Articles of 2009
Who's The Favorite In The Super Six World Boxing Classic?
SUPER SIX WORLD BOXING CLASSIC
– The Super Middleweights –
NEW YORK CITY PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
What the executives, fighters and promoters had to say on Monday in New York City:
KEN HERSHMAN
“Throughout my career, I have been involved with some of the most major and historic events in the sport, including the legendary Corrales vs. Castillo fight which in my opinion is the best fight in history, the Tyson/Holyfield ear biting incident, and the Tyson-Lewis fight. But never have I been more proud then I am of this tournament or prouder of the work we have done. Getting five promoters together is a herculean task in itself — plus six of the best fighters in the division. That is a staggering accomplishment.
“(IBF champion) Lucien Bute was not invited (to participate). He's a great champion but this tournament works. Not one promoter or fighter objected to the first-round draw. They all said ‘put me in front of anyone.’ Each promoter feels their guy is ready to take this tournament.’’
ARTHUR ABRAHAM
“I'm very happy to be in New York for the tournament. I want to win. I came here to participate and win. Each fighter, they are all exceptionally good, one better then the next. But I am here to win.’’
ANDRE DIRRELL
“Thank God and my Savior Jesus Christ. My heart is going 100 miles per hour. It is beating like hell. This is the biggest stage of my career. It is not because it is the hardest. I know I am in a blessed position and the position to be the best of all-time.
“I thank SHOWTIME, Al Haymon, the three Europeans and my grandfather. I am ecstatic. I have this tingling feeling. I had that feeling when I came through the curtains today. I had that same feeling at the Olympic Games each time I entered the ring. I know it is my time. It is my time to shine.
“I love being the underdog. I am going to be in the finals. Whoever is there, that is who it will be (on predicting who he will meet in finals). I guarantee you I'll be there. I have been hungry for a long time. I just want to get it on. I am the only one here not wearing a suit. I want to wear a suit.
(On Froch) “I begged for that fight. Froch is tailor-made for me. He hasn't showed me anything. I think this will be my easiest fight. If he can beat me, then he's a true champion. (But) I will be victorious.
“I’m focused on getting the WBC title. Then, I'll get the WBA and leave the tournament with both belts. Kessler stands out the most. He has only one defeat and has the most experience. My concern is not getting cut. I am naturally gifted and I will let the world know who I am. It’s a big plus that everyone knows they have three fights. I’m super hungry. All these are top guys and it’s going to take the best to beat the best. But I’m in a beautiful position. I’ve had only 18 fights. I’ll be unbearable. Everyone’s a world champ. It's a one-man game, every man for himself. I don't care about the USA vs. Europe. Ward has the most prestigious position having won the gold.’’
CARL FROCH
“Thanks to all the promoters, and especially Ken Hershman for having the vision to put this together. I will remain the WBC champion throughout this tournament. All the fighters deserve to be here. We mean business and we are taking this seriously.
“I'm going to be the last man standing. I'm a world champion and I've worked so hard to get here that I'm not giving my belt up for anyone.
“This is what boxing is supposed to be about with the best fighting the best. These are the kind of challenges I've always wanted and I'm really fired up for this tournament.
“It forces the best fighters in the division to all face each other and that's something that has been missing from boxing in recent years. You've got established champions like Mikkel Kessler and Arthur Abraham, a former undisputed world champion like Jermain Taylor, who I already know all about, and then you have the two rising stars from the U.S., Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell.
“Right now Andre Dirrell is something of an unknown quantity for me because I haven't seen very much of him. He's coming into this tournament on the back of a lot of hype and he certainly talks a good fight. It's in the ring that it will count though, that's where he will have to back it up. But he's big at the weight, he's got that great amateur pedigree, he's unbeaten and he's some good scalps on his record.
“So he's definitely a dangerous opponent for my first fight.
“Ultimately I believe the series will come down to myself and Mikkel Kessler in the final. He's a reigning world champion just like me and I believe the experience of being world champ gives you that extra edge.
“He's an excellent fighter but I believe I'm the best of the bunch and it's just about going out now and proving that.’’
MIKKEL KESSLER
“Thank you to all the promoters and to SHOWTIME. This is a big opportunity for me to test myself. I never thought this would happen but when I got the call I said, ‘of course, I want to be a part of it.’ This is a big opportunity for me and all the fighters. A big thank you to all, and may the best fighter win.’’
