Awww, remember when these two were pals for about 30 seconds after they first fought? Super middleweights Carl Froch (left) and George Groves (right) have done nothing but squabble since then, from whether there would be a rematch to the financial terms to awkward in-person confrontations to arguing over which referee and judges would officiate. It’s gotten wacky, with even a Polish judge being dismissed. Apparently it’s all been settled — just don’t count on it. (photo via HBO/Matchroom Boxing)
There are other squabbles of eye-rolling consequence to discuss, like the crew of Floyd Mayweather having some kind of scuffle with rapper T.I. in Fatburger — naturally — and some good developments, possibly, too. And that’s only what’s in the headline. More awaits you just below…
Quick Jabs
Remember when 50 Cent promoted boxers? Never thought I’d say this, but… keep your day job, Fitty.
So the Mayweather-T.I. thing is just dumb as hell. It doesn’t seem like a damn thing really happened, outside of some chairs being flung about, judging by everybody’s faces being undinged. I just adore that Mayweather’s personal ethic is such that it would be “disrespectful” to sleep with T.I.’s wife, but it’s not disrespectful to talk about one’s ex-fiance’s abortion publicly; it’s well within the bounds of taste to show off your glorious mansion via the Internet to troops in war zones; it’s not worthy of an apology to call Manny Pacquiao a faggot; and hell, it’s even fine to (allegedly) try to bang a different rapper’s girlfriend. A man has to stand for something!…
Details are sketchy, but FightHype is citing multiple sources: CBS Sports Network might be putting together regular boxing cards soon. Much was made of CBS’ synergy with Showtime as an edge over HBO and Time Warner, but beyond some promotional content and one boxing card airing on the network, nothing has been happening. And we still wouldn’t be getting any regular programming on CBS proper, that we know of yet, unless they did something similar to what NBC Sports Network does with NBC, taking on periodic cards. The main fear would be that the shows would be of poor caliber, if CBS doesn’t invest much cash in them. You could also do some speculating, if you had a hankering, about what it would mean if Al Haymon’s stable appeared on the network…
The most recent big time experiment with boxing on non-subscription cable, the Bermane Stiverne-Chris Arreola heavyweight rematch that aired on ESPN, came in around 1 million viewers. Lots of reporters have suggested ESPN is happy with the figure. It’s a touch on the disappointing side, I’d argue. It’s nice that it was the highest rated boxing show on ESPN since 2003, and the third highest any ESPN network since 2001, but the former kind of speaks to how little boxing ESPN (rather than ESPN2) has aired. With as many homes as ESPN is in, with as worthwhile as the fight was, it would’ve been nice to see it outdo a routine HBO headliner. Still, all that matters is ESPN being happy. If they keep airing more boxing, as they suggested they might — and if they put a bit more oomph into the promotion — it’ll be good for the sport…
Speaking of HBO ratings: They got a good figure out of Juan Manuel Marquez-Mike Alvarado, 1.2 million viewers per Nielsen, the second biggest tally of 2014 so far according to HBO. I said on Twitter the number was “unexceptional,” but that’s misleading — the truly exceptional boxing ratings are the ones that go over 1.5 million or so in the last few years, so technically it was true. Marquez-Alvarado offered a nice number relative to most boxing ratings these days…
Here’s a knockout from that night that should be filed under “possible Knockout of the Year candidate.”
HBO’s outside-the-ring boxing programming has been killing it of late, too. The “2 Days” series is simply gorgeous, and combined with a great subject — junior welterweight man of the people Ruslan Provodnikov — the most recent episode is the best installment yet. The 2 Days for middleweight champion Sergio Martinez to accompany his upcoming bout with Miguel Cotto was solid. The Face Off for Martinez-Cotto was watchable, if a little annoying, with Martinez getting all fussy about how disrespected he felt while trying to call Cotto a “diva”…
Too bad about the undercard for Martinez-Cotto, though. It already was no good. Reasonable fans can debate whether the departure of junior middleweight Yuri Foreman from the card — owing to a retirement that he blamed on signing a bad contract he couldn’t get free of — is an improvement or a downgrade…
This report on a report about failings in the California commission’s care of boxers is important reading. It’s a little complicated, but it’s an issue to keep an eye on going forward…
Snooki Boxing is, apparently, still a thing, but it just lost its biggest name — featherweight Patrick Hyland, not a terribly big name to start, although a respectable fighter — to promoter Lou DiBella…
I didn’t catch the entire boxing broadcasting performance of legendary WWE commentator Jim Ross on Fox Sports 1 this week, and missed some of his missteps that others pointed out, but he at least did OK by my ear for someone who was making his debut…
Congratulations to former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko becoming mayor of Kiev. His country will need some of the resolve he brought to the ring.
