The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of February 2
It's either a done deal or nowhere close.
Why, oh why, can't things just go smoothly this one time between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao? This roller-coaster ride has taken fans to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and where she stops...nobody, absolutely nobody, knows.
We assess the latest developments in the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao saga.
Next, we move to topics that don't make us want to smack our head against a brick wall.
Lucas Matthysse became the first fighter to re-sign with Golden Boy Promotions since Oscar De La Hoya's company lost most of its stable last month. Are rumors of Golden Boy's demise exaggerated?
Is boxing coming closer to having just one champion per weight?
Finally, could fans finally get an anticipated showdown between Leo Santa Cruz and Guillermo Rigondeaux?
We can only hope.
These are the hottest boxing storylines for the week.
Who Should We Believe?
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TMZ reported on Friday night that a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight was a done deal and that signatures on contracts were expected “soon.”
Not so fast, said Showtime Executive Vice President Stephen Espinoza. The man largely responsible for building his network into a boxing power tweeted that “TMZ usually has good sources. This time, not so much,” disputing the report.
He later threw more cold water on the idea that an announcement could be close, telling Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com that “this deal is not close to being done—and everyone involved knows that.”
That directly contrasts with Top Rank CEO Bob Arum’s comments earlier in the day, per George Willis of the New York Post:
"Everybody is doing the right thing. We’re looking to complete the paperwork. Everything is moving in the right direction. Hopefully, the next couple of days it will get done
The issues are being narrowed down to extraordinarily small points. I’m optimistic it will all be put together in the next couple of days
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Arum also reiterated that Mayweather and Pacquiao’s center-court summit at the Heat-Bucks game in Miami earlier in the week helped set the ball in motion for negotiations with renewed vigor.
He then contradicted himself, per Edward Chaykovsky of Boxing Scene, saying that the two sides still had a ton of issues to work out before they could finalize a fight.
So, what to make of all this?
Is there a realistic chance it could happen? That sure seems to be the case.
Would I bet the farm on it? I probably wouldn’t even bet your farm on it.
This situation is so volatile, and there’s so little agreement on all sides about virtually everything, that it could all fall apart if the wind blows in the wrong direction for just a split second.
So, for now, be hopeful, but believe it when you see it.
That way you can’t be disappointed.
Does Lucas Matthysse Extension Prove the Golden Goose Isn't Cooked?
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When Richard Schaefer suddenly departed from Golden Boy Promotions last June under a cloud of potential improprieties, many speculated that the company left in his wake would hardly resemble the one he spent years building.
And we now know that to be true.
As part of the settlement for their dueling lawsuits in January, De La Hoya agreed to relinquish promotional rights to nearly all fighters in his stable who were signed to managerial deals with Al Haymon.
That deal gutted Golden Boy of many of its big-name stars but left the company with—expected to be only for the duration of their current deals—Amir Khan, Leo Santa Cruz and Lucas Matthysse, who were under contract with Haymon and Golden Boy.
Khan and Santa Cruz have yet to make their intentions known, but Matthysse, citing his loyalty to De La Hoya and the company, signed a five-year extension with Golden Boy last week, per Dan Rafael of ESPN.com.
Lem Satterfield of The Ring Magazine reports that a deal is being discussed to match the Argentine power puncher against Siberian slugger Ruslan Provodnikov in March at the StubHub Center. As of right now, it's unclear which network would televise that likely Fight of the Year contender, but the smart money says HBO.
Can you imagine?
That fight has extreme violence written all over it, and we’re fine with that.
It's also a good sign for De La Hoya that his company was able to retain an entertaining slugger who can be a major player between 140 and 147 pounds.
Matthysse joins Canelo Alvarez as high-level commodities that Oscar can build around. They're his No. 3 and No. 4 hitters in the lineup.
Is Santa Cruz vs. Rigo Up Next?
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Santa Cruz says he wants to fight Rigondeaux.
