By Norm Frauenheim –
It’s been a good week to be a fight fan, which is another way of saying the business is staging an overdue comeback with fights that matter.
Front-and-center, Terence Crawford-versus-Errol Spence Jr. in a July 29 bout formally introduced this week at coast-to-coast news conferences, first in Los Angeles and then New York.
In a year full of evidence that an audience is still there, Crawford-Spence represents what looks to be the best in a surprising comeback from widespread doom-and-gloom last fall.
First, there were a reported 1.2 million pay-per-view buys for Tank Davis’ stoppage of Ryan Garcia.
Then, there was news that Teofimo Lopez’ entertaining decision over Josh Taylor Saturday drew boxing’s biggest cable/network audience this year. According to Nielsen, it peaked at 980,000.
The sudden spike adds up to a rebound few saw in the immediate aftermath of news in late October that Crawford and Spence couldn’t reach a deal for what could be a welterweight classic. But they stayed at the table, amid mixed reports about how the talks were going.
Then, however, there was the million-plus PPV milestone for Davis-Garcia on April 22.
A month later, Crawford-Spence had a deal.
The marketplace had spoken.
The message: For the right fight, there’s an audience.
But not everybody got the message.
Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s lone pay-per-view draw since Floyd Mayweather Jr., is still searching for an opponent. It’s an ongoing process, ever-changing and a reflection of uncertainty that stands in stark contrast to a fan base sure about what it wants.
It wants Canelo-versus-David Benavidez. No secret there. For about as long as fans and fighters have been calling for Crawford-Spence, there’s been an escalating demand for Canelo-Benavidez.
Canelo and trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso have resisted, trotting out a litany of reasons at every turn.
Canelo has said Benavidez’ resume didn’t measure up. He said he didn’t want to fight fellow Mexicans. Benavidez, of Phoenix, has a Mexican dad and an Ecuadorian mom.
Canelo hasn’t blamed climate change. Not yet, anyway. But you get the idea. Over the last few weeks, any chance Benavidez had at fighting Canelo seems to have come.
And gone.
All over again.
Benavidez promoter and manager Sampson Lewkowicz had been publicly campaigning for a fall date with Canelo. He was reportedly offering Canelo a deal potentially worth more than $60 million. But Reynoso said he never got Lewkowicz’ message. Didn’t get that marketplace message either.
Lewkowicz, who offered $50 million a couple of years ago, went on to tell South American media that Benavidez would move on and pursue a dangerous date with emerging super-middleweight David Morrell, a Cuban living in Minnesota. Morrell had always been Benavidez’ plan.
Besides, it was clear that Canelo had already altered his plans. There was no movement in reported negotiations for a rematch of his loss to light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. Now, there are questions about whether there was ever any substantive talk.
Over the last week, Jermall Charlo, who holds the World Boxing Council’s middleweight belt, and Badou Jack suddenly landed on Canelo’s short list, according to ESPN.
The 33-year-old Charlo hasn’t fought in two years. He’s been struggling with mental issues, according to WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman.
Meanwhile, Jack is a cruiserweight champion. He beat Ilunga Makabu in February to win the WBC’s 200-pound title in Saudi Arabia. Negotiations are reportedly underway for a fight in October, also in Saudi.
Problem is, Canelo, the undisputed super-middleweight champion, has never been heavier than 174.5 pounds, light-heavy. Some kind of crazy catchweight would have to be negotiated.
It’s hard to imagine that any state commission, ruled by traditional safeguards, would sanction a fight forcing Jack to be at 20 to 25 fewer pounds than he was for his last bout — 198.5 in February.
But this is Saudi, as in sportswash money. The Saudi role in the controversial LIV-PGA golf deal is just more proof that almost nothing is ever off the scale. Only the money is. Canelo, an avid golfer himself, might get in line for his own share of the sportswash.
But would it satisfy the market demand for significant fights?
Has there been any clamor for Canelo against a middleweight beltholder who hasn’t answered an opening bell in two years?
Any demand for Canelo against a cruiserweight champion in a bout turned gimmicky by crazy weight restrictions?
No.
No.
And no.
That’s what a resilient market is saying in numbers amplified by an audience suddenly back on pay-per-view, cable and network.
The message: Ignore it at your own peril.
