This week, there’s a little bit to say about a lot, so here are my Quick (S)hits on what’s tickling my troubled boxing mind.
– Devin Haney’s lawsuit against Ryan Garcia and Golden Boy is poorly crafted and probably unwinnable, but it’s a blind shot in the right direction.
It may not be a popular move among wannabe tough guy boxing fans, but filing that lawsuit was the right thing to do. Like I wrote over at my other gig (boxingnews.co), it may not win Haney any street cred (or even an actual judgment), but I think something like this– taking boxing disputes into the real world– will, ultimately, be the right course of action to keep the sport on the up and up (as much as possible). Boxing has proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it can’t police itself and can’t even ensure a level playing field for its own athletes, so outsiders HAVE to be involved as arbiters of fair play and justice. Maybe something like this lawsuit will force the sport’s power brokers to handle their own business the right way.
Haney deserves some additional compensation from this Ryan Garcia debacle and, maybe just as important, Garcia needs more of a punishment than what he ended up getting. In the end, despite popping dirty, missing weight, and all that general bullshit, Garcia netted millions from the mess and got some vacation time via suspension. Clearly, boxing needs help with self-governing.
– Someone needs to be saving those cheesy Oscar De La Hoya fake-smile “Clap Back Thursday” videos he posts on social media where he blasts all the boxing rivals who live rent-free in his head. When “The Golden Boy” eventually relapses and implodes under the weight of his own mind and weirdo predilections, people could have a good, mean-spirited chuckle at this entire stretch of smarmy, fake “look how happy I am” negativity from the guy.
– Bravo to the fighters, like Caleb Plant and Gervonta Davis, coming out to squash that silly “Edgar Berlanga did better against Canelo than expected” narrative peddled to media. Berlanga fought a safe fight, averaging only four more punches thrown per round against Canelo than Jermell Charlo, who was brutalized for his timid effort against the Mexican star last year. Maybe making it to the final bell was “better” than what many envisioned, but that only happened because Berlanga didn’t come out the way he had promised to come out. “Better than expected” is the step right before “accounted well for himself” en route to hyping Berlanga’s next fight. People need to ditch that promotional spin already.
– I’ll point it out again, for the 531st time, but this mad rush to sell out to the Saudis is going to be a major mistake on the part of all the boxing people rushing to grab at that blood money.
Of course, there’s the ethical aspect in allowing a murderous, human rights-violating monarchy to launder their image through the sport. Too many boxing people, though, are hustlers at heart and really don’t give a shit about such highfalutin ideas. They want money and a quick, easy cash-out– and the Saudis are certainly offering them that kind of score.
But what should concern those ethically-impaired boxing people eager to partner up with “The Kingdom” are the myriad of danger signs warning us about where this is all headed. As I’ve said before, the idea of, almost literally, handing the sport over to a murderous monarchy which exists outside the reach of any jurisdiction, has zero accountability, a history of not engaging in fair play business practices, and no long-term investment in the sport is absolute madness. It’s almost comical how eager the greedy buggers are to sign themselves up for something that will, ultimately, drive them out of business.
Think of the Saudis as the Vince McMahon of boxing. For the wrestling fans among us, they’ll know McMahon as the owner of the then-WWF who gobbled up all the best talent from the various old school pro-wrestling territories in the 80’s and finagled TV deals in key markets across the nation to showcase his own product, eventually running all of the other promotions out of business.
The difference between the Saudis in boxing and McMahon in wrestling is that boxing promoters are handing over their best talent, voluntarily, to build the Saudi sports efforts. But the end result will be the same because, as the Saudis gain more power and establish their own league, organizational infrastructure, and even their own championships, they won’t need these Western suits and their drained promotions anymore. Expect the Saudis to then sign fighters to exclusive deals directly, perhaps “allowing” them to fight in their home countries for the smaller fights that build towards the big events in Saudi Arabia. Bringing in a shit-head middleman like the UFC’s Dana White, who wouldn’t care one bit about screwing the fighters and forcing them into management-friendly contracts, would then be the perfect move to keep tabs on the day-to-day details of the Saudi plan. White, by his own admission, by the way, appears set to finally take his deep dive into boxing. The timing of this decision should not be seen as a coincidence.