Rigo has long chased Santa Cruz.
De La Hoya, who promotes Santa Cruz, says he’s interested and, per Rafael, has begun negotiations with the Cuban’s team on a unification fight.
What could go wrong? Everything.
Santa Cruz is one of the fighters who remained with Golden Boy, at least for the time being, as part of the much-discussed Golden Boy settlement.
He’s promoted by De La Hoya but managed by Haymon, who you know will have the final say on any opponents for one of his young, undefeated champions.
Given the last two opponents Haymon has selected for Santa Cruz—the terribly overmatched former sparring partner Manuel Roman and unknown Jesus Ruiz—you don’t have a lot of reasons for optimism.
Rigondeaux is the ultimate high-risk, low-reward opponent. His style is technical and designed to make his foes look bad.
With opponents like Abner Mares, another Haymon client, and less risky unification bouts with Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg as possibilities for Santa Cruz, it’s hard to see this one coming to fruition—especially if Santa Cruz continues to hold firm on his demand, per Jake Donovan of BoxingScene.com, for $3 million for the fight.
That's just ridiculous. You can understand why he'd say it, but he's not on that level yet. He could have been, but he spent the last year-plus fighting stiffs.
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Could Boxing Finally Be Closer to Crowning Just One Champion?
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WBC. WBA. IBF. WBO.
Super, regular, interim, champion in recess.
One of the more frequent criticisms hurled at the sport of boxing is that there are too many champions. New fans have a hard time keeping up with the sometimes ludicrous politics of boxing's sanctioning bodies, which often crown two and sometimes three champions at each given weight.
The logic for doing so is simple.
Sanctioning organizations collect fees from fighters in order to fight for and defend their belts. More belts equals more money. They're businesses, and businesses seek profits. It's basic economics.
But now presidents of the WBC, WBA and IBF are moving forward with meetings intended to pave the way for the crowning of one world champion per division. A tournament-of-champions format has been discussed where the winner would hold the legitimate designation of world champion, and thus far the only organization not to participate is the WBO.
Whether this actually becomes a reality—it seems doubtful given all the money at stake—remains to be seen, but it's an idea worth exploring. There's no reason for 10 guys to walk around a given weight class claiming to be world champion.
It waters things down. It's confusing, and quite frankly, it makes the sport look stupid.
Having one champion per weight class worked in the old days, so why not now?
Why Is Jhonny Gonzalez Fighting Gary Russell Jr.?
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Jhonny Gonzalez resurrected his career late in the summer of 2013 with a stunning first-round knockout of previously undefeated featherweight titlist Abner Mares, but he’s had a hard time getting much traction since.
He’s fought two times since dethroning Mares, dominating the unknown Clive Atwell and then brutally knocking out long faded former world champion Jorge Arce.
But it would seem that Gonzalez finally has his ticket back into high-profile fights.
The WBC featherweight champion, per Miguel Rivera of BoxingScene.com, is close to finalizing a title defense against once-beaten Gary Russell Jr.
What has Russell done to earn a second shot at a world title? Absolutely nothing.
As a prospect he made a career out of fighting opponents who were “to be determined” or “to be announced,” defeating a whole slew of guys on his way up the ladder who, quite honestly, were embarrassing.
It's common for fighters to work their way up the ladder, but Russell's management team never seemed willing to buy a ladder with more than one rung. He just kept fighting the same type of guy over and over, and when he did step up in class, he got handled with ease.
Vasyl Lomachenko trounced him, providing a boxing lesson to Russell in his lone world title challenge last summer. Since then, he has only beaten another low-level fighter.
But Russell is managed by Haymon—insert snark here—and provides a pathway for Gonzalez, should he win, to face Mares in a rematch or unified super bantamweight titlist Leo Santa Cruz.
Both Mares and Santa Cruz are managed by...you guessed it, Haymon.
With that on the line, this fight makes all the sense in the world for Gonzalez.
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