It’s been nearly a year since the first edition of grading the promoters. A lot has changed in the professional boxing landscape since May 2010, so it’s probably time we gave the promoters some new report cards.
Promoters aren’t the nicest kids on the block, but they’re a big part of how the sport functions. So I reckon this is a worthwhile exercise. As before, remember that the smaller promoters might seem to be better just because they don’t have the same number of opportunities to be terrible as Bob Arum and Golden Boy.
(Bob Arum showing you where to shove it.)
The two tests that I used back then were:
1 – If I was a 19-year-old prospect, would I want to sign with promoter X, based on how they handle their fighters?
2- How good has promoter X been for the sport of boxing recently?
And I reckon they still work, so lets get to it.
DON KING/DON KING PRODUCTIONS
As noted last time, King’s heyday is long gone. Nevertheless, many boxing writers seem to have had change of heart about the old guy recently. I’d suggest that this is probably a matter of perception, rather than an actual change. The dude is still a snake, albeit an interesting one with great hair.
(No caption necessary.)
Fighters
Devon Alexander, Joseph Agbeko, Ricardo Mayorga
Good for Fighters?
King may have improved a little on this front. That thing he does where he leaves guys to rot on the shelf and ruins their careers, he seems to do that a bit less now. Devon Alexander and Joseph Agbeko, probably his two biggest guys, have both been pretty active in the last year. Nevertheless, it’s hard to forget that he ruined Nate Campbell’s career and nearly did the same to Steve Cunningham. If I was a prospect, the combination of his lack of clout, his few shows and his track record of alleged theft would have alarm bells ringing anyway.
Previous Grade: F
This Time: E
Good For Boxing?
I said last time that friends who know nothing about boxing come up to me and tell me that King was once a gangster and a pimp. That’s not a good thing. The aforementioned alleged stealing thing isn’t very nice either. Perhaps last time I didn’t pay due attention to the fact King is an icon and a recognisable face to the non boxing public. I don’t think that makes up for everything else though. Nor is he more a “real promoter” than anyone else in the game. That illogical sentiment clearly comes from a combination of nostalgia, anti GBP backlash and wishful thinking about Floyd Mayweather.
Previous Grade: D
This Time: D
Overall
Last time I said Don King is the worst of a bad bunch. He’s still the worst, but due to his improvement and others’ failures, the gap is slightly smaller.
Overall – E-
GARY SHAW/GARY SHAW PRODUCTIONS
Perception of Shaw has definitely changed over the year. The tracksuited one has taken a plunge in the court of public opinion. Justified? Lets find out.
Fighters
Chad Dawson, Timothy Bradley, Andre Dirrell, Rafa Marquez, Alfredo Angulo, Vic Darchinyan
Good for Fighters?
Last time, I said that if I were a young fighter with confidence, I’d go with Shaw because he’s not afraid to throw his boys in tough. I stick by that. Tim Bradley has risen to the top of the sport by taking on guys that no-one thought he could beat, and then by fighting the toughest names he could lay a glove on. The Fight Camp 360 doco series makes it easy to believe that Shaw is just a big teddy bear at heart, too. He doesn’t dominate Shobox as much as he once did, but it’d be a handy hook up if you were a young up and comer.
Grade: B
Good for Boxing?
The knock on Shaw at this point is that he’s just a “packager.” That is, he doesn’t do enough to create local attractions out of his guys, and is inclined to put fights in stupid places, just for the site fee. Bradley probably should be bigger than he is; the guy doesn’t have the most pleasing style, but he’s young, American and not exactly boring. Obviously, putting Alexander/Bradley in a giant fridge in front of only 6,000 people, most of whom probably did not buy tickets, wasn’t the best idea. Nevertheless, Shaw isn’t the only guy who does this.
Still, you can’t really complain about a guy who puts his boys into tough, testing fights. The lack of those fights is one of the major gripes that fans have with the sport. The roadblock that he put up between Vic Darchinyan and Nonito Donaire for so long isn’t really an issue anymore. No one’s asking for that fight, because it’s pretty safe to say that Darchinyan would get decapitated again.
Previous Grade: B-
Grade: C-
Overall
He doesn’t do enough to create attractions out of his fighters, which is really one of a promoter’s main jobs. Still, he does let his guys fight the best. Slight downgrade.
Grade: C
BOB ARUM/TOP RANK
One year ago, I described Bob Arum as hardcore fans’ “scumbag of choice.” That characterisation is no longer accurate, if it ever was. Arum still does a lot of really bad things, but it seems that his stocks are on the up.
Fighters
Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Juan Manuel Lopez and many, many others
Good for Fighters?
As ever, a mixed bag. People say that Arum is the master of creating stars and letting fights “marinate.” It’s true, the guy has been doing it since before the dinosaurs, to borrow Richard Schaefer’s awkward trash talk terminology. Of all the truly huge names in recent boxing history, almost all have been Arum guys to start with, from Oscar to Manny to Floyd.
On the downside, he often lets those fights marinate for way too long. Justin Bieber will be in rehab by the time Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa fight (though on second thought, that might not be too long). Nonito Donaire vs. anyone substantial took far too long to happen, and when it did it was because Donaire was freaking out publicly.
