Will it be enough to make us care again? That’s the challenge boxing faces over the final two months of 2010 as it tries finishing what has been a disappointing year on a more positive note.
Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao never happened. The ballyhooed Super Six super middleweight tournament essentially is a Super Three. American prospects like Kelly Pavlik, Chad Dawson, and Cris Arreola have been exposed, and the renewed feud between the sport’s top two promoters, Golden Boy and Top Rank, threatens to keep the best from fighting the best.
Now for the good news. There are some decent matchups over the next two months, and if they live up to their potential, boxing might become interesting again. It starts tonight in Newark and Las Vegas where HBO and Showtime will televise doubleheaders.
At the Prudential Center in Newark, Brooklyn’s Zab Judah (39-6, 27 KOs) faces unbeaten Lucas Matthyssee (27-0, 25 KOs) of Argentina in a junior welterweight bout. That’s after three-time world champion Robert Guerrero (27-1-1, 18 KOs) takes on fellow Californian and top contender Vicente Escobedo (22-2, 14 KOs) in a 10-round lightweight bout. HBO will televise.
In Las Vegas, Juan Manuel Lopez (29-0, 26 KOs) of Puerto Rico and Rafael Marquez (39-5, 35 KOs) of Mexico will battle for Lopez’s WBO featherweight title. Showtime also will televise Allan Green against Glen Johnson, the latest installment of the hanging-by-a-thread Super Six tournament.
All four fights have the potential to be thrillers, something boxing could use to win back a bored fan base. Next week, Pacquiao returns to Cowboys Stadium to fight the disgraced Antonio Margarito on HBO pay per view and on Nov. 20, Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams stage their much anticipated rematch in Atlantic City on HBO’s World Championship Boxing.
Meanwhile, Juan Manuel Marquez, Bernard Hopkins, Andre Ward, and Amir Khan will all be in action before 2011.
“There’s no question it’s a critical time,” said Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports. “This shapes up as an interesting November, December and January on our schedule. We’ve lined up some very big fights and I think a couple of these boxers will emerge with some star power.”
Green (29-2, 20 KOs) and Johnson (50-14-2, 34 KOs) are two additions to the Super Six Tournament after Jermain Taylor and Mikkel Kessler bowed out with injuries. Andre Dirrell (concussion) also pulled out of the tournament, leaving Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham, who fight each other on Nov. 27 in Finland, and Ward as the only original competitors.
“We still believe in the Super Six,” said Showtime executive Ken Hershman. “We think it’s a fantastic concept. It’s very, very challenging to get through that many fights with that level of competition over this course of time. But we’ll still have the semifinals next year with three of the original participants. We’re excited about these upcoming fights in November.”
Boxing is in need of energy. Sure, die-hard fans will stay faithful, but the next generation is being consumed by the MMA marketing machine. Hershman admitted there has been “tremendous frustration and disappointment,” with all the injuries and pullouts that have hampered the Super Six tournament, and Greenburg still laments the mega-fight that keeps getting away: Mayweather-Pacquiao.
“I truly believe Pacquiao-Mayweather if it materializes will be the launching pad for the sport,” Greenburg said. “If we can see that fight through in 2011 then we have something to look forward to. But it’s a very critical time now.”
