The USA has been the home of professional boxing for almost as long as it’s existed (forget that marquess chap for whom this website is named). Things are changing though. Like some kind of bizarro manifest destiny, the heart of boxing now seems to be moving inexorably eastwards.
In May, TQBR ran a piece called Grading The Boxing Promoters. What it should have been called was “Grading The American Boxing Promoters.” Here to set the record straight and get one back for the other side of the pond is Grading the Promoters — Eurovision edition. I (Alex) tagged in the invaluable Andrew Harrison to do what he does best — the British side of things.
As before, we worked on two, sometimes contradictory, criteria: whether a promoter is good to their boxers and whether they’re good for the sport as a whole. Then we took those two marks and very unmathematically aggregated them into an overall grade. Let the judgement begin!
FRANK WARREN/FRANK WARREN PROMOTIONS
Formerly Sports Network Limited until Joe Calzaghe burned down the house after a High Court writ over unpaid earnings from the Bernard Hopkins fight, Warren reloaded under the imaginatively titled Frank Warren Promotions.
Fighters
Nathan Cleverly, Kevin Mitchell, James DeGale, Kell Brook, Frankie Gavin, Dereck Chisora
Good for Boxers?
History would inform us that yes — but with an asterisk. Warren has handled just about everybody who was anybody in British boxing over the last quarter century and more often than not, he’s landed them a big fight at some point along the way. Trouble is, he’s quite happy for his flock to snaffle an alphabet title then sit on it by embarking upon a series of winnable defences, using such “title fights” to prop up his promotions. Real bouts against the division’s top brass are usually delayed until said titlist reaches the end of their maturity stage, which has seen a procession of stars fly the coup of late.
Warren’s preferred alphabet gang is the Puerto Rico-based WBO and his nifty trick these days is to position his steeds in an interim title holder position, priming them for championship status should the holder decide to move on to bigger and better things (or maybe land in clink in the case of Juergen Braehmer). His rebuild of Amir Khan was particularly skillful.
Grade: B+
Good For Boxing?
This one’s tricky. Without Warren, UK fight fans would be feeding off scraps in terms of television coverage, he’s a very fine promoter. On the flipside his weekly column is a regular black eye for the sport with misinformation and hyperbole abound and his penchant for matching his world titlists in meaningless defences does little for the sport.
Grade: B-
Overall
Warren remains the daddy in the UK; when a fighter turns over to the pros it’s still with Frank that they hope to sign.
Grade: B
MICK HENNESSY/HENNESSY SPORTS
Hennessy is the relative newbie on the UK scene, yet after forging a quality stable of fighters has ran into real difficulties.
Fighters
Carl Froch, John Murray, Darren Barker, Tyson Fury, John O’Donnell, Junior Witter
Good for Boxers?
This feels a tad like picking the wings of a butterfly, grading a guy who’s had the proverbial proverbial kicked out of him since his agreement with ITV4 went up in smoke at the end of last year. A promoter without a TV contract since, he’s been about as much use to his charges as a Paulie Malignaggi haymaker. John Murray is in stasis whilst Froch has been fighting in obscurity and forfeited home advantage to Arthur Abraham after Mick put his trust in a Sauerland handshake. Fury can’t find a sparring partner and Barker doesn’t yet have the profile of one. If we’re talking about recently, then no, he’s been bloody awful.
He’s also yet to as much as cough in those staged Fight Camp 360 promoter gatherings, which pegs him as a guy not altogether comfortable in locking horns with the big guns.
Grade: F
Good For Boxing?
If Mick can land a significant TV contract (and there are rumours abound that he may have done just that) then the answer could change dramatically. His willingness to plunge his cash cow Froch into the Super Six tourney showed guts, as did his decision to plunge Fury straight into the deep end. Unless he manages to resurrect his fortunes pretty sharpish though, then it’s difficult to offer much praise; I mean what good is a promoter who can’t promote?
Grade: F
Overall
Hennessy’s a busted flush right now but he’s in the right sport for improbable comebacks.
Grade: F
FRANK MALONEY/MALONEY PROMOTIONS
Failed jockey, former mayoral candidate, described by Don King as a “mental midget” and a promoter fond of deliberately misspelling fight posters, Maloney is nothing if not colourful. He’s Sky TV’s other main feeder alongside Warren.
Fighters
Rendall Munroe, Jason Booth, Tony Jeffries, Stuart Hall, Jamie McDonnell, Gary Sykes.
Good for Boxers?