JERMAIN TAYLOR
“I don't really care who I fight, with me there’s always plenty of action in the ring.
“Arthur Abraham is a brawler. I'm going to box him. That’s the key to winning the fight and beating a brawler. Who wants it more……..we will find out soon.”
“A fighter’s power will be key in this tournament; everyone has power. There will be KOs in most of the matches, but I will outbox Abraham.
“I'm glad to be a participant in this tournament SHOWTIME has put together. It’s good for boxing and the fans.”
LOU DIBELLA
““DiBella Entertainment and Jermain are thrilled to be a part of this historic and creative tournament. It’s a clean slate for Jermain and every one of these great athletes begins this tournament 0-0.
“The round robin nature makes this an unprecedented contest. We look forward to competing with the best in the world.”
DAN GOOSSEN
“I apologize for Andre Ward not being here, but he is in Mexico and he has a case of the flu and is on antibiotics.
“I think this tournament will deliver great ratings and media support, but it will really be great for the boxing fans.
“When this concept was brought to our attention, I saw the greatness in it for the fighters. I believe the fans have always insisted on something like this. No gimmicks. No give and take on the weight. Everything is there before you. The best are fighting the best. Real champions. Real Olympians.
“I believe the winners will become stars. Not one star, but I think this tournament will create two or three stars. I think it will take these fighters to a whole different level.
“When Ken Hershman met with me — instead of Ken giving me the contract, I gave Ken the contract to get this started. There are great champions among the Europeans. Ward is the last gold medalist. You are going to see his great talent as he challenges these fighters.
“I think he will be achieving his greatness in the tournament and he will be the winner of this tournament.
“This brings boxing to the levels of the other major sports. With the tournament format the fighters now have the chance to not only win the division championship and their conference championship but to take it to the Super Bowl. That I believe is what has driven these fighters to put it all on the line for supremacy.
“Andre has been on the biggest world stage as any of these athletes. It doesn't get any bigger than the Olympics and he overcame all of the odds on becoming the only Gold medalist for the U.S.
“And we believe that he is ready to go front and center on the professional world stage and be able to do what Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya did after winning gold.”
MICK HENNESSY
“I'd really like to thank Ken Hershman and everyone with SHOWTIME. Sometimes it’s hard to get excited when you are promoting event after event, but I am excited for what’s coming up.
“This has got me very excited. Six incredible athletes, six warriors, will put everything on the line and agree to fight each other. This is something to congratulate them all for.
“I believe Carl Froch is the best pound-for-pound fighter coming out of the UK and by entering this tournament he'll be able to prove that.
“I'm very proud of him, he's up against the best of the best, but I believe he'll come out on top.’’
KALLE SAUERLAND
“This is a great turning point for the sport, especially in Europe. There are many questions right now in boxing, where the sport is going, who are the champions and others.
“But this tournament aims to clear it up.’’
WILFRIED SAUERLAND
“When we first thought about this, we weren’t sure it would happen, but they worked very hard and we owe it to all the other boxers and promoters and Ken Hershman.
“From what I've seen here and what I've heard from Europe, this will be great.’’
GARY SHAW
“I just received some ground breaking news. (Shaw reads a telegram from WBC President Jose Sulaiman). Sulaiman offered his deepest congratulations to the six great fighters and SHOWTIME while giving them the WBC official authorization and support of this great tournament. There will be no mandatories. The WBC will give its full support. This is most important to this tournament.
“Dirrell is one of the youngest in the tournament. He isn't a world champion, but he will be. I think he is the most athletic in this tournament. He can fight southpaw or orthodox. He's always switching during a fight.
“Andre has fought the toughest fighters in Anthony Hanshaw and Victor Oganov, who was 26-1 with 25 KOs. Oganov can really punch. I believe Andre is going to win the tournament with his lighting speed. That will take him a long way in the tournament. I think the experience that Andre, Jermain Taylor and Ward had in the Olympics will certainly help them in this format.
“It's America vs. Europe.’’
The tournament begins in October 2009 and runs through spring 2011.
The six fighters have signed on to fight any, and potentially all, of the five other contestants in the tournament. All bouts will be scheduled for 12 rounds. Froch’s WBC title and Kessler’s WBA championship will be on the line at the start of tournament competition.
In the first three Group Stages of the tournament, each fighter faces three different opponents over the next 12 months in a points-based competition.
