From Duane Ford to Forbes, the rapid succession of headlines during the last few weeks is either a shotgun blast that adds up to chaos tipping further into anarchy or business generating more interest and money than it has in decades. Maybe, there’s a little bit of both, meaning the face of the game is as fractured – and familiar — as ever.
The good, the bad and the bizarre have collected in a notebook full of opinions and not much else. If you want something definitive, go see a judge as long as his name isn’t Duane Ford.
Here are some of the news items and a reaction to each:
NEWS ITEM: Inmate Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Filipino Congressman Manny Pacquiao are first and second, respectively, on the Forbes’ list of the richest 100 athletes from June 2011 through June 2012. Mayweather, a guest of Nevada’s Clark County Detention Center for the next couple of months, earned $85 million. Pacquiao earned $62 million.
Reaction: The boxer-topped list is a 1-2 punch that makes a mockery out of the know-nothing tweeters and talk-show hosts, who argue that boxing is dying. But it’s not a sign of a healthy business, either. Only two other boxers are ranked – heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko tied at No. 24 with $28 million and junior-middleweight Miguel Cotto at No. 75 with $19 million. Contrast that with the NFL, which starts with Denver quarterback Peyton Manning at No. 10 with $42 million. Thirty NFL players are among the top 100. The depth of NFL wealth is the mark of sustainability. Boxing’s winner-take-all model is not.
News Item: In a video review, the World Boxing Organization announces that a panel of five judges scored unanimously in favor of Manny Pacquiao instead of Timothy Bradley, who got the official victory in a split-decision stunner on June 9 when Duane Ford and CJ Ross scored it for Bradley, 115-113, and Jerry Roth scored it for Pacquiao by the same score. The WBO disclosed the scores — 118-110, 117-111, 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113, all for Pacquiao – but not the judges’ names.
Reaction: No names? Come on. Since the controversy erupted, there has been a demand for transparency. For the sake of credibility, the WBO could at least identify the judges who were on that panel. For all anybody knows, it could have been Manny, Moe, Jack and a couple of shock absorbers.
News Item: Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, and Harry Reid the Senate’s majority leader and a Democrat from Nevada, seize upon the Bradley-Pacquiao furor, questions the scoring and re-introduce an attempt to establish a federal commission.
Reaction: Reid owed Pacquiao favor. The Filipino politician campaigned for him in a tough run to retain his seat in 2010. Meanwhile, chances at a federal commission aren’t as good as an unlikely Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. It — the federal commission, not the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight — was proposed about a decade ago. It’ll still be there, the next time the good senators can’t resist a chance at grandstanding.
News Item: Bob Arum’s Top Rank and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions each have fights scheduled on the same night, Sept. 15, with a couple of miles of each other in Las Vegas. If Victor Ortiz beats Josesito Lopez Saturday night at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Golden Boy plans to match him against Saul “Canelo’’ Alvarez at the MGM Grand on a Showtime pay-per-view card. On the same night, Arum plans to have Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. face Sergio Martinez at Thomas & Mack Center in an HBO pay-per-view event.
Reaction: This potential escalation in the feud between the game’s two biggest promoters is a lot more dangerous than controversy surrounding the Pacquiao-Bradley decision. The guess is that the networks, Showtime and HBO, will intervene and one of the bouts will be moved, perhaps to Oct. 6. A solution would be to have Chavez-versus-Canelo in a Mexican rivalry on a weekend celebrating Mexico’s Independence Day. But that would be too easy and not much has been lately.
AZ Notes
Popular Arizona super-bantamweight Emilio Garcia (6-0-1, 1 KO), who now has veteran trainer Chuck McGregor in his corner, expects his next fight to happen on Aug. 27 at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix on an Iron Boy Promotions card, which put together a successful show on June 16.
