Kathy Duva Speaks Out On…Well, Everything (Part 2)

Published

10 years ago

May 6, 2014

Kathy Duva 2d0dd

Trying to fully unify a world championship in the fragmented arena of professional boxing – any world championship, in any weight class – is proving more difficult than super-gluing the fragmented, war-torn ethnic regions of the former Yugoslavia, or maybe prying Crimea from Russian control.

Certainly, the power brokers of boxing seem more intent on solidifying their own spheres of influence than in sitting down at a conference table, or maybe picking up a telephone, and working out an arrangement that would at least partially appease the most abused segment of the fight game, namely the fans who pay the freight with their hard-earned pay-for-view dollars.

Those diehard fans – the ones who once pined to see Mike Tyson swap punches with his homeboy from the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, Riddick Bowe, or for Bowe to get it on with Lennox Lewis in a rematch of the 1988 Olympic super heavyweight gold medal bout — are still waiting for that megafight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao to be made. But the odds of it ever taking place are longer than, say, an overweight plumber getting a call to fix a leaky faucet in a rundown neighborhood and somehow winding up in a ménage a trois with a Victoria’s Secret model and the cover girl from the most recent Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

We all want to win the Powerball Lottery, don’t we? But pipe dreams almost never become reality, and no one understands frustration more than the boxing buff who knows which entree he truly hungers for, but too often is obliged to settle for some substitute item from the Column B side of the pugilistic menu.

Latest case in point: the light heavyweight division, so teeming with attractive, big-name talent, yet so isolated in terms of who will or won’t fight whom because of the entrenched positions of various entities who’d rather reconstruct a figurative Berlin Wall than find a way to achieve peace in our time.

Simply put, unless something changes very dramatically and very soon, there won’t be a unification showdown between WBA 175-pound ruler Adonis Stevenson and IBF champ Sergey Kovalev. That much-anticipated pairing – an updated version of Mayweather-Pacquiao, if you will – appeared to be nearly signed and sealed not that long ago. But it can’t be delivered because Stevenson, having turned his career over to Mayweather’s chief negotiator, the shadowy Al Haymon, jumped ship from HBO to rival Showtime, for whom he will fight exclusively for at least the foreseeable future. By all accounts it was a lucrative deal, financially, for Stevenson, but the bottom line is still this: Not only will we not get to see Mayweather-Pacquiao, we can’t hope to witness its near-equivalent, Stevenson-Kovalev. Instead, we get a matchup of Stevenson (23-1, 20 KOs) and Andzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KOs) on regular Showtime on May 24. That fight comes on the heels of the HBO-televised seventh-round knockout victory by Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KOs) of Cedric Agnew (26-1, 13 KOs) on April 29.

Such real or imagined mismatches are not just substitutions from the Column B side of the menu, but week-old slices of stale pie from Joe’s Greasy Spoon Diner.

As might be expected, Stevenson and Kovalev, prohibited from trading actual haymakers in the ring, took verbal or social-media potshots at one another.

“Adonis Stevenson is a piece of (crap),” Kovalev said while being interviewed in the ring. “I will fight any champion in my division. I want to get another title. I am ready for anyone.”

Stevenson fired back on Twitter, telling Kovalev that “You just a real slow BUM with no defence. Easy work! You can’t fight for (crap)! Tell mama Duva to call Al Haymon and Yvon Michel (Stevenson’s promoter) so I can have an easy pay day.”

Sticks and stones, folks. Again.

“Mama Duva” – that would be Kovalev’s promoter, Main Events CEO Kathy Duva – does have a horse in this race, so her thoughts on the current state of affairs might be interpreted as being at least somewhat biased. Then again, how could they not be, given the fact that Duva has just filed a suit against Stevenson, Golden Boy Promotions, Showtime and Michel, alleging breach of contract. But her views are interesting in any case, when one considers that she has taken a twirl in this kind of circle dance before. Although Duva’s company gets many of its television dates on NBC SportsNet these days, she and her late husband, Dan, did or do far more business with HBO than Showtime, and she believes that Showtime’s apparent interest in rounding up many of the currently formidable light heavies – in the process isolating Kovalev – will prove to be an exercise in futility because boxing is cyclical. Today’s hot division is tomorrow’s tepid leftovers.

