HBO Boxing Boss on Judging Controversies, Pacquiao-Mayweather and More

Published

10 years ago

December 23, 2014

HBO Sports president Ken Hershman admitted to TSS he’s just as sick of judging controversies as the rest of us.

“We want great fights first and foremost, and we want those fights to be scored appropriately. We’ve invested a lot in the sport for over 30 years, and its integrity is very important to us. So anything that interferes with that or diminishes the integrity of the sport is a negative. We take it very seriously.”

So can the cable television giant, the one that pours millions and millions of dollars into boxing every year do anything to help turn the tide? Is there a world on the horizon where fight fans won’t have to hold their breath every time a decision is announced after 10 or 12 hard-fought rounds?

“Obviously, we don’t control the judges. We don’t select them, and we don’t train them. We can only present the facts about what is going on.”

Hershman said HBO’s role was just like that of any other boxing media member: to shine a light on things where needed. He said HBO’s partnership with promoters doesn’t necessarily put them into a position to do anything more than other media types.

“I don’t think we want to get into picking the officials any more than Fox wants to get into picking the officiating crews from a NFL games. That’s up to the state commissions and the promoters to ensure they’re getting the highest level of professionalism and that they’re responsible for them. I think what we can do is make sure our announcing team has the independence to call it like they see it, which we give them.”

Hershman also said it might be important for HBO to better educate fans on the intricacies of judging. If you follow the sport via social media, you probably agree. Fans are often too quick to call close fights robberies even though the nature of judging a fight is largely subjective and the scoring system used doesn’t differentiate much between close rounds and one-sided rounds unless there is a knockdown.

“For the most part, what I glean from these situations is that 95 percent of fights are scored appropriately. It just happens that some of the more high profile ones get a little upside down from time to time, and it sends everyone into a tizzy over whether this sport is legitimate. That’s what’s so frustrating, because in nine out of the 10 cards that I watch, everybody comes to the same conclusion.”

Hershman said HBO might consider going more in-depth on the issue in various ways.

“Some judges do award different kinds of styles, and maybe it’s incumbent on us to do a better job explaining that to the audience: how judges look at fights, how ring generalship and defense may factor in more for one judge versus power and dominating that way for another judge in the same fight.”

And of legitimate controversies, such as Timothy Bradley’s decision win over Manny Pacquiao back in 2012?

“Hopefully, through just being present, televising and calling attention to some of these things when they go awry, it puts the necessary pressure on everyone who does train or who is responsible for the officiating to further hone their techniques. We want the sport to be as transparent as possible and as legitimate as possible. And all that can be done, whether it’s instant replay, mandatory drug testing, better training of officials–whatever needs to be done–we’re here to support and encourage it. And we stand to gain from it, because the bigger the sport, the bigger and better bang for the buck for HBO.”

On Pacquiao-Mayweather

Hershman said Pacquiao might appear to be running out of options for opponents in 2015. While that might encourage you to believe a long-awaited megafight against Floyd Mayweather is closer to happening than ever, he also said he was confident Pacquiao would find a viable dance partner if that turned out not to be the case.

“I always believe in boxing that you might look at the landscape one day and one particular moment in time and it might seem pretty thin, and then a week or a month later, somebody emerges and a fight comes along that we hadn’t thought about.”

Pacquiao defeated Timothy Bradley and Chis Algieri in 2014, the latter emerging as an opponent after the New Yorker’s upset win over Ruslan Provodnikov.

“If I’m being totally objective at the moment about big fights for Pacquiao, there are a few but they’re limited at the moment. But Manny has a way of putting on amazingly entertaining shows. Somebody will materialize, I’m confident, and become a compelling opponent for him.”

Still, I did the dirty deed and asked him on the tail end of our 30-minute conversation about alleged negotiations for Pacquiao-Mayweather. Were they happening as suggested recently by Bob Arum? And was he surprised I hadn’t asked him about the topic up to the final few moments of the call?

“What I find interesting, Kelsey, is that every reporter has their own technique of getting to it. You tried to soften me up and get me relaxed, and I appreciate the technique. Some people hit me over the head with it first.”

We had a good laugh, but Hershman remained consistent with his no-comment approach on the matter nonetheless.

“As a fight fan, I’d love to see the fight. I’m not going to comment on the negotiations publically because that would not be fruitful for anybody, but I want to see the fight. I want to be there at the fight like any other fight fan. I know how much it means.”

On Golden Boy Promotions and Al Haymon

Hershman said HBO was glad to be working again with Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions.

