Time to go all "admin" for a second, just like a penguin butler: To the left, you'll now notice the list of Transnational Boxing Rankings Board champions. But more importantly for this site, over on the right you'll now see Joseph R. Holzer has joined the staff. He's been doing good stuff for us and now he'll do more of it on a regular basis.
It's a team I'm proud of, for sure. We'll have three of our staffers at the Barclays Center show this weekend, with Jeff Pryor handling the main duties and Karl Greenberg and Mark Ortega filing for some other pubs as well as ours. P.S., we left out of the weekly schedule that Sho Extreme will be airing some of the undercard fights for that show. So you'll be able to see the return of middleweight Daniel Jacobs from cancer, as well as the possibility of a decent scrap between welterweights Luis Collazo and Steve Upsher Chambers — I can't find the complete list of fights that will be broadcast, but FYI.
You may have heard that the main event of that card is in trouble now, so we'll start with that, then move on to the subjects in the headline, as well as a few other subjects in a somewhat short Quick Jabs.
Quick Jabs
Yes, there are "irregularities" in the drug testing of Erik Morales by USADA, and it seems to mean "failed the test." That means his junior welterweight rematch with Danny Garcia might be off, pending the results of a second sample, although indicators are that the fight will go on because the results won't be available until after the fight. I'd have written the preview tonight if this was clear. I hope it's just marijuana or something — obviously Morales hurt himself in the first Garcia fight being doughy and that wouldn't help this time around, but it's a better thought than the idea of a boxing icon like Morales trying to cheat his way to a victory. Alternately, and even better, it's just a botched sample or the like…
Golden Boy has taken to giving away a lot of tickets, including reportedly this weekend, although I've not studied whether it's giving away more than other promoters — I suspect they are based on numbers out there. Excessive giveaways might sound nice but that has downsides, because of the divide between folk who paid and regret it and will now wait for giveaways later, which can drag down boxing's earning potential. With this card being as expensive as it is to put on, it's even worse. I would've thought a card stacked with pretty good if not great fights and New York-based fighters in the new Barclays Center wouldn't have needed such a boost…
Last weekend's fights did pretty well at the gate in terms of total attendance with lower ticket prices, but on TV, both Nonito Donaire-Toshiaki Nishioka and Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado were below average in the ratings department based on available figures via Gallup and Maxboxing's Matthew Paras, despite massive hardcore fan enthusiasm for Rios-Alvarado beforehand. As a main event, Donaire-Nishioka was a good 20 percent below the average live/same day rating for an HBO Boxing After Dark show in 2011 and 2012. Donaire, actually, has demonstrated himself to be a bit of a ratings drag — he's consistently doing some of HBO's worst main event numbers. Rios-Alvarado, meanwhile, was more than 15 percent below the average for 2011 BAD main supporting fights (I don't have all the figures figures for supporting bouts in 2012), falling behind ratings for fights like Tavoris Cloud-Yusaf Mack, Mike Jones-Jesus Soto Karass II and even Mikey Garcia-Rafael Guzman, the last one a fight anticipated by nearly no one. Considering the energy with which a cadre of writers and fans attack the average to sub-average ratings of, say, Sergio Martinez for a few fights, or Timothy Bradley-Devon Alexander, I can't tell if the absence from that cadre of criticism for the ratings of last weekend's card has to do with bias in favor of promoter Top Rank, or an aversion to facts that contradict a specific world view that only brawlers are good for boxing and drawing fans' eyes…
Speaking of Martinez, he's opted for knee surgery, but it apparently won't keep the middleweight champ out TOO long, which is good. Also, Freddie Roach, trainer of Martinez rival Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.says he will quit if Chavez misses another day of training. I'll believe that when I see it, but it would do wonders for Chavez if that happened and do wonders for Roach's rep, which has become one of a guy who is just a bit too loose a displinarian with his fighters…
The Fight Network is comin' to America from up north. That means online Yvonne Michel cards, and Hennessy cards, and other promoters' cards, and even a show hosted by our old friend Corey Erdman. Online first, then onward to cable companies. Nice…
Over in England, things are getting strange. Junior welterweight Amir Khan and his brother recently had to beat up some carjackers wielding a 4×4 — either the car or a piece of wood (OK, a car) — while heavyweight Tyson Fury has been denying saying horrible homophobic things about his domestic rivals and gay people overall. I'm just happy that boxing is a world where carjackers get a little street justice and now saying homophobic things is something you apologize for.