“People think Sergey Kovalev is toast now because two guys from Canada (Stevenson and former – light heavyweight titlist Jean Pascal) went to Showtime,” Duva said in a far-ranging interview that touched on multiple topics. “You’re looking at a 49-year-old champion (IBF/WBA ruler Bernard Hopkins), a 36-year-old champion (Stevenson) and some French-Canadian guy (Pascal) who fought on HBO a few times and got not very impressive ratings at all, certainly not as impressive as Sergey got for fighting a guy (Agnew) that nobody knew.

“For anyone to say, `Showtime’s got it now. They’ve locked up the light heavyweight division,’ well … they might determine who the light heavyweight champion of Canada is. Maybe that guy will wind up fighting a 50-year-old champion (Hopkins) at some point. But I’m taking the long view. In five years, I think Sergey Kovalev will be a really big star and it really doesn’t matter who fights him now, or who ducks him now. Clearly, Stevenson was the express train to that kind of attention, but on the other hand HBO really has no choice but to focus on Sergey now.”

Duva said she can wait for Kovalev’s emerging star power to blossom, but she said the posturing between boxing’s perceived superpowers – Showtime and Golden Boy on one side, HBO and Top Rank on the other – is like dripping acid on the fabric of a sport that can ill-afford to have any more of its fan base eroded. Unlike the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, boxing does not operate under a singular authority that has the authority to do the right thing, or some reasonable proximity. No matter the intemperate words that sometimes come out of the mouths of the various principals, who’s going to slap them down like NBA commissioner Adam Silver did to dumb-ass Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling? Unlike the hazy notion of Mayweather-Pacquiao or Stevenson-Kovalev ever being staged, NBA fans know they’ll get LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant if their teams win their way into the Finals. Other sports are true meritocracies in that respect, boxing a traveling crapshoot.

“The big fights are boxing’s Super Bowls, its World Series, its Kentucky Derbies,” Duva continued. “Those are the times when fans that like sports but are not necessarily that much into boxing come and watch us. When you don’t have those events, or they don’t happen often enough, the whole sport suffers.”

To be fair, both HBO and Showtime have, at various times, tried to come up with multi-tiered formats that would give long-suffering fans some of what they want. Thirteen years ago HBO and promoter Don King staged a four-man middleweight unification tournament, its participants being IBF champion Bernard Hopkins, WBC champ Keith Holmes, WBA titlist William Joppy and Felix Trinidad, the WBA/IBF junior middleweight ruler who was moving up from 154 pounds. Hopkins won the event, memorably stopping the previously undefeated Trinidad in 12 rounds on Sept. 29, 2001, in Madison Square Garden.

Showtime cobbled together a similar coalition for its “Super Six” super middleweight tournament that took place from 2009 to 2011, the lineup consisting of WBA champion Mikkel Kessler, WBC titlist Carl Froch, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward, former middleweight champs Jermain Taylor and Arthur Abraham, and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Andre Dirrell.

Ward outpointed Froch in the finale, on Dec. 17, 2011, in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, in the process establishing himself as one of the premier pound-for-pound fighters. But while the end result was mostly positive, there were glitches: IBF champ Lucian Bute was not invited to participate; Taylor and Kessler withdrew during the course of the tournament and had to be replaced by Glen Johnson and Allan Green, pinch-hit assignments that are fine in baseball but warped the original premise almost to the point of it being unrecognizable. Maybe that’s why neither Showtime nor HBO have tried to launch a similarly ambitious project in another weight class.

