PBC Has a Long Way to Go to Bring Back the Network TV Heavyweight Fight
By now we've all seen the ads on television.
Deontay Wilder, the undefeated heavyweight who became the first American big man to lift a share of boxing's premier prize in nearly a decade, is bringing his big green belt back to network TV on NBC Saturday night when he defends against unknown Frenchman Johann Duhaupas on Premier Boxing Champions.
Both NBC and PBC have done what amounts to a hard sell by declaring this a fight for the heavyweight championship (it isn't) and the first such bout on the network in more than three decades.
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The latter part is true—if you buy into Wilder's bona fides as a legitimate champion and not a pedestrian belt holder—but it emphasizes how far PBC has to go to bring big-time heavyweight boxing back to its glory days.
“The champ is here” bellows the announcer on the commercial, and as you may have noticed, Wilder is the only one there. His opponent, Duhaupas, only appears by name at the very end and isn’t shown at all.
Maybe PBC has never even seen him, like probably many (all?) of you.
Most consider the fight a gross mismatch, and even one of the network's most recognizable media personalities is tempering expectations and not trying to sell you a bill of goods that doesn’t match what comes in the box.
“I don’t think it should be an oversell,” said NBC lead analyst Marv Albert, per Jake Donovan of Boxing Scene. “There’s no question, Wilder is a big favorite to win and I plan to say it’s a huge upset if Duhaupas pulls off the upset.”
On Odds Shark, Wilder is currently listed as a minus-2500 favorite to successfully defend his belt in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, less than an hour from his hometown of Tuscaloosa. You’d have to lay down a ton of cash to make a little back on that proposition.
The last time a heavyweight championship fight graced the airwaves of NBC was May 1985.
Larry Holmes, the undefeated heavyweight champion who was 47-0 and approaching the hallowed ground of Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 and Joe Louis’ heavyweight-defense record (Holmes was six short entering the fight), faced off against the late Carl “The Truth” Williams.
Williams was undefeated but largely untested in 16 professional fights before taking a big leap up to face the unbeaten champ on the march toward history.
Holmes was the favorite (though not nearly as wide as Wilder will be Saturday night) and was forced to overcome Williams in a “fight that should restore some luster to the heavyweight division,” in the words of the New York Times’ Michael Katz.
Katz summed up the entire tenor of the better-than-expected fight as the “venerable 35-year-old champion [Holmes] overcame what sometimes looked like a 25-year-old version of himself” and won by unanimous decision.
Williams wasn’t a highly rated commodity before the fight—this much is true—but he would end up facing many of the elite heavyweights of his era (mainly in defeat, granted) including Holmes, Mike Tyson, Trevor Berbick and Frank Bruno.
Besides, that fight had some built-in dramatics.
Holmes was two fights away from tying Marciano (he would end up losing his next fight to Michael Spinks, not without some controversy) and ended the night five short of Louis’ hallowed record for title defenses.
That meant something.
And the fight was for the legitimate heavyweight championship.
Wilder isn’t the true heavyweight champion—not until he beats Wladimir Klitschko, or the Ukrainian Ph.D. decides this fighting thing isn’t for him anymore—and he’ll never develop into the transcending star befitting of his power and personality when he fights nothing but unknown stiffs.
Eric Molina?
OK.
You just won a title belt and wanted to have a soft touch in your backyard.
We all deserve a celebration, and there’s definitely something to be said for boxing expanding out of its normal confines and taking advantage of fighters with strong local followings in venues that aren’t exactly traditional for the sport.
But let’s not try to pretend this is meaningful boxing or what we’ll be treated to Saturday night will be anything more than a glorified exhibition/execution.
It’s not big-time heavyweight boxing, no matter how you slice it or dress it up.
Duhaupas isn’t a world-class fighter. He’s not a contender.
Hell, he’s not even on the level of Williams 30 years ago—an undefeated contender who seemed out of his depth when the fight was announced but proved he belonged after the bell rang.
And Wilder isn’t a champion—not yet.
He’ll remain a titleholder, and NBC’s goal of bringing serious heavyweight boxing back to its old glamour on network TV will remain a pipe dream, so long as the chosen one continues fighting nobodies who seem to be pulled out of nowhere.
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