A general view during a Premier Boxing Champions bout between Keith Thurman and Robert Guerrero in the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 7 in Las Vegas. (Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)
This won’t be quite a “Quick Jabs” column rounding up all the boxing news, so much as a dive into some stories on the two topics in the headline — which, together, happen to have made boxing as visible as it has been in a very long time –along with the occasional bit of commentary.
“Premier Boxing Champions”
- Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner Triumph In Boxing’s Return To NBC. This was by our man Patrick Connor. I agree with all of it. Should I be wondering whether Thurman’s power is as hot as it once looked?
- Free for all. Some guy named “T.S.” from “Washington” wrote this for The Economist. It’s something of a primer for the general reader to this move by Al Haymon, why it’s radical, and some of the risks.
- Haymon Boxing on NBC. $100 million in venture capital, if true, is nothing to sneeze at, and that would mean this could indeed go three to four years without much trouble.
- PBC: Some random thoughts and musings. I agree with most of these critiques. The lack of belts was good, but it would be less than ideal for boxing if Haymon created his own champions and rankings that excluded fighters who weren’t a part of the series. Or, maybe, at all.
- PBC numbers are in; they look good. Worthwhile point on “The Contender,” NBC, and “first live primetime boxing broadcast since 1985” from Dan Rafael.
- PBC Boxing on NBC draws 3.4 million viewers, tops recent UFC on FOX efforts. Noted for the “UFC killed boxing” crowd, but also, perhaps, a warning about how a nice debut might just be a nice debut, and PBC might not get 3.4 mil next time.
- The Ring’s the Thing: Boxing Returns to Broadcast Prime Time. A solid breakdown of the ad sales portion of the PBC experiment, from before the fight.
- As Boxing Returns to Prime Time, Will Ad Dollars Follow? Same as above, despite some errors. Worth noting that Mark Taffett of HBO is praising PBC as a potentially good thing.
Mayweather Pacquiao
- Floyd Mayweather: I asked for this fight, Manny Pacquiao didn’t make it happen. There wasn’t much headline material at the kickoff news conference Wednesday. Just more finger pointing in both directions, which I’d hoped we’d be done with by now.
- Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight Expected To Cost $90-$100 On Pay-Per-View. That’s still speculation, but the $1,500 ticket for a seat at the MGM Grand being the cheapest… wow.
- A blow-by-blow of how Mayweather-Pacquiao became reality. This is a good “tick tock,” as we say in the business, of how the fight came together.
- Mayweather getting aggressive, KOs sparring partner with body shot; Freddie Roach’s ‘pasalubong’ for Pacquiao: A sparring partner out of Mayweather camp. Some of this might be bullshit.
- Who Won the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Suit Battle? I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s amusing to see GQ get in on the act. Expect a lot of this kind of (admittedly, fun) minutia from here until May.
- Freddie Roach Has a Plan — Well, Almost… Biblical scholars who advocate violence! I bet he can find some.
One last thing that straddles both areas: a piece I wrote for Awful Announcing.