Maloney puts on a mean small hall show and will look to sell a card in a fighter’s back yard rather than monopolising a major venue and forcing fans to travel. Despite this, one can’t help but recall the problems he encountered when steering the career of his biggest project to date, former heavyweight kingpin Lennox Lewis. Quite how much of those troubles can be laid at the door of Maloney is tricky to compute; however, selling a British heavyweight who could fight should have been a cake walk.
On the flip side, the double EBU promoter of the year has landed Munroe and Booth title shots and promoted the pair fantastically well. He also cared so much about his fighter John McDermott getting the high hat against Tyson Fury (first time around) that he had a heart attack at ringside. That’s what I call loyalty.
Grade: B
Good For Boxing?
Back when he was renowned for being a “Pugilistic Pygmy” in a gaudy Union Jack suit, he often came across as a guy punching above his weight on the world promotional scene. Now he’s a vital force on the UK and European fight circuit, building fighters cannily before bringing them title fights and fairytale nights. He can be prone to courting controversy and isn’t adverse to laying his boot into the sport if one of his guys finds themselves wronged somehow but, anyone who challenges BNP leader Nick Griffin to a boxing match is alright by me.
Grade: C
Overall
With Warren around, Maloney rarely gets first dibs on Britain’s best young fighters yet he’s proven a master at maximising talent.
Grade: C+
SAUERLAND
Sauerland Event (that’s right, no plural — as euro as you can get) is the giant of German (and European) boxing promotion. Wilfried is the boss, with son Kalle playing the Salacious Crumb to his Jabba the Hutt. Big Wily can certainly take some of the share of credit for the huge boxing revival in Germany.
Fighters
Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Alexander Povetkin, Sebastian Sylvester, Nicolai Valuev
Good for Boxers?
Imagine you’re an up and coming boxer. You want huge exposure on network TV, to fight in front of sold out arenas and the opportunity to fight the best opponents. You’re joking right?
Not in Germany. Thanks to the model Wilfried pioneered through the 90’s, Sauerland can offer all those things to their prospects. If an American promoter could offer anything near that, they’d have the market cornered. If Fight Camp 360 is anything to go by, Sauerland and son also seem to be genuinely chummy with their charges.
Grade: A
Good for Boxing?
When the wall came down, Sauerland used products of the East German amateur program to get boxing on network TV in Germany. It’s stayed there ever since, though there is some question as to how long that model can continue. It might have been a condition set by their TV partner, but all Sauerland events are Olympic-style drug tested, and that aint a bad thing. Furthermore, Sauerland has supported the Super Six with two fighters, which was a great idea, at least in theory. On the flipside, there’s always been a lingering question about judging in Germany, especially Sauerland judging. In England they’re still cut up about Sven Ottke/Robin Reid and in Australia we weren’t fans of Markus Beyer/Danny Green I. Nevertheless, home cooking has a similar flavour all over the world — and I for one am not convinced that it’s worse in Berlin than in Oakland, Nottingham or Beunos Aires.
Grade: B –
Overall
Especially by the standards of American promoters, Sauerland hits it out of the park – with only a few minor issues.
Grade: B
UNIVERSUM
For a long time, Universum was the other giant of German boxing. But after their TV deal fell through earlier this year, they were nearly bankrupted and lost a slew of fighters. They’ve soldiered on nonetheless, and are doing some innovative things.
Fighters
Marcos Maidana, Dennis Boystov, Alexander Dimitrenko, Ruslan Chagaev
Good for Boxers?
It’s fair to say that you’d think twice about signing with Universum if you were an up and comer. It’s not that they’ve been bad to others in the past, but their financial turmoil would be a bit disconcerting. They’ve lost a bunch of fighters, including Gennadi Golovkin, Felix Sturm and Zsolt Erdei — not always on good terms. They can no longer offer their boxers guaranteed TV exposure, but they have been doing some interesting alternative media stuff. Universum also have a good track record of building prospects up, though sometimes that has come with the criticism that they put them in soft.
Grade: C
Good for Boxing?
The soft opposition certainly isn’t good for the sport. Golovkin, Erdei, Sturm and Sergiy Dzinziruk all could have fought better opposition over the course of their ongoing careers. The criticism of judging in Germany also extends to Universum, though as I said before, I’m not entirely convinced. On the other hand, Universum is doing the boxing world a massive favour by posting all their fights on their YouTube channel the very next day. Their entire archive is up as well! Deciding to forgo a tiny bit of replay rights cash in favour of exposing boxers to a worldwide audience is exactly the kind of forward thinking that is often so lacking in the sport. And they do boxing in 3-D!
Grade: B-
Overall
Universum’s budget problems put it in a funny position, but it’s doing a lot of stuff right.
Grade: C