Even if the premium-cable outlets and their partners did deign to undertake such a mission, boxing’s various sanctioning bodies would probably strip the last man standing of one or more of his titles with alarming speed. Like HBO/Top Rank and Showtime/Golden Boy, the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO are highly protective of their turf because it’s really not in their best interests for anyone to be seen as the undisputed kingpin of a particular weight class. The WBC, now under the direction of Jose Sulaiman’s son, Mauricio, has already declared it will vacate the title of any WBC champion if he has the temerity to fight for another organization’s bejeweled belt.

In the meantime, Duva is left to wistfully contemplate the near-deal she thought she had struck to put Kovalev in with Stevenson, on HBO, in what could have been a career-defining slugfest for either or maybe even both power-punchers.

“You have a situation here, unless I’m missing the boat, that’s a first,” she said. “I’m used to other promoters coming along and trying to screw up my deal. It’s part of what I live with. But in this case you had a manager (Haymon) and a television network (Showtime) actively come in and screw up a deal. I thought that was interesting.

“In the beginning, Stevenson’s promoter (Michel) was completely on board with the deal until (Stevenson and Haymon) they changed his mind.

“It was early February when I learned Al Haymon was talking to Stevenson. It was pretty clear to me where this was going. But what I didn’t know was that Al was talking to Stevenson as far back as last October or November. If had known that then, I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised. There are other people who shouldn’t have been surprised, but they’re not me.”

To be sure, not everyone agrees with Duva’s take on the situation. Stephen Espinoza, the executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports and Event Programming, told TSS editor Michael Woods that he’d love to stage a Stevenson-Kovalev fight, provided Stevenson survives a unification match with ageless wonder Hopkins, hardly a given.

“If Kovalev’s available,” he said. “Except for some reason Kathy Duva seems interested only in HBO and not maximizing revenues.”

Part 3 of 3 details the similarities and possible ramifications, in Duva’s opinion, of Golden Boy’s decision to exclusively align itself with Showtime, much as Don King did in the 1990s.

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Bernard Fernandez

Luis Nery is Devoured by a Monster in Tokyo: Naoya Inoue KO 6

Published

2 days ago

May 6, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Luis-Nery-is-Devoured-by-a-Monster-in-Tokyo-Naoya-Inoue-KO-6

In March of 1988, three days after the official opening of the Tokyo Dome, Mike Tyson christened the arena for boxing with a second-round stoppage of Tony Tubbs. The announced attendance, 51,000, was a record for a boxing match in Japan that would stand for 36 years. A multitude somewhat larger (the exact tally isn’t yet official) was on hand today to witness their hero Naoya “Monster” Inoue get off the deck to humble Tijuana import Luis Nery.

A former two-division world title-holder, Nery stunned the faithful in the second minute of the opening round when he put Inoue on the canvas with a sweeping left hook. It was the first time that the ‘Monster’ had ever been knocked down and (shades of Tyson-Douglas!) it appeared for a moment that another monster upset was brewing in the building that locals fondly call the Big Egg. But Inoue returned the favor in round two when he caught the lunging Nery off-balance and put him down with a sharp left hook and was in control of the fight from that point on.

Inoue produced a second knockdown in round five with a short left hook and closed the show in the following round with a vicious right hand that snapped Nery’s head back and splattered him against the ropes. Referee Michael Griffin waived it off without a count. The official time was 1:22.

Inoue, who won his first pro title in his sixth pro fight, improved to 27-0 (24 KOs) while successfully defending his unified 122-pound title. It was his eighth straight win inside the distance, a run that began with a seventh-round stoppage of Jason Moloney at the MGM Bubble in Las Vegas. Luis Nery, who lost for only the second time in 37 fights, was 2-0 in previous visits to Japan, stopping Shinsuke Yamanaka twice, the second KO of which rucked Yamanaka off into retirement and established Nery’s reputation as a bully.

There were three other world title fights on the card, all of which went the full 12 rounds.