And if this all sounds like conspiracy theory fodder, you really should look into the history of the Saudis’ point man in their sports and entertainment sportswashing efforts, Turki Alalshikh.
Alalshikh has a long history of swooping in to TAKE teams and industries and not to share, enhance, or make for a better future. In a recent interview with Brunch Boxing, Egyptian journalist and blogger, Wael Abbas, who is very familiar with Alalshikh and his ways, paints a very unflattering picture of the wannabe king of boxing. He describes Turki as a power freak with a petty vindictive streak who throws money at vanity projects and then tries to use his power and leverage to erase those who don’t fall in line. Abbas would go on to cite examples of Alalshikh’s damaging efforts to buy up Egyptian soccer teams and even the case of a pop singer, romantically linked to Alalshikh, who fell out of favor with the Saudi and then suddenly disappeared from the public eye as her entire music catalog was scrubbed from streaming services.
Alalshikh has already shown some signs of temper tantrums aimed at fighters and other boxing entities who don’t respond favorably to his whims.
– Kudos to the few media people who are FINALLY sounding alarms about Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing efforts and Turki Alalshikh’s many red flags– well after plans are already in motion. Better late than never, I suppose– but maybe intentionally “late” as these media people realized that none of that sweet, sweet Turki money was going to be coming their way.
Personally, I’ve been sounding the alarms almost from day one. But, of course, I am me…persona non grata among the media establishment. More on that next…
– Indulge me for a second while I vent on a personal level.
I was among the first to raise red flags about Alalshikh and the Saudis and, as is usually the case, some in the media jump in way after the fact, talk about how media has been silent, and don’t even mention my name as the voice that helped spark the dialogue. It’s really shitty behavior. Either they are petty jackasses who are intentionally freezing me out of the picture or they’re absolute shit heads who live and work inside an echo chamber and only read BWAA-approved pablum. Either way, it speaks poorly of these people.
It’s not like I’m an attention whore, believe me. I’m fine with being in the background as an outsider, but it would be nice for my existence to be acknowledged and to get even a crumb of credit for some of the stuff I’ve put out there that suddenly just happens to find its way into some big shot’s article. Disregarding all modesty, I’ve been right A LOT about a lot of things, dating back to one of my first boxing media assertions that something had to be up with either Antonio Margarito’s gloves or wraps.
I know my shit when it comes to this boxing business and I can write better than most of these people. I’m certainly braver than almost all of them. My unforgivable boxing writing sin was in holding fellow media accountable for their words and actions/inactions…and I don’t apologize for that one bit. I hold myself just as accountable. This media doesn’t have the stomach for conducting its business the way it needs to be conducted. And that’s why everyone dependent upon a strong media fighting the good fight– fighters, fans, trainers– suffers in the end, even if they don’t realize why media is important to keeping the sport healthy.
But, you know what? I have a family, too. And that “let’s ignore the mean guy” routine hits my family hard financially because, in this business, awareness = revenue.
Just give me that respect of telling people where you got your ideas. You can keep your gigs at the major sites, which are fully paid-for by boxing companies and structured as seedy promotion-as-news arrangements (Hello, Ring Magazine!). Keep your memberships to your fraternal orders and secret rankings societies. I just want my credit. I don’t ask for anything other than that. You shouldn’t have to “like” someone to credit them.
Ahem, okay. I know, good luck winning over the hearts and minds of people who have neither.
– And, speaking of media…
Last week, we saw two wildly different stories about David Benavidez and his next fight, with some saying that he would be facing Jesse Hart next and others insisting that David Morrell would be his next opponent. Both stories used “insider sources” to come to those very different conclusions. Don’t look at me to find clarity. Most of my sources have cut me off and insiders wouldn’t give me directions to the bathroom if I were bursting with explosive diarrhea. Hell, some of these boxing companies don’t even send me press releases anymore. It turns out that boxing people don’t process truth very well. Go figure.
But what about all these boxing media insiders who have all the hook-ups and sources– the ones turning all the tricks for the scoops? Get your shit straight, guys.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com