Scoring will be as follows:
Win – 2 points (with a 1-point KO/TKO bonus)
Draw – 1 point
Loss – 0 points
Based on the point standings after the third Group Stage, the top four point scorers will advance to the Semi-Finals with the lowest two being eliminated. (In the event of a tie on points, a tie-break mechanism is in place)
The Semi-Finals will match the point leader against the fourth place fighter and the second versus the third. (In the event of a draw in the Semi-Final bouts, a tie-break mechanism is in place).
The winners of the respective Semi-Final bouts will advance to the Final, which will be contested in early 2011 for the inaugural Super Six World Boxing Classic trophy.
Fights will be contested on both American and European continents. Dates and venues will be announced in the coming weeks. Group Stage 1 matchups are as follows:
GROUP STAGE 1
CARL FROCH vs. ANDRE DIRRELL (for WBC World Championship)
JERMAIN TAYLOR vs. ARTHUR ABRAHAM
MIKKEL KESSLER vs. ANDRE WARD (for WBA World Championship)
Group Stage 2 and 3 matchups will be announced shortly.
Articles of 2009
UFC 108 Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva
Former champion Rashad Evans meets Brazil’s venerable Thiago Silva in a non-title belt that can lead to a return match with the current champ, but first things first.
Evans (15-1-1) and Silva (14-1) meet in Ultimate Fighting Championship 108 in a light heavyweight bout on Saturday Jan. 2, at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. A win by either fighter could result in a world title bid. The fight card is being shown on pay-per-view television.
Events can change quickly in the Octagon and anybody can beat anybody in the 205-pound weight division. Just ask Silva or Evans.
Silva and Evans are both experienced and can vouch firsthand about the capriciousness of fighting in MMA and especially as a light heavyweight. On one day this man can beat that man and on another day, that man can beat this man. It can make you absolutely daffy.
Evans, 30, is the former UFC light heavyweight world champion who only defended his title on one occasion and lost by vicious knockout to current champion Lyoto Machida of Brazil. It’s the only defeat on his record.
Silva, 27, is a well-rounded MMA fighter from Sao Paolo, Brazil who is versed in jujitsu, Muy Thai and boxing. He can end a fight quickly in a choke hold just as easily as with a kick or a punch. His only loss came to who else: Machida.
Evans and Silva know a win can push open the door to a rematch with current UFC light heavyweight champion Machida.
“A win against Rashad would put me in the track against Lyoto,” said Silva, in a telephone conference call. “That's what – what I want to do.”
When Silva fought Machida the two Brazilians were both undefeated and feared in the MMA world. The fight took place in Las Vegas and with one second remaining in the first round a perfectly timed punch knocked Silva unconscious.
“I was humbled big time, man,” says Silva who fought Machida in January 2009. “I learned a lot from that fight. I think I can correct the mistakes from that fight, not overlooking anything else right now, but just I want to get the chance to fight him again.”
For Evans it was a different circumstance. The upstate New Yorker held the UFC title and was defending it after stopping then champion Forrest Griffin by knockout. Still, many felt Machida was far too technically versed. Evans was stopped brutally in the second round.
“I've made it a point to not – to not get distracted on what I want to do, because you know Thiago (Silva) is a very hungry fighter,” said Evans who has not fought since losing the title to Machida last May. “My focus is just on Thiago so much. You know I don't want to overlook him, you know, not even a little bit.”
Dana White, president of UFC, says the winner of this fight could conceivably fight Machida in the near future. Evans and especially Silva are motivated by the open window.
“I learned a lot from that fight. I think I can correct the mistakes from that fight,” says Silva. “Not overlooking anything else right now, but I just want to get the chance to fight him again.”
What a prize. The winner gets to face the man who beat him: Machida.
Articles of 2009
A Very Special New Year's Day Column
It has been just over four months since Nick Charles, the play-by-play announcer for Shobox: The New Generation, was diagnosed with stage IV bladder cancer and forced to take a medical hiatus from the monthly show that has aired since 2001.
Since then he has undergone grueling chemotherapy treatments that have resulted in him losing all of his hair as he forces himself to live as normal of a life as possible. Through sheer force of will, as well as the strength and support that he receives from his wonderfully loving family and his strong Christian faith, the 63-year-old Charles has managed to keep his weight up while not falling prey to the always lingering threats of depression, cynicism and negativity.
If one was unaware that he was battling such an insidious disease, you’d never know from talking on the phone to him that he has been to hell and back. He has lost none of the inspiring energy that has endeared him to members of the boxing community and legions of worldwide viewers.