In a mild upset, Yokohama southpaw Yoshiki Takao won a world title in his ninth pro fight, overcoming Australia’s Jason Moloney (27-3) to capture the WBA bantamweight belt. Moloney mustered a big rally in the final round but couldn’t seal the deal. There were no knockdowns but Takao had a point deducted in round two for low blows. The scores were 117-110 and 116-111 twice.

Takuma Inoue, Naoya’s younger brother, successfully defended his WBA world bantamweight title in his second title defense with a unanimous decision over Osaka’s Sho Ishida (34-4). Takuma, who improved to 20-1, is a good technician but with only five stoppages to his credit, lacks the firepower of his celebrated brother.

In a rematch, WBA super flyweight title-holder Seigo Yuri Akui scored a unanimous decision over countryman Taku Kuwahara. The scores were 118-110 and 117-111 twice.

Akui (20-2-1) was making the first defense of the title he won in January with an upset of long-reigning title-holder Artem Dalakian. In their previous meeting at adjacent Korakuen Hall, Akui saddled Kuwahara (13-2) with his first defeat, scoring a 10^th-round stoppage.

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Canelo Alvarez Turns Away Jaime Munguia to Remain Undisputed King at 168

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2024

David A. Avila

Canelo-Alvarez-Turns-Away-Jaime-Munguia-to-Remain-Undisputed-King-at-168

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez remains Mexico’s top fighter and the undisputed super middleweight world champion with a resounding victory by unanimous decision over the hard-charging Jaime Munguia on Saturday.

If Mexico had a monarchy Alvarez would be king.

“I am the best Mexican fighter,” said Alvarez.

An announced crowd of 17,492 saw Guadalajara’s Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) patiently analyze the battle plan of Tijuana’s Munguia’s (43-1, 34 KOs) and then unravel it methodically every round at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

It was a battle for Mexico that pitted two dangerous fighters with Munguia entering the prize ring undefeated and hungry to establish himself as Mexico’s new power. He just wasn’t ready.

After Munguia opened up quickly behind a solid jab and combinations, Alvarez calmly blocked and parried the Tijuana fighter’s attacks for three rounds and then it happened.

After success in the first three rounds Munguia opened up with another attack in the fourth that Alvarez calmly timed and snapped a right uppercut to the chin that floored the Tijuana fighter for the first time in his career. He got up from the knockdown and was able to stave off a further Canelo attack.

The momentum suddenly changed and for good.

Alvarez stalked Munguia every round with a more aggressive approach and sometimes set traps for counters. Though the Mexican redhead found success he was unable to floor the taller Munguia again. But he did come close including the seventh when a left hook to the body visibly hurt Munguia. He survived.

It must have been frustrating for Munguia whose improvement in his boxing skills have been noticeable in his last three fights. Even in this fight his ability to defend and return fire against Canelo’s clever moves was a vast improvement over his career three years ago. But its not enough when battling one of the best fighters pound-for- pound in the world.

Four-division world champion Alvarez strategically proved his skills are another level that only a few today possess. It was a valuable lesson for Munguia to learn the same lesson Canelo received against Floyd Mayweather a decade ago.

Experience counts.

“He’s a fighter with a lot of experience,” said Munguia who had hoped his youth and stamina would help against the 33-year-old Alvarez.

Canelo said Munguia was a great fighter and very strong.

“I take my time,” said Alvarez “He’s strong but a little slow I saw every punch.”

Though it was the fifth consecutive fight without a knockout, Alvarez was satisfied with the unanimous decision to keep the WBO, WBA, WBC and IBF super middleweight titles. It was the first time two Mexican super middleweights fought for all the titles.

Alvarez said this win again proves he can fight whoever he chooses after fighting boxing greats like Miguel Cotto, Mayweather and other champions.

“I can do whatever I want to do,” said Alvarez.

Other Bouts

Mario Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs) floored Fabian Maidana (22-3, 16 KOs) in the third round but found the hard-punching Argentine too tough to finish off. Instead, he used a steady stream of jabs to win by unanimous decision after 12 rounds.

