Can Golden Boy Survive the Decade?

(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

“They [HBO] gave their dates to one promoter, who's stable has now been wiped out. They made a bad mistake. They are not evil people, and I can't blame Golden Boy for grabbing those dates, but it shows that it wasn’t the wisest thing for them to do,” said Bob Arum of Top Rank.

Another blow to GBP is the fact that, in order to make the marquee fights for their established stars, they will need the cooperation of the other promoters who, at this point, have been driven to resentment by Golden Boy's perceived status as HBO's pet promotion.

So, with their best and brightest pretty much taken out of the equation and legit future stars, Erislandy Lara and Danny Jacobs, still too far away to be a factor, questions about the immediate future of Golden Boy have to be raised.

Will HBO grow frustrated with the poor showings and make Golden Boy go back to booking dates on a fight by fight basis?

And if HBO does this, will GBP be able to compete with a company like Top Rank who has a much deeper roster and a keener matchmaking eye at this point?

Can Oscar's company survive the decade? Probably, but expect a major re-tooling of the promotion and a reluctant admission from them that they do indeed need to co-exist with the other promotional companies in order to stay afloat.

2010 will be an interesting year for the sport and a crucial one for Golden Boy.

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