“I’m doing great,” Charles said during a telephone conversation on December 30th. “I’ve been off the chemo for a month, and the doctors have told me that I’m 80 percent in remission. I’m going to see them again in three months. It may come back, but if it takes one year, or two years, or however long, I’m going to make the most of the good time.”
As physically and emotionally wrenching as the grim diagnosis and subsequent treatment has been, even for someone as perpetually positive as Charles, the longtime announcer said a lot of good things have come from it.
Having been married three times, Charles is the father of four children: Jason, 38, Melissa, 34, Charlotte, 22, and Giovanna, 3 ½.
While Charles is not big on regrets, he is the first to admit that he wasn’t always there for his older children. For many years he traveled the world as a CNN correspondent, often putting the demands of his career above all else, including those closest to him. Nowhere was the strain more evident than in his relationship with Melissa.
Having been divorced from Melissa’s mother since 1977, Charles said his relationship with that daughter has been especially “hot and cold, all of our lives.”
His illness has enabled them to forge a relationship that has been “based on a massive amount of forgiveness and understanding.”
“This has had a tremendous healing effect on both of us,” said Charles. “My illness has had a fortifying effect on a lot of things, the most important of which is my relationships with my family.”
That also includes his first wife, with whom he has had an often acrimonious relationship over the past three decades.
“It took a long time for the scab to become a scar, but we had lunch one day and it was so great to once again see the gentle, soft sides of each other,” he explained. “The whole divorce process creates a hardness that doesn’t always go away.”
Charles is also the grandfather to three children, some of whom are about the same age as his youngest daughter. He jokes that he has a “nuclear 21st century family” because of the similar ages of two generations of children. One of the hardest things for him has been the realization that he can’t always play with them in manner in which he would like.
“The hemoglobin is the fuel in your tank, so when it’s low you can’t will yourself to do things no matter how much you want to,” said Charles. “You can’t just sleep it off or work through it. I don’t want the kids to wonder why I can’t play in the backyard with them, or kick a soccer ball, or throw them in the air.”
Particularly difficult is when Giovanna reminds her father of how handsome he is, but then innocently asks him what happened to his hair, eyebrows and lashes.
“You try to keep things on a need to know basis, which is not easy when dealing with curious kids,” said Charles.
While Charles might look like the kind of guy that things have often come easy to, the reality is that his beginnings were far from auspicious. But, he says, his often challenging Chicago childhood blessed him with the steely resolve that has helped him so much during the arduous journey he is now on.
“I had it pretty rough growing up,” he explained. “I remember the lights and the heat being shut off and eating mustard sandwiches. I went to work at 13 and always had insecurities about the future. But I always expected and saw the best in people, so when I got sick, never once did I say 'Why me?”
Since taking a leave of absence from Shobox, the outpouring of support from the boxing community has warmed Charles’s heart. For a guy that is battling for his life, he actually considers himself fortunate to be surrounded by so much goodness in both his personal and professional lives.
“I always hear that boxing people are ruthless, but I couldn’t disagree more,” said Charles. “I’ve probably received about 1,000 e-mails, and people are always following in sending their best wishes. From the relatively unknown people in boxing to many of the more famous people, there has been an outpouring of true affection.”
Charles said that the Top Rank organization has been exceedingly kind and gracious. He was touched beyond description when he learned that officials in Oklahoma got special permission to have a seamstress sew “Keep Fighting Nick” onto their sleeves. He chokes up when talking about cut man Stitch Duran giving up an endorsement opportunity so he could put Charles’s name on his outfit. He never tires of hearing shout-outs from fighters on television.
Charles has always been a people person with an inordinate faith in the goodness of his fellow man. Battling this illness has only made his already strong faith in humanity even stronger.
“Adversity is a great teacher, and it really teaches you who your genuine friends are,” said Charles. “I have a lot of friends.”
He also has a remarkable wife, Cory, a CNN producer to whom he has been married for 11 years. She is the daughter of an electrician, a self-made woman who exudes all of the warmth of her native Brooklyn. She has reinforced her husband’s spiritual base by her love, optimism and strength of character.
“If I get down, she reminds me to not get too caught up,” said Charles. “I believe in eternity, and that has put me pretty much at peace.”
More than anything else, Charles wants to get himself back behind a microphone sooner rather than later, and hopefully on Shobox. He is the first to admit that viewers “don’t watch the series to see Nick Charles,” but he is proud of the fact that he was “part of the identity” of such a popular show.
