HBO's boxing executives -- namely Ross Greenburg and Kery Davis -- must have really big headaches right about now.
They're having all kinds of problems (an understatement) with a variety of dates and fighters, some of which they brought upon themselves with indecision.
The problems started when the Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams middleweight championship fight, HBO's biggest non-pay-per-view bout of the fall, was postponed from Oct. 3 because of Pavlik's staph infection. With Pavlik on the mend, the bout has been tentatively re-scheduled for Dec. 5, which caused the dominoes to fall.
That move forced Shane Mosley off Dec. 5, when he thought he'd face Andre Berto in a welterweight unification fight or defend against Joshua Clottey at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It turned out that HBO's 2009 budget was too drained to pay for Mosley-Berto, so Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer, Mosley's promoter, and Clottey promoter Top Rank cut a deal for Mosley-Clottey.
It looked like the fight would land on Dec. 26 in Los Angeles. It seemed so sure the fight was happening, Clottey hired veteran trainer Miguel Diaz and made plans to train in Las Vegas instead of his usual base in New York.
Somewhere along the line, HBO got cold feet about going the day after Christmas, which was smart. In more than 30 years of televising boxing, HBO has never done a fight that close to the holiday. In fact, it purposely avoids the holiday week, as it should.
So with Dec. 26 out the window, HBO is trying to persuade Mosley to move to Jan. 30, where the bout with Berto can be revived because the 2010 budget will be flush with cash. If only things were that easy. Here's where it gets a little complicated.
Berto and his promoter, Lou DiBella, do not want to wait that long to fight. Berto hasn't fought since May and, at 26 and nearing his prime, doesn't want such a long layoff, and I can't blame him.
On top of that, if he waits he risks being stripped of his belt by the WBC, which has ordered him to either make a mandatory or an allowance to unify with Isaac Hlatshwayo, with whom DiBella made a deal after the Dec. 5 fight with Mosley couldn't be finalized.
Berto and DiBella are fine with fighting Mosley in late January, but want to be able to take a fall fight with Hlatshwayo first. However, HBO can't/won't give him a date to do it.
So now DiBella is in a quandary: Make Berto sit until late January to fight Mosley (a big favorite) or cross the street to Showtime for two easier fights. I'm told DiBella would get a date for Berto-Hlatshwayo this fall with one caveat. If Berto goes to Showtime, it would be part of at least a two-fight deal under which the second fight ideally would be against the winner of the Timothy Bradley-Lamont Peterson junior welterweight title bout, which Showtime plans to air Dec. 5.
HBO is also trying to smooth things over with Top Rank with regard to Clottey. In order to make things up to them for bailing on Dec. 26, HBO is in the process of working things out so Clottey can have a televised bout on the Dec. 5 Pavlik-Williams undercard.
Now to the other issue with Jan. 30. Schaefer is also in a bind. His other veteran star fighter, Bernard Hopkins, had already been tentatively scheduled by HBO for the date (likely against cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek or Chad Dawson). The date is a big deal for Hopkins, who wants to fight in the same month in which he turns 45, and I'm told he's really ticked off about possibly being bounced into February.
Schaefer, who apparently had been told initially that HBO would go Dec. 26 with Mosley, is in the difficult spot of having to play umpire between Mosley and Hopkins, who are now vying for the same date. Hopkins has been out since dominating Pavlik in October. Mosley hasn't fought since destroying Antonio Margarito in January.
Tylenol, anyone?
source---->http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4464810&name=rafael_dan
Damn cable & boxing need to get they shit together. We about to miss out on some good fights
They're having all kinds of problems (an understatement) with a variety of dates and fighters, some of which they brought upon themselves with indecision.
The problems started when the Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams middleweight championship fight, HBO's biggest non-pay-per-view bout of the fall, was postponed from Oct. 3 because of Pavlik's staph infection. With Pavlik on the mend, the bout has been tentatively re-scheduled for Dec. 5, which caused the dominoes to fall.
That move forced Shane Mosley off Dec. 5, when he thought he'd face Andre Berto in a welterweight unification fight or defend against Joshua Clottey at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It turned out that HBO's 2009 budget was too drained to pay for Mosley-Berto, so Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer, Mosley's promoter, and Clottey promoter Top Rank cut a deal for Mosley-Clottey.
It looked like the fight would land on Dec. 26 in Los Angeles. It seemed so sure the fight was happening, Clottey hired veteran trainer Miguel Diaz and made plans to train in Las Vegas instead of his usual base in New York.
Somewhere along the line, HBO got cold feet about going the day after Christmas, which was smart. In more than 30 years of televising boxing, HBO has never done a fight that close to the holiday. In fact, it purposely avoids the holiday week, as it should.
So with Dec. 26 out the window, HBO is trying to persuade Mosley to move to Jan. 30, where the bout with Berto can be revived because the 2010 budget will be flush with cash. If only things were that easy. Here's where it gets a little complicated.
Berto and his promoter, Lou DiBella, do not want to wait that long to fight. Berto hasn't fought since May and, at 26 and nearing his prime, doesn't want such a long layoff, and I can't blame him.
On top of that, if he waits he risks being stripped of his belt by the WBC, which has ordered him to either make a mandatory or an allowance to unify with Isaac Hlatshwayo, with whom DiBella made a deal after the Dec. 5 fight with Mosley couldn't be finalized.
Berto and DiBella are fine with fighting Mosley in late January, but want to be able to take a fall fight with Hlatshwayo first. However, HBO can't/won't give him a date to do it.
So now DiBella is in a quandary: Make Berto sit until late January to fight Mosley (a big favorite) or cross the street to Showtime for two easier fights. I'm told DiBella would get a date for Berto-Hlatshwayo this fall with one caveat. If Berto goes to Showtime, it would be part of at least a two-fight deal under which the second fight ideally would be against the winner of the Timothy Bradley-Lamont Peterson junior welterweight title bout, which Showtime plans to air Dec. 5.
HBO is also trying to smooth things over with Top Rank with regard to Clottey. In order to make things up to them for bailing on Dec. 26, HBO is in the process of working things out so Clottey can have a televised bout on the Dec. 5 Pavlik-Williams undercard.
Now to the other issue with Jan. 30. Schaefer is also in a bind. His other veteran star fighter, Bernard Hopkins, had already been tentatively scheduled by HBO for the date (likely against cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek or Chad Dawson). The date is a big deal for Hopkins, who wants to fight in the same month in which he turns 45, and I'm told he's really ticked off about possibly being bounced into February.
Schaefer, who apparently had been told initially that HBO would go Dec. 26 with Mosley, is in the difficult spot of having to play umpire between Mosley and Hopkins, who are now vying for the same date. Hopkins has been out since dominating Pavlik in October. Mosley hasn't fought since destroying Antonio Margarito in January.
Tylenol, anyone?
source---->http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4464810&name=rafael_dan
Damn cable & boxing need to get they shit together. We about to miss out on some good fights