Additionally, the Bobfather is working almost exclusively in-house these days. It’s a sad situation, but as a prospect you’d have to consider if Bob had anybody good close to your weight. If not, you might not be in a significant fight for a long, long time.
Previous Grade: C
This Time: C+
Good for Boxing?
Before I get into the good stuff that Arum gets right, let me say that he’s still the “rat fink” that Don King once described him as. He’s still acts incredibly bitchy and immature. Before the recent Nonito Donaire hubub, it seemed that it was Arum’s stubbornness that was the main contributor to the GBP/Top Rank feud. That only happened because Arum was milking Donaire for all he was worth against lesser opponents — just like he’s doing with Gamboa and Lopez. Not to forget, he’s still the guy that told fans to go fuck themselves and called mixed martial arts fans skinheads and homosexuals. For all the talk of him being more fan friendly recently, he’s still put Manny Pacquiao, the sports biggest star, in with a series of lacklustre opponents.
On the other hand, he can be a hell of a promoter. He’s proved that he can successfully go out on his own and create successful events without HBO, whose influence over the sport is, at times, of questionable benefit. He managed to make a fairly compelling event out of, Pacquiao/Margarito, a fight that made most people spew a little in their mouths when it was announced. He’ll do the same thing with Cotto/Margarito II when it comes time for that fight. Just when you want to hate him, he pulls a rabbit out of a hat (or his arse). The CBS/Showtime deal was the ultimate arse-rabbit. There’s virtually no disputing that it’s good for boxing and that it will increase the audience for the sport’s biggest showcase, Pacquiao. Arum’s also the bloke that made headlines by putting boxing back into big stadiums.
Previous Grade: D
This Time: C-
Overall
Arum has been on a bit of a tear up lately thanks to successful promotions and the Showtime/CBS deal. So he gets a bump since last time. Still, let’s not forget what the guy does so very wrong.
Grade: C
OSCAR DE LA HOYA/GOLDEN BOY PROMOTIONS
Golden Boy are the other big kid in the playground. When Oscar De La Hoya and Co. came onto the boxing scene, they promoted themselves as a cure for boxing’s woes. You’re setting yourself up for criticism by acting like that, and the gap between their rhetoric and their actions have seen Golden Boy’s stock plummet with fans, even since the last edition of Grading the Promoters, when they were already pretty low.
(We always do pads dressed like this.)
Fighters (and Partners)
Bernard Hopkins (p), James Kirkland, Juan Manuel Marquez (p), Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana Abner Mares, Nonito Donaire (pending legal action), Floyd Mayweather (kind of)… and many many more
Good for Fighters?
The way I see it, GBP is learning on the job. People say that they don’t build talent like Arum, they just steal it. People need to chill the F out. Building talent takes time. Spotting and growing it takes experience. Top Rank have a lot of that, Golden Boy don’t. Golden Boy didn’t even exist when Top Rank’s big stars, Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao, were having their first fights in the pros. I’d expect to see more and more Golden Boy-grown guys like Abner Mares coming through in the next few years.
Whether GBP is good to the guys that are under its care is open for debate. Something shifty may have happened in the aftermath of Amir Khan vs Paulie Malignaggi in NY. A lack of transparency about how boxers are paid is good for neither fans nor fighters. Moreover, the “owned by fighters, for fighters” rationale Golden Boy once had seems to be slipping a little. Shane Mosley left the company somewhat acrimoniously, though that was due largely to his desire to fight Pacquiao. Juan Manuel Marquez seems likely to do the same and Bernard Hopkins has had some things to say (as he usually does).
As with Arum, if you were a prospect, you’d have to check what roster of fighters GBP had close to your weight class. Because if the best guys were with Top Rank, sorry buddy. That was probably part of Nonito Donaire’s thinking, knowing that his chances of being able to unify the division were slim if he stayed with Top Rank. At least Golden Boy does more big fights with the other promoters.
Previous Grade: B-
This Time: C-
Good for Boxing?
Last time, I began by saying that I believe that Golden Boy tries to be good, but are kinda cursed by things like Kirkland’s gun obsession, Victor Ortiz’ quitting and various upsets. I’m not sure that I can say that today. What’s certain is that they haven’t used whatever output deal they have with HBO to put on the best fights. Their other outlets, Fight Night Club and Solo Boxeo Tecate, are about as close as you can come to seeing live executions on TV these days, unless you live in Iraq. They’ve also managed to get dragged down into the mire of traditional boxing trash talk and catfighting, despite Richard Schaefer’s previously mentioned lack of skill in such matters.
I’m not one who thought that Oscar stating that GBP’s ambition was to become the sole major promoter was a particularly big deal. All the promoters would love that; Oscar’s just the only one silly enough to say it out loud. The way that GBP has aggressively gone after all free agents (and some not-so-free agents) certainly hasn’t endeared the company to other promoters. In the end, that probably isn’t good for boxing. Until the Donaire affair, Golden Boy seemed more open than Top Rank to ending their feud. Still, they probably deserve more of the guilt for kicking it off, with De La Hoya’s scurrilous insinuation that Manny Pacquiao might be on drugs. Nor has Golden Boy’s control of Ring Magazine and its website been a positive. While they tend to do quite a good job with handling the conflict of interest, there have been disturbing signs of late, and it’s hardly a good thing that the sport’s most powerful promoter owns its most trusted news outlet.