“And people love comeback stories,” added Charles. “That’s the message I’m getting from the people out there.”
In boxing the word “champion” is often overused because it pertains only to winning belts and receiving worldwide recognition for being the best at your craft. The reality is that life’s real champions have other qualities, such as the innate ability to treat people well and always make them feel better about themselves, especially when the recipients of the goodwill are in no position to give them anything back.
By that standard of measure, Charles is as much, if not more of a champion than all of the boxers he has covered during the nine years that Shobox has been on the air.
I know I speak for scores of others when I say, “Happy New Year, Champ. We hope that you are the comeback story of the year in 2010.”
Articles of 2009
No One Is Leaving This Stage Of Negotiations Looking GOLDEN
Early in his political career, the young Lyndon Baines Johnson served as a congressional aide to Rep. Richard Kleberg, the wealthy owner of the King Ranch who was elected to seven consecutive terms in the House of Representatives, at least in part because he often ran unopposed.
One year an upstart rival politician we'll call Joe Bob had the temerity to challenge Kleberg in the Democratic primary, resulting in the convocation of the Texas congressman's staff to plot an election strategy. Several ideas were kicked around before Kleberg himself came up with a brainstorm.
“Why don't we start a rumor that he [copulates with] sheep?” proposed the politician.
This was a bit over the top, even for Lyndon Johnson. The future president leapt to his feet and said, incredulously, “But you know Joe Bob don't [copulate with] sheep!”
“Yeah,” replied the congressman, “but watch what happens when the son of a bitch has to stand up and deny it!”
******
Events of the past week or two have seen the Floyd Mayweather camp adopt a similar tactic with regard to Manny Pacquiao. But if introducing what would appear to be a red-herring issue — the debate over drug-testing procedures — to the negotiating process was intended as a negotiating ploy, it would appear for the moment to have backfired. The idea might have been to force Pacquiao to go on the defensive, but Pac-Man instead responded with his stock in trade, the counterpunch — in this case the multi-million dollar defamation suit he filed against the Mayweathers, pere et fils,, with the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
In boxing even more than in life, you never say never, but you'd have to say that Pacquiao-Mayweather is a dead issue right now, at least in its March 13 incarnation. Bob Arum says Pacquiao is prepared to move along to another opponent, and Mayweather is supposedly looking at Matthew Hatton in England.
We'll believe that when we see it, for at least three reasons: (1) There would hardly seem to be enough money in that one to make it worth Floyd's time, (2) He's going to have to put so much into preparing a defense to this lawsuit that he mightn't have time to train and (3) He'd get a better workout if he stayed in Vegas and boxed one of Uncle Roger's girl opponents.
*****
Colleagues on this site have already done a good job of dissecting this process. Ron Borges is absolutely correct in noting that in the midst of all the posturing that's gone on, you'd be a fool to accept at face value anything coming out of any of the parties' mouths. And Frank Lotierzo is spot on in noting that if you had absolutely no desire to actually get in the ring with Manny Pacquiao but were still looking to save face, you'd do pretty much exactly what Mayweather has done. Which is to say, talk tough while you get others to run interference with a series of actions seemingly calculated to ensure that the fight doesn't come off.
But left almost unscathed in all of this heretofore has been the convoluted role played by Golden Boy — by CEO Richard Schaefer, by the company's namesake Oscar the Blogger, GBP's subsidiary enterprise, The Ring, and at least a few of the lap-dogs and lackeys whose favor GPB has cultivated elsewhere in the media.
In late March of 2008, Shane Mosley and Zab Judah appeared at a New York press conference to announce a fight between them in Las Vegas two months later. As it happened, the BALCO trial had gotten underway out in California that week. That day I sat with Judah and his attorney Richard Shinefield as they explained that they intended to ask that both boxers agree to blood testing in the runup to the fight. Citing Mosley's history with BALCO and its products The Cream and The Clear (which Shane claimed Victor Conte had slipped him when he wasn't looking), Shinefield and Zab, noting that Nevada drug tests were limited to urinalysis, proposed that the supplementary tests be administered by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Want to know what Richard Schaefer's response to that was?
“Whatever tests [the NSAC] wants them to take, we will submit to, but we are not going to do other tests than the Nevada commission requires,” said Schaefer. “The fact is, Shane is not a cheater and he does not need to be treated like one.”
