the conflict: The Grand Garden Arena at the MGM Grand is available Friday night, Sept. 14.
How hard would it be to re-schedule Alvarez-Lopez from Sept. 15 to Sept. 14 as a way to kick off a weekend celebration of Mexican Independence on Sunday, Sept. 16? First, Canelo-Lopez on Friday. Then, Chavez- Martinez on Saturday. Finally, Mana, a concert featuring the popular Mexican rock band scheduled for Sunday at the Grand Garden Arena.
The weekend-long fiesta sounds simple enough. Perhaps too simple. It hasn’t been suggested, at least not by the reasonable people who only know how to disagree. The topic dominated conversation before and after Danny Garcia’s stunning fourth-round stoppage of Amir Khan last Saturday at Mandalay Bay. From bar-tenders to serious fans, it was the same question: How come nobody is talking about making that move?
Above-all, it’s a win-win for fans, regardless of whether they prefer Canelo or Chavez Jr. They’ll have a chance to see each fight live, rather than being forced to pick one instead of the other. For the respective television networks, it’s a chance at attracting the biggest possible audience. Showtime will carry Canelo-Lopez. HBO plans a pay-per-view telecast of Chavez Jr.-Martinez for the middleweight title. If on the same night, each figures to lose some of its audience.
Then, there’s the MGM Grand and Wynn-Las Vegas, which will be the hotel site for news conferences and other pre-fight events in its role as a sponsor of Chavez-Martinez. All customers can’t be at both places at the same time.
There has been a suggestion that maybe one main event can be scheduled a few hours before the other. To wit: On Sept. 15, schedule Canelo-Lopez for 5:30 p.m. and Chavez Jr.-Martinez for 8:15 p.m. But that is fraught with potential headaches. Logistically, there might be an impossible crush to get a cab and rush hour-like traffic on the short road from one parking lot to the other. There’s also talk that Televisa, the Mexican network aligned to Canelo, wants the fight only at night instead of late-afternoon or early evening.
Even if that one doesn’t work, there’s still a way out of the dilemma. But so far a possible solution has been ignored and reason set aside for a winner-take-all confrontation that Golden Boy and Top Rank are promoting more than any fight and at any cost, even to themselves.
