Your weekly random thoughts …
• After seeing the
Oscar De La Hoya-
Manny Pacquiao fight sell out almost instantly and generate a gate of almost $17 million -- the second-biggest gate in history -- it's clear that a lot of people really want to see this fight, despite the vocal minority who have complained relentlessly about the size difference between the fighters. Size difference be damned. This is going to be a really fun promotion and fight. Why would anyone knock a fight matching two big stars who can draw that kind of attention and money?
That said, it would have been nice if more than just a few thousand of the 16,000 tickets to the MGM Grand were made available to the general public so real boxing fans had a legitimate chance to buy them. Unfortunately, Golden Boy, Top Rank and the MGM bought huge chunks of tickets, many of which will go to casino high rollers and ticket brokers, who, because they also take tickets to the promoters' lesser events, have the ability to buy prime tickets to the hot events and then jack up the prices as a middleman. The regular fans who support boxing year-round will wind up either shut out or having to pay exorbitant prices for De La Hoya-Pacquiao tickets.
How do you expect to keep fans or, better yet, build the base, when regular fans don't have a chance to legitimately buy tickets for premier events? When De La Hoya founded Golden Boy, he talked endlessly about changing boxing and making it better for fighters and fans. So far, that has been little more than lip service, especially with the way tickets for big events are handled. It was the same thing that happened for De La Hoya's fight last year with
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
And while I'm on the subject of De La Hoya-Pacquiao, it is imperative that Golden Boy and Top Rank put on a high-quality undercard, not the crap Golden Boy served up under De La Hoya-Mayweather last year. That was an embarrassment. I hope history does not repeat itself. When a fight like De La Hoya-Pacquiao figures to easily generate more than $100 million, is it too much to ask that consumers, who will be asked to pay $54.95 for the pay-per-view, get more value than just the main event? I don't think so.
• Speaking of De La Hoya, now that he's hired
Nacho Beristain as his trainer for the Pacquiao fight after being unable to work a schedule out with
Floyd Mayweather Sr., I sure am going to miss him in HBO's "24/7."
• Super middleweight
Allan Green might finally be able to get his career going again after a difficult year in which he brought many of his problems on himself -- such as pulling out of an ESPN2 fight at the last minute without a reason and winding up on the suspension list. There was also the episode in which he was offered a fight against middleweight champion
Kelly Pavlik but his adviser blew the deal. In any case, promoter
Tony Holden, who did a tremendous job for Green but was disgusted with him and his adviser, worked out a deal under which he will still be paid on some of Green's future fights, but
Lou DiBella is now Green's promoter. The deal was finalized this week. What I find hilarious is that, according to my sources, Green's minimum purse for a fight with DiBella is $15,000. His minimum with Holden was $20,000. Gee, now that is smart business, isn't it? Looks like another semester on the honor roll for Green at the
Winky Wright School of Business.
• It's good to see
Grady Brewer, the second-season winner of "The Contender," back in action after being idle for two years because of a serious knee injury. He won his comeback fight and will face first-season participant Cornelius Bundrage on Nov. 13. Brewer beat
Steve Forbes in the final but never had a chance to capitalize on his high-profile victory. Instead, while Brewer sat out with an injury, it was Forbes who was afforded all sorts of opportunities. He landed two fights on major HBO PPV undercards, fought De La Hoya and is getting a shot at a welterweight title Saturday when he challenges
Andre Berto. Hopefully, Brewer can still find similar good fortune.
• I had a chance to see a video of South Africa's
Moruti Mthalane's recent victory against Hussein Hussein in a flyweight title eliminator. I think Mthalane is a live dog when he challenges
Nonito Donaire on Nov. 1 on Top Rank's pay-per-view card.
• So,
David Haye finally settled on
Monte Barrett as his heavyweight opponent for Nov. 15. There's nothing really wrong with Barrett as the opponent except that Haye spent months yapping about how he was going to fight the best, blah, blah, blah. By spending so long raising expectations for a big-time opponent and then settling for a journeyman, Haye and trainer/manager
Adam Booth made themselves look like fools and hypocrites, especially when
Hasim Rahman, who beat Barrett not that long ago, was talked about constantly as their opponent of choice and then never even given an offer.
• Will unified lightweight titleholder
Nate Campbell fight again this year? It sure doesn't look good. I feel bad for the guy that his career was so screwed up because of the deplorable
Joan Guzman, who was so unprofessional by not making weight and causing their fight earlier this month to be called off hours before they were supposed to be in the ring. Imagine if you thought you were going to make about $300,000, money you had earmarked for important expenditures, only to find out at the last minute there would be no check? Welcome to Campbell's world.
• There are only 16 days left until
Vitali Klitschko challenges heavyweight titleholder
Samuel Peter and Klitschko is still injury-free. It's almost time to break out the plastic bubble for Klitschko as we head down the stretch.
• If
Ricardo Mayorga pulls off the upset and beats
Shane Mosley on Saturday, I'd love to see a third fight between Mayorga and
Vernon Forrest. However, if Mosley beats Mayorga, I can't say I am all that interested in seeing a third fight between Forrest and Mosley.
•
DVD pick of the week: The heavyweight division has provided very little excitement in recent years, which is why DVDs rule. You can go back and watch great fights from the past and forget about the mess the division is today. Few heavyweight battles are better than the one that took place June 9, 1978, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. That is when
Larry Holmes won the heavyweight championship from
Ken Norton in a blazing action battle. The fight was close all the way and came down the classic 15th round, one of the greatest in boxing history. They slugged away at each other with abandon, but Holmes did just enough to pull out the unforgettable split decision. It was the start of Holmes' era of heavyweight dominance as he would reign as champion until 1985. For Norton, it was the beginning of the end. Including the Holmes fight, Norton went 2-3-1 over his last six bouts, retiring in 1981.
Dan Rafael
