Some media members seem to enjoy taking shots at HBO and distorting the facts
just for fun, then refuse to acknowledge when things are going well. Sure, I've taken my cuts from time to time over the years, but I have no problem standing up and praising when it is warranted, either.
Right now, praise is warranted because HBO, the engine that drives boxing's top-level fights, is humming along like a finely tuned sports car. So far in 2009, HBO has offered one excellent show after another -- and there is more to come.
You can judge HBO, or any network really, only by how the fights look on paper. Once the bell rings, you just don't know what's going to happen. Fortunately for HBO and boxing fans, every show so far this year has looked great on paper and turned out exceedingly well in the ring.
Many times before, I've heard HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg talk about getting back to basics and offering only the best fights live on the network. He'd talk about how there would be no more mismatches, no more saturating the marketplace with misguided pay-per-view events. But eventually, for whatever reason, HBO would lose itself somewhere along the way and revert back to the old model.
This year, it truly seems like a different story. This year, I get the sense that Greenburg is serious because he and his team of boxing executives -- Mark Taffet, Kery Davis and Luis Barragan -- are putting their money where their mouths are and delivering for fans. You almost get the sense that they keep reminding each other day after day in the office hallway of what the goal is -- only the best.
So far in 2009, HBO has aired four cards with a total of seven fights. Every single show gets an A in my admittedly hard-to-please book.
HBO kicked off the year with a "Boxing After Dark" card Jan. 17 that featured Andre Berto defending his welterweight belt against former titleholder Luis Collazo. Berto has been coddled by HBO for the past few years (and taken the heat for it), but this was finally a serious fight. Berto won the barnburner on a close decision in a bout that at least will be in the conversation for fight of the year in December.
Next up, HBO put millions of dollars behind the Antonio Margarito-Shane Mosley welterweight championship fight. In years past, the promoters and HBO would have almost certainly steered this to pay-per-view. Instead, it went on regular HBO and Mosley knocked out Margarito (sans loaded hand wraps) in the ninth round in a terrific performance.
The next "BAD" card was a compelling Feb. 14 tripleheader, and even though the original main event of junior middleweight prospect Alfredo Angulo stepping up to face battle-tested and exciting former titleholder Ricardo Mayorga fell out when Mayorga pulled out on short notice, the show went on. Because it was so strong to begin with, there was no issue of moving the evenly matched Nate Campbell-Ali Funeka lightweight fight to the main event. It turned out to be a stirring fight that Campbell pulled out in the late rounds. Angulo stayed on the card and stopped veteran Cosme Rivera in the opener. Perhaps that was not the greatest HBO-caliber fight, but I am glad the network kept Angulo on. No reason he should be punished because Mayorga is a flake. Besides, on four days' notice, Rivera was a very solid replacement. In between, Sergio Martinez faced Kermit Cintron in an excellent match on paper. It didn't turn out to be as good as many had hoped, but there was still drama and even some controversy, with Martinez scoring a knockout that wasn't and the fight stunningly being ruled a draw -- even though Cintron should have lost by at least three points.
Next up was last Saturday night's all-time great HBO show in Houston, which looked excellent on paper and turned out even better.
It opened with Chris John retaining his featherweight title in a draw with Rocky Juarez (I thought John clearly won, as did most at ringside) in a tremendous battle. It ended with one of the greatest fights I have ever covered. Juan Manuel Marquez's blood-soaked ninth-round knockout of Juan Diaz in defense of the world lightweight championship was a truly great fight. If it isn't the fight of the year, it means 2009 still has something extra special in store for us. This was another fight that in years past might have landed on pay-per-view. Thankfully, it didn't.
Last year, HBO produced pay-per-view events in January, February and March to kick off the year. This year, the first one isn't scheduled until May 2, when Ricky Hatton defends the junior welterweight title against Manny Pacquiao. It's perhaps the best fight you can make in the sport. It's an obvious PPV, so no problem there.
There is even more good stuff ahead in the HBO pipeline. On Saturday night, there's another "BAD" tripleheader that looks great on paper. I love the fact that HBO, which had gotten away from tripleheaders, now seems to be cool with doing them on "BAD" with far more frequency as the network breaks in the stars of tomorrow in step-up fights.
Saturday's main event, featuring junior middleweight sluggers Joel "Love Child" Julio and James Kirkland, figures to be a slugfest. Junior welterweight Victor Ortiz, the 2008 ESPN.com prospect of the year, faces a serious test against Mike Arnaoutis, and former featherweight titlist Robert Guerrero tries to settle in at junior lightweight against undefeated Indonesian prospect Daud Yordan. It should be a heck of a night.
On April 11, Paul Williams, one of the very best young fighters in the world, takes on Winky Wright in what ought to be a stern test. Sure, Wright has been inactive, but nobody has ever dominated him. When he's on his game, he's one of the best in the business. The fact that Williams is fighting him at middleweight makes this quite interesting. Nobody expects it to be a slugfest and it might not generate a huge live gate, but there's nothing wrong with a high-level boxing match mixed in with all the brawls when it matches two quality fighters.
The undercard could also be interesting as heavyweight Cris Arreola, one of the most entertaining heavyweights in the sport, faces experienced Jameel McCline in what is easily the biggest test of Arreola's career. Arreola and his team believe he's a threat to Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko. If they think Arreola can be champion, he needs to test himself against someone like McCline first, which is what makes it an interesting fight.
The string of top young fighters on "BAD" continues April 25 when Juan Manuel Lopez, one of the most exciting youngsters around, defends his junior featherweight belt against bantamweight titlist Gerry Penalosa in a classic case of a young star against a respected -- and still awfully good -- older fighter. That this fight is in Lopez's native Puerto Rico guarantees a lively crowd, which always makes for better TV.
If there is one dead spot on HBO's schedule, it's May 9, when Chad Dawson's light heavyweight title defense against Antonio Tarver has been rescheduled. I've been a critic of the fight because Dawson whipped Tarver's butt last fall and because Glen Johnson is the one who deserves a rematch with Dawson.
Dawson has to fight Tarver again because of a contractual obligation, but HBO sure wasn't obligated to buy it -- and certainly not for the more than $3 million it is paying. That's an absurd number in this economic climate, especially when the first fight didn't draw flies. The official live gate for the first fight in Las Vegas, according to Nevada commission records, was a meager $329,650. In other words, HBO is paying about 10 times as much for the rematch as the first bout generated in ticket sales, which means HBO is way, way, way overpaying for the bout. But I digress.
That said, count me as a Dawson fan. He's a rising pound-for-pound talent, so at least I understand why HBO wants to have him on. I just wish it would have waited until after the Tarver rematch was over.
But even in light of that giant wart, you can't argue with the rest of the HBO schedule through May. Hey, nobody is perfect. But HBO, so far in '09, is pretty damn close.
Dan Rafael