A touch left followed by a rifle right cross dropped Maidana. Instead of giving up, the younger brother of the great Marcos Maidana unleashed his own big blows to force Barrios into a more careful strategic fight mode. Especially after one or two blows caused a swelling on his right eye.

But Maidana never could find the antidote for Barrios’s jab that won the majority of the rounds for the San Antonio, Texas fighter. After 12 rounds all three judges scored it 116-111 for Barrios who keeps the interim welterweight title.

After a sluggish start, Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) found his footing midway through the super bantamweight match against Jesse Magdaleno (29-3, 18 KOs) and ended the match with a one-punch belt to the body to win the battle of former champions.

Magdaleno took the lead in the fight with clever boxing but slowly Figueroa cranked up his punch out-put and while during a furious exchange the fighter from Weslaco, Texas connected with a left to the body. Magdaleno could not beat the count at 2:59 of the ninth round.

Figueroa retains the interim super bantamweight title.

Eimantas Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs) used a power jab to separate from Venezuela’s Gabriel Maestre (6-1-1, 5 KOs) to retain the WBA welterweight world title by unanimous decision.

Despite two years from a ring appearance, Stanionis was able to out-work Maestre, a 37-year-old who was fighting for his first world title. Both had faced each other years ago as amateurs.

No knockdowns were scored but the fast-paced fight was won by the busier Stanionis whose jab was his primary weapon. All three scores favored the Lithuanian fighter 117-111, 118-110, 119-109.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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Mielnicki, Ramos and Scull Victorious on Cinco de Mayo Weekend in Las Vegas

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Mielnicki-Ramos-and-Scull-Victorious-on-Cinco-de-Mayo-Weekend-in-Las-Vegas

Two 10-round junior middleweight prelims aired as teasers for tonight’s four-fight pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In the opener; New Jersey’s Vito Mielnicki Jr (pictured) scored his tenth straight win, advancing to 18-1 (12) with a wide decision over SoCal’s Ronald Cruz. Mielnicki, 21, put Cruz on the canvas in round three and again in round four, but So Cal’s Cruz (19-4-1) stayed the course and maintained his distinction of never being stopped. The judges had it 99-89, 98-90, and 96-92 for “White Magic” who had the noted trainer Ronnie Shields in his corner.

In the second bout – the main go of the prelims, so to speak – 23-year-old Arizona southpaw Jesus Ramos rebounded from his first loss (a narrow defeat to Erickson Lubin in this same ring) with a ninth-round stoppage of Johan Gonzalez who was making his third start in the U.S., having fought mostly in Venezuela and Panama.

Gonzalez was rugged, but his record heading in (34-2 with 33 KOs) was deceptive as he was out-classed by Ramos (21-1, 17 KOs) who was credited with landing roughly twice as many punches before he brought the bout to a conclusion. A counter left hook put Gonzalez down hard. He beat the count, but Ramos swarmed after him, rocking him with punches. There were only 5 seconds remining in the ninth frame when referee Harvey Dock waived it off. Gonzalez protested, but it was the right call.

Also

Super middleweight William Scull made his U.S. debut in an 8-round fight. A native of Cuba who had been living in Germany and now hangs his hat in Argentina, Scull, 31, scored a knockdown in the fifth round en route to winning a unanimous decision over New Orleans’ Sean Hemphill (16-2).

Scull is ranked #1 by the IBF, but you won’t find his name in the Top 15 of the other three major sanctioning bodies. Does the obscure William Scull have Canelo Alvarez in his future?

In another undercard bout of note, Mexico City super bantamweight Alan Picasso improved to 28-0-1 (16 KOs) with a fifth-round stoppage of Colorado’s Damien Vazquez (17-4-1). Picasso, 23, is ranked #2 at 122 by the WBC.

Check back later as TSS West Coast bureau chief David Avila weighs in with a recap of the Canelo-Munguia fight and the three fights preceding it. The bouts are available for purchase on multiple pay-per-view platforms: e.g. Prime, DAZN, and PPV.com.

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