So…um…American boxing? How’s selling out to the Saudis working out for you so far?
I’ll answer that for ya.
Not so great.
It really shouldn’t be much of a shocker. It kind of never works for the big picture when you grab at quick cash without the slightest consideration of the big picture. It’s similar to the premise behind why you don’t let your pre-schooler plan your family’s meals. It would only take one dinner of cotton candy, cheddar cheese Goldfish, and Tang before you realize why there needs to be an adult making adult decisions about important stuff.
Except boxing, clearly, has very few adults in its proverbial room.
Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, hasn’t had any big shows in the United States since their “partnership” with the Saudis was first announced in July [Vergil Ortiz vs. Serhii Bohachuk, August 10, was already on the schedule prior to the Saudi deal]. Their only big card from that point until some undisclosed time next year was the November 16 Latino Night card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which took place in the middle of the American day and was hosted in, as I said previously– “a sterile, lifeless arena that has about as much energy as a college Humanities 101 lecture hall.” It was a good card that would’ve rocked any arena in California, Arizona, or Texas. Instead, it was just sort of there, as empty paychecks that did nothing to build the career momentum of fighters who have their entire fan bases in the Americas.
At least Golden Boy, though, is getting empty paychecks.
Top Rank has mostly been treading water for much of the last year or two and their announced “partnership” with the Saudis, also in July, hasn’t changed a thing about that. Well, that’s not entirely true. It got their heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson beaten and humiliated via five-round KO versus Martin Bakole in a bout they opposed, but had to sit back and allow since Saudi boxing figurehead Turki Alalshikh had personally “matchmaked” the bout, circumventing law and Top Rank’s binding contract with Anderson to do so. They also had to watch their top remaining talent, Shakur Stevenson, walk away from them and into the hands of Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, who got the drop on signing the WBC lightweight champ because of his close connection to Saudi money sources.
With two of the major players in mapping boxing’s future in the US playing with Saudi coins in the sandbox (and a third– PBC– playing with their toes outside the sandbox), what hope is there for any sort of future?
The fact that the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson show will go down as the only major American-promoted boxing card between June and February of next year is downright damning. And you’d hope it would also be eye-opening.
Some fighters jumping at the Turki bucks are making out well. And who can blame a fighter for grabbing at the best deal made available to him? For the fighters, there generally is no big picture. With no future guaranteed to them, they have to grab at money now and let others worry about the broader future for the sport.
But even for the American fighters leaping at the chance to work for foreign interests, there are more and more question marks popping up over whether they’ve made the right decision.
Terence Crawford is the poster boy for leasing oneself out to Saudi Arabia. He is the boxing apple of Turki’s eye and the crown jewel in the Crown Prince’s plan when it comes to the acquisition of elite-level American boxing talent.
The overly fat payout for a “meh” bout with Israil Madrimov on the first-ever Saudi card in the United States, August 3, did nothing for his career and did nothing to advance any sort of storyline, except the one where he’s still pining away for one particular big fight to the exclusion of caring about anything else at all. By all accounts, even Turki’s, Crawford only wants to fight Canelo Alvarez next and isn’t interested in a bout with anyone else.
Jaron Ennis signed with Eddie Hearn, starry-eyed with the idea that a promoter, sitting at the crossroads of DAZN billionaire money and ridiculous Saudi oil money, would be motoring his ascension to superstar level. Thus far, he’s been in a showy Philadelphia homecoming against David Avanesyan and a not-so-showy Philly return against Karen Chukhadzhian. Even a Hearn/Saudi/DAZN alliance can’t get him a big fight– unless it’s, maybe, possibly, buried on a Saudi undercard in Riyadh.
Shakur Stevenson also signed with Hearn, working under the premise that Hearn’s closeness to the Saudis would get him big paydays to go along with big exposure and legacy fights galore. So far, injury pulled him from one fight date, a Willim Zepeda withdrawal will keep him from another, and a questionable stab at landing a bout with 22-year-old prospect Floyd Schofield will lead to nothing. Even if he finds an opponent for his February 22 date in Riyadh, he still would’ve wasted the first six months of his Hearn/Matchroom deal waiting on a Saudi undercard slot where he’ll be playing to fans who couldn’t care less about his presence there.
So, really, all is not gold for these American fighters who have drifted over to the Saudi side. There are the quick, hefty payoffs for some. But if the goal is next-level stardom, the only path to that is inside the US and with boxing companies not tied into tossing their every asset into spray-sportswashing the blood off Saudi streets.
Having fighters tied to foreign interests, though, HAS taken that talent from the American scene, creating a significant void and siphoning away energy. That’s not exactly great for a scene that was already burying itself in doldrums.
But don’t tell any of this to the fans who’ve been fully sold on the Saudi boxing takeover by a boxing media that’s been lustfully, dutifully turning tricks for Turki like fetish hookers at the Republican National Convention.
To the easily-convinced types, having “all these good fights” is “saving” boxing, even if the fights are ones nobody can really attend or access at a convenient time or in an enjoyable presentation. And even if they, themselves (as numbers clearly suggest), aren’t actually purchasing these boxing-saving events from “His Excellency.”
For the cynical dark comedian in me, all of this gives me a good chuckle.
These boxing business people are putting themselves out of business and the fans are cheering on product being put out of their reach. If that ain’t raging boxing logic, I don’t know what is. Circumstances may change, but boxing’s attraction to self-destruction rages on.
Got something for Paul? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com