“They’re a great promotional outfit and really good partners right now. It’s been exciting for us and for them. We’re pretty easy to do business with if you understand where we’re coming from. We try to be transparent and communicate well. I think Oscar and team think and act the same way. They’re very transparent. They’re very open to ideas and communication. They really want what’s best for the sport, what’s best for their fighters and what’s best for their company. They’re really doing a great job of bringing big fights to the market and being good partners.”

I also asked if Hershman thought we might see any of the numerous fighters managed by boxing powerbroker Al Haymon on HBO anytime soon, fighters like Erislandy Lara, Jermell Charlo and Danny Garcia.

“We’re open to anything. As you see with the Golden Boy relationship, if our philosophies and thought processes sync up and the opportunities are there, we’re happy to entertain anything. But we have a really amazing roster of talent. We’re so fully stocked that we’re not really chasing anybody, and we don’t think we need to. We just want to put on the best shows we can with fighters that we’re working with.”

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Kelsey McCarson

TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2025

TSS Press

TSS-Salutes-Thomas-Hauser-and-his-Bernie-Award-Cohorts

The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.

Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.

Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11^th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)

Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.

The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).

Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”

A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.

Other winners:

Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon

Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney

Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire

Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix

The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.

The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday

Published

3 days ago

April 15, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Mekhrubon-Sanginov-whose-Heroism-Nearly-Proved-Fatal-Returns-on-Saturday

To say that Mekhrubon Sanginov is excited to resume his boxing career would be a great understatement. Sanginov, ranked #9 by the WBA at 154 pounds before his hiatus, last fought on July 8, 2022.

He was in great form before his extended leave, having scored four straight fast knockouts, advancing his record to 13-0-1. Had he remained in Las Vegas, where he had settled after his fifth pro fight, his career may have continued on an upward trajectory, but a trip to his hometown of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, turned everything haywire. A run-in with a knife-wielding bully nearly cost him his life, stalling his career for nearly three full years.

Sanginov was exiting a restaurant in Dushanbe when he saw a man, plainly intoxicated, harassing another man, an innocent bystander. Mekhrubon intervened and was stabbed several times with a long knife. One of the puncture wounds came perilously close to puncturing his heart.

“After he stabbed me, I ran after him and hit him and caught him to hold for the police,” recollects Sanginov. “There was a lot of confusion when the police arrived. At first, the police were not certain what had happened.

“By the time I got to the hospital, I had lost two liters of blood, or so I was told. After I was patched up, one of the surgeons said to me, ‘Give thanks to God because he gave you a second life.’ It is like I was born a second time.”

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have happened in any city,” he adds. (A story about the incident on another boxing site elicited this comment from a reader: “Good man right there. World would be a better place if more folk were willing to step up when it counts.”)

Sanginov first laced on a pair of gloves at age 10 and was purportedly 105-14 as an amateur. Growing up, the boxer he most admired was Roberto Duran. “Muhammad Ali will always be the greatest and [Marvin] Hagler was great too, but Duran was always my favorite,” he says.

During his absence from the ring, Sanginov married a girl from Tajikistan and became a father. His son Makhmud was born in Las Vegas and has dual citizenship. “Ideally,” he says, “I would like to have three more children. Two more boys and the last one a daughter.”

He also put on a great deal of weight. When he returned to the gym, his trainer Bones Adams was looking at a cruiserweight. But gradually the weight came off – “I had to give up one of my hobbies; I love to eat,” he says – and he will be resuming his career at 154. “Although I am the same weight as before, I feel stronger now. Before I was more of a boy, now I am a full-grown man,” says Sanginov who turned 29 in February.

He has a lot of rust to shed. Because of all those early knockouts, he has answered the bell for only eight rounds in the last four years. Concordantly, his comeback fight on Saturday could be described as a soft re-awakening. Sanginov’s opponent Mahonri Montes, an 18-year pro from Mexico, has a decent record (36-10-2, 25 KOs) but has been relatively inactive and is only 1-3-1 in his last five. Their match at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is slated for eight rounds.

On May 10, Ardreal Holmes (17-0) faces Erickson Lubin (26-2) on a ProBox card in Kissimmee, Florida. It’s an IBF super welterweight title eliminator, meaning that the winner (in theory) will proceed directly to a world title fight.

Sanginov will be watching closely. He and Holmes were scheduled to meet in March of 2022 in the main event of a ShoBox card on Showtime. That match fell out when Sanginov suffered an ankle injury in sparring.