But the fact is that Mosley had a confirmed history as a cheater. Manny Pacquiao does not. Yet in the absence of a scintilla of evidence or probable cause, less than two years later Schaefer was howling that the very integrity of the sport would be at risk unless Pacquiao submitted to precisely the same sort of testing he had rejected for Mosley.
And you thought it was Arum who was famous for saying “Yeah, but yesterday I was lying. Today I'm telling the truth!”
Schaefer, by the way, defended his 180-degree turnabout by saying he is now better educated on the issue. He couldn't resist aiming a harpoon at the media by adding that many sportswriters “don't know the difference between blood and urine testing.”
Don't know how to break this to you, Richard, but sportswriters, who have had to deal with this stuff for the past twenty years, probably know more about drug-testing procedures than any other group you could name.
*****
Now, the reasonable assumption would be that by assuming the role of the point man in this unseemly mess, Schaefer was insulating his boss (De La Hoya) and his fighter (PBF) by keeping their fingerprints off it while he made a fool of himself publicly conducting this snide little campaign.
And yes, Money would have stayed out of the line of fire had not a two-month old, expletive-filled rant in which he described the Philippines as the world's foremost producer of performance-enhancing drugs not exploded on the internet at the most inopportune moment. That the lawsuit was filed less than 24 hours after “Floyd Meets the Rugged Man” overtook the Tiger Watch probably wasn't a coincidence.
And we're assuming that this Dan Petrocelli, the lawyer who filed Pacquiao's suit, knows what he's doing, because if there were an even one-zillionth chance that somebody could credibly link Manny to PEDs, then it was a pretty dumb thing to do. You could ask Roger Clemens about that. Clemens' transformation from Hall of Famer-in-waiting to nationwide laughingstock didn't come from the Mitchell Report. It came from his wrongheaded decision to file a lawsuit against Brian McNamee, which in turn threw everything open to the discovery process.
*****
De La Hoya, in the meantime, was playing both sides of the fence. He let Schaefer play Bad Cop as he distanced himself from the negotiating process, but simultaneously was sniping away at Pacquiao from his First Amendment-protected perch as a Ring.com blogger.
“If Pacquiao, the toughest guy on the planet, is afraid of needles and having a few tablespoons of blood drawn from his system, then something is wrong… I'm just saying that now people have to wonder: 'Why doesn't he want to do this?' Why is [blood testing] such a big deal?' wrote Oscar the Blogger. “A lot of eyebrows have been raised. And this is not good.”
Ask yourself this: Exactly what caused those eyebrows to be raised, other than the innuendo coming straight from Oscar's company?
Providing De La Hoya with a forum from which to dispense propaganda only begins to illustrate the hopelessly compromised position from which The Ring continues to operate. They might as well give Schaefer a column, too, while they're at it.
Nearly seven months have elapsed since we last visited the Ring/Golden Boy relationship, and at the risk of winding Nigel up, it might be useful here to note that in the midst of last June's discourse, The Ring's editor offered a laundry list of the magazine's covers since the De La Hoya takeover as a demonstration of Golden Boy's restraint.
After listing them, Nigel Collins wrote “that's 28 covers over the course of 21 issues, of which Top Rank had 12 fighters, as opposed to eight for Golden Boy and eight for other promotional entities. Obviously, The Ring has shown no bias to Golden Boy when it comes to magazine covers.”
It had never even been suggested that the conflict of interest extended to the magazine playing favorites in choosing its cover subjects, but since Nigel brought it up it is probably worth noting now that of those eight covers given over to “other promotional entities,” two were of David Haye, whose promoter was properly listed as “Hayemaker,” but who had also signed a promotional deal with Golden Boy in May of 2008. (Just last month GBP issued a release in De La Hoya's name in which it described itself as “Golden Boy Promotions, the United States promoter of World Boxing Association Heavyweight World Champion David Haye.”)
And even more to the point, in four other issues Nigel Collins offered in evidence the cover subject was Floyd Mayweather (Independent), although what has transpired with regard to the Pacquiao fight doesn't make Money look very independent at all, does it?
We don't regularly keep track of these things, but in making sure we didn't misquote Oscar's Blog we also came across a representation of the January 2010 issue on The Ring's website. The picture on the cover of the Bible of Boxing is of the Golden Boy himself, and the cover story “De La Hoya: The Retirement Interview.”
Wow! Now there's a hot topic for crusading journalists.
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