For all the bad, Golden Boy do a lot of good too. Despite the complaints about the quality of their deal with HBO, they managed to put two Fight of the Year candidates on the network last year, in Marquez/Katsidis and Khan/Maidana. They are trying to build a huge stable of prospects and, despite the HBO dates thing, are trying to promote in interesting ways, like making Fight Night Club free online. Oscar’s Twitter feed is pretty consistently entertaining, if not always for the right reasons. They’re moving into the East Coast and they do genuinely want to grow the sport.
Previous Grade: C
This Time: C-
Overall
Since its inception, Golden Boy has been a bit of a disappointment, mainly because of the high bar that they set for themselves. They do do a lot of things wrong, but they do some stuff right too. Top Rank and Golden Boy get similar grades, and neither of them are at the top of the class.
Grade: C
DAN GOOSSEN/GOOSSEN-TUTOR
Goossen’s mainly a West Coast guy, even though he’s got Paul Williams and Eddie Chambers. I just love that he used to promote Mr. T. His promotion company is pretty straight up, though they seem to have recently lost Beibut Shumenov for some reason or other.
Fighters
Paul Williams, Cris Arreola, Andre Ward, Eddie Chambers
Good for Fighters?
As I stated in the last edition, Goossen doesn’t quite have the personality of the other smaller promoters, Shaw and DiBella. There’s not much you can really say. Ward is a huge draw in Oakland, but considering he was a rare Olympic gold medallist and local boy, Goossen didn’t really have to do much to set that up. Paul Williams has been an HBO favourite, but under the Unified HBO-Golden Boy-Al Haymon Conspiracy Theory of Boxing, that’s all down to Al Haymon. What is for certain is that the guy couldn’t sell out the space under an umbrella in the pouring rain. Goossen’s fault? Maybe.
Previous Grade: B
This Time: B-
Good for Boxing?
Again, not all that much to say. It’s not really his fault that his heavyweight stable, including Tony Thompson, Chris Arreola and Eddie Chambers, have all been starched by Klitschko’s in typical Klitschko fights. That’s just heavyweight boxing these days. Pretty neutral.
Previous Grade: B
This Time: B
Overall
In reality, Goossen Tutor is probably one of the best promotional firms, it’s just smaller, so there’s not as much to say.
Grade: B
LOU DIBELLA/DIBELLA ENTERTAINMENT
DiBella, the former boss at HBO Sports, gets a lot of love in boxing circles. He’s a straight talker (when he wants to be) and genuinely seems to care for the welfare of his fighters. That said, I’ve come to realise that there’s a bit more to “St Lou” than meets the eye.
(The number of fighters that will be alive after Martinez/Manfredo Jr.)
Fighters
Sergio Martinez, Andre Berto, Allan Green, Glen Johnson, Kermit Cintron, Andy Lee
Good for Fighters?
Yeah, it’s hard not to like DiBella’s attitude to his fighters. He really does care. He split with Jermain Taylor because he thought the guys career was over. When Paulie Malignaggi, who Dibella built up despite his limitations, left him for Golden Boy, Lou looked like he was about to cry. He’s even spoken about the need for a health plan for boxers. On the other hand, his Broadway Boxing shows often feature as bad mismatches as the oft-mentioned Golden Boy executions, and he’ll definitely lose respect if the disgusting plan to sacrifice Peter Manfredo Jr to Sergio Martinez goes through. Whether he can build attractions is up for question as well. Andre Berto is under the same empty umbrella as Paul Williams.
Previous Grade: A
This Time: B
Good for Boxing?
DiBella is often a voice of reason in an unreasonable sport, though that generally seems to be when things aren’t going his way. The Manfredo Jr./Martinez proposal still can’t help but turn me off a bit. He’s created something of a star in Sergio Martinez, but it’ll be a few fights until we know if he can really cross over to the big time. The conspiracy theory states that it’s Al Haymon who’s had Andre Berto in against so many bums on HBO, but maybe we can put that down to DiBella a little bit too. I still like the guy though.
Previous Grade: A
This Time: B
Overall
Not quite at the top of the class and whiter than white like he once was, DiBella is still one of the best of a bad bunch.
Grade: B
A Quick Note on Duva/Main Event
Kathy Duva and Main Event promotions have got a whole lot of love from sections of the boxing media recently for going back to “old school” promoting, based on selling seats, not TV rights. I don’t really think that their stable of prospects, Zab Judah and Tomasz Adamek are big enough to warrant a full analysis, but I will say that I’ll believe the rhetoric once they actually build an attraction themselves. Good on them for the idea, but a cat dressed as a hot dog could probably sell out Adamek shows in New Jersey.
And there you go. Report cards filed for this year. You couldn’t say that they’re all conscientious students, nor that they apply themselves to their studies or get an A for effort, but the promoting landscape has certainly changed in a year.
