The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of January 12
Boxing is back!
We are just days away from the huge heavyweight clash between Bermane "B Ware" Stiverne and Deontay "The Bronze Bomber" Wilder, and the questions are plenty.
Will a new heavyweight star emerge?
Will the winner get a shot at Wladimir Klitschko?
Next we turn to Leo Santa Cruz, wondering if the super bantamweight champion can avoid a letdown in another disappointing fight against a low-level challenger.
And we take a look at the promotional earthquakes that once again shook the boxing world.
Spoiler alert: They involved Golden Boy Promotions and Roc Nation Sports.
These are the hottest boxing storylines for the week of Jan. 12.
What Does Settlement Mean for Golden Boy Promotions?
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Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports reported on Friday that Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions had reached a legal settlement with longtime CEO Richard Schaefer.
As part of the deal, Golden Boy was forced to relinquish promotional rights to a slew of high-profile fighters, including light welterweight champion Danny Garcia, middleweight titlist Danny Jacobs and former champions Marcos Maidana, Adrien Broner, Abner Mares and Robert Guerrero.
All those fighters are currently under contract with reclusive uber-manager Al Haymon.
While Golden Boy did lose a sizable chunk of its stable, De La Hoya's company will still promote—at least for the time being—Haymon clients Amir Khan, Leo Santa Cruz and Lucas Matthysse.
So what to make of all this?
Get ready for another seismic shift in the boxing landscape.
Schaefer is contractually barred, per terms of the settlement, from promoting fights for a thus far unspecified amount of time. Once that clock runs out, you can bank on him joining forces with Haymon and pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather at either Mayweather Promotions or some new company.
The newly free-agent fighters are likely to head in the same direction, leaving Golden Boy with Canelo Alvarez and a stable of young but unproven talents.
It's back to the drawing board, as they say, for De La Hoya and his company.
As for Schaefer and Haymon?
Do your own math.
The Emergence of Roc Nation Sports
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Are you one of those people who were wondering about Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports’ commitment to professional boxing?
Stop wondering.
Roc Nation could hardly have had a better week at the office, successfully putting on its first boxing card at Madison Square Garden on Friday night and completing a merger with Gary Shaw and his company Gary Shaw Promotions.
Oh, and there’s one more thing.
Roc Nation signed super middleweight champion—and frequent No. 2 on most pound-for-pound lists—Andre Ward to a promotional contract, per ESPN's Dan Rafael, on Friday.
Let’s talk about that a little bit.
Ward has only fought once in the past two years, instead choosing to pursue a legal battle with his late promoter Dan Goossen and his promotional company in an effort to break his contract.
We don’t know how, or why, but that deal is now moot, and Ward has moved on to become the face of Roc Nation’s boxing empire.
That’s good news for the company and fans of Ward who have grown tired of seeing him on HBO wearing a suit and tie rather than gloves and trunks. He should return to the ring shortly, and that means potentially salivating contests with the Gennady Golovkins and Sergey Kovalevs of the world.
Will a New Heavyweight Star Emerge?
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Stiverne and Wilder will meet on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for the lone heavyweight championship not under lock and key at Dr. Klitschko’s secret underground lair.
Obviously, that’s a bit of hyperbole—we hope—but it’s a huge step forward for boxing that we have a significant heavyweight fight not featuring a Klitschko brother against an anonymous, overmatched challenger.
Stiverne captured the WBC Heavyweight Championship—once hold by Wladimir’s older brother Vitali—with an emphatic knockout of veteran American challenger Chris Arreola last May.
Wilder is his mandatory and universally recognized top challenger.
The 29-year-old from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has stepped into the ring 32 times and sent each and every man standing across from him home early. He’s never been more than four rounds and has 18 first-round stoppages.
Stiverne is no slouch in the power department himself, knocking out 21 of his 25 opponents.
This is being billed as a heavyweight championship fight, and indeed, the winner will receive a belt, but in reality we have a No. 1 contender's bout on our hands.
Klitschko is the unified, universally recognized champion until someone takes it from him in the ring, or he calls it quits.
Neither Stiverne nor Wilder can change that on Saturday night, but each can take a big step in that direction.
It’s a star-making opportunity for both men, with a paper title and a likely shot at the real champion on the line.
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Who Would Have the Best Shot Against Wlad?
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With the winner of Stiverne vs. Wilder likely to earn a legitimate championship opportunity in the not-too-distant future, we must ponder the question: Who would be the biggest threat to Klitschko’s reign of dominance?
The towering Ukrainian has held a share of the heavyweight crown since dethroning Chris Byrd for the IBF title in 2006, and his 17 consecutive defenses are third most in heavyweight history.
Stiverne’s two wins over Arreola—he broke his nose the first time and stopped him in a rematch—are the most impressive on either man’s resume. The Haitian-born champion packs some thunder in his fists, but he has been stopped once in his career, against the unknown Demetrice King in 2007.
Wilder is still something of a wild card. We know he can punch, but can he take a big shot? He’s thumped everyone that he’s faced, but saying his opposition has been subpar is being generous.
The biggest names on his resume came when those fighters were long past their primes, and Stiverne represents a massive step up in class.
Which one matches up best with the champion?
Stiverne would face a four-inch height and one-inch reach deficit against Klitschko. That may not seem like a lot, but getting inside against the notoriously grabby champion won’t be easy.
Wilder is slightly taller and longer than Klitschko, but, again, physical tools are only a part of the equation. Being able to get into advantageous positions and take whatever comes your way is the other.
The X-factor is the American’s power.
Klitschko has been chinny in the past—he was stopped in all three of his defeats—and Wilder’s chances of landing a home run shot would be a big selling point for that fight.
Can Leo Santa Cruz Avoid a Letdown?
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Santa Cruz hopes to finally crack through and land a big fight in 2015, but he must first take care of business on the Stiverne vs. Wilder undercard.
Jesus Ruiz wasn’t chosen as a foe for Saturday night’s co-main event because of his ability to provide even a modicum of difficulty for the 122-pound champion.
This is little more than another showcase fight.
Ruiz is there to come into the ring with trunks and gloves, provide people an excuse to see Santa Cruz display his high-octane style, lose and then go back to wherever he came from.
He hasn’t beaten anyone of note and has a couple of ugly losses on his ledger.
But these type fights are always dangerous.
Sometimes, an unknown foe comes from—almost literally—nowhere and gives the fight of his life to knock off a better-known foe.
Remember when Manny Pacquiao was a scrawny unknown brought in to lose against Lehlo Ledwaba? How did that turn out?
I'm not even remotely comparing Ruiz to Pacquiao, but I'm making the general point that Santa Cruz needs to be conscious of falling into the trap.
You have to think that, in his heart of hearts, Santa Cruz isn't thrilled about his last two opponents. But he can't allow that frustration to enter the ring with him.
Showcase fights are nice...unless they turn into nightmares.
Santa Cruz can't allow that to happen.
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