If not for a twist of fate, that may have been Mekhrubon Sanginov in that IBF eliminator, rather than Ardreal Holmes. We will never know, but one thing we do know is that Mekhrubon’s world title aspirations were too strong to be ruined by a knife-wielding bully.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City

Published

5 days ago

April 12, 2025

David A. Avila

Jaron-'Boots'-Ennis-Wins-Welterweight-Showdown-in-Atlantic-City

In the showdown between undefeated welterweight champions Jaron “Boots Ennis walked away with the victory by technical knockout over Eamantis Stanionis and the WBA and IBF titles on Saturday.

No doubt. Ennis was the superior fighter.

“He’s a great fighter. He’s a good guy,” said Ennis.

Philadelphia’s Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) faced Lithuania’s Stanionis (15-1, 10 KOs) at demonstrated an overpowering southpaw and orthodox attack in front of a sold-out crowd at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

It might have been confusing but whether he was in a southpaw stance or not Ennis busted the body with power shots and jabbed away in a withering pace in the first two rounds.

Stanionis looked surprised when his counter shots seemed impotent.

In the third round the Lithuanian fighter who trains at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, began using a rocket jab to gain some semblance of control. Then he launched lead rights to the jaw of Ennis. Though Stanionis connected solidly, the Philly fighter was still standing and seemingly unfazed by the blows.

That was a bad sign for Stanionis.

Ennis returned to his lightning jabs and blows to the body and Stanionis continued his marauding style like a Sherman Tank looking to eventually run over his foe. He just couldn’t muster enough firepower.

In the fifth round Stanionis opened up with a powerful body attack and seemed to have Ennis in retreat. But the Philadelphia fighter opened up with a speedy combination that ended with blood dripping from the nose of Stanionis.

It was not looking optimistic for the Lithuanian fighter who had never lost.

Stanionis opened up the sixth round with a three-punch combination and Ennis met him with a combination of his own. Stanionis was suddenly in retreat and Ennis chased him like a leopard pouncing on prey. A lightning five-punch combination that included four consecutive uppercuts delivered Stanionis to the floor for the count. He got up and survived the rest of the round.

After returning shakily to his corner, the trainer whispered to him and then told the referee that they had surrendered.

Ennis jumped in happiness and now holds the WBA and IBF welterweight titles.

“I felt like I was getting in my groove. I had a dream I got a stoppage just like this,” said Ennis.

Stanionis looked like he could continue, but perhaps it was a wise move by his trainer. The Lithuanian fighter’s wife is expecting their first child at any moment.

Meanwhile, Ennis finally proved the expectations of greatness by experts. It was a thorough display of superiority over a very good champion.

“The biggest part was being myself and having a live body in front of me,” said Ennis. “I’m just getting started.”

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was jubilant over the performance of the Philadelphia fighter.

“What a wonderful humble man. This is one of the finest fighters today. By far the best fighter in the division,” said Hearn. “You are witnessing true greatness.”

Other Bouts

Former featherweight world champion Raymond Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) showed that moving up in weight would not be a problem even against the rugged and taller Thomas Mattice (22-5-1, 17 KOs) in winning by a convincing unanimous decision.

The quicksilver southpaw Ford ravaged Mattice in the first round then basically cruised the remaining nine rounds like a jackhammer set on automatic. Four-punch combinations pummeled Mattice but never put him down.

“He was a smart veteran. He could take a hit,” said Ford.

Still, there was no doubt on who won the super featherweight contest. After 10 rounds all three judges gave Ford every round and scored it 100-90 for the New Jersey fighter who formerly held the WBA featherweight title which was wrested from him by Nick Ball.

Shakhram Giyasov (17-0, 10 KOs) made good on a promise to his departed daughter by knocking out Argentina’s Franco Ocampo (17-3, 8 KOs) in their welterweight battle.

Giyasov floored Ocampo in the first round with an overhand right but the Argentine fighter was able to recover and fight on for several more rounds.

In the fourth frame, Giyasov launched a lead right to the liver and collapsed Ocampo with the body shot for the count of 10 at 1:57 of the fourth round.

“I had a very hard camp because I lost my daughter,” Giyasov explained. “I promised I would be world champion.”

In his second pro fight Omari Jones (2-0) needed only seconds to disable William Jackson (13-6-2) with a counter right to the body for a knockout win. The former Olympic medalist was looking for rounds but reacted to his opponent’s actions.

“He was a veteran he came out strong,” said Jones who won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “But I just stayed tight and I looked for the shot and I landed it.”

After a feint, Jackson attacked and was countered by a right to the rib cage and down he went for the count at 1:40 of the first round in the welterweight contest.

Photo credit: Matchroom

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!