The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of January 3
Happy New Year, boxing fans!
In this week's edition of the hottest storylines in boxing, we take a look at what you can expect from Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley's third meeting for the World Boxing Organization Welterweight Championship. Many fans are displeased with the matchup, but could it turn out to be a hidden gem?
And how will the bout draw on pay-per-view?
Will it be a bust?
Next we turn our sights to the negotiations between unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and WBO titlist Billy Joe Saunders.
Does that fight have any real chance of happening?
We conclude by looking at what's holding up Keith Thurman vs. Shawn Porter, and whether or not Amir Khan will wise up now that he's lost out on another big fight.
Let's get right to it.
What Can Fans Expect from Pacquiao-Bradley III?
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Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times broke the news on Wednesday that Pacquiao and Bradley will fight for a third and presumably final time April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The announcement was greeted with some derision by boxing fans who were hoping for a fresher face, with Terence Crawford and Amir Khan also in contention to land the assignment.
Boxing promoter Bob Arum claims that Pacquiao chose Bradley for the match because he was the most marketable when it came to selling a fight on pay-per-view. He says he consulted HBO about the possibility of Pacquiao fighting Khan, but the network felt Khan wasn't a big enough draw, per Edward Chaykovsky of BoxingScene.com.
Pacquiao and Bradley have split their previous two meetings.
Bradley won the first fight under highly controversial circumstances in 2012, while the "Pac Man" rebounded with a far more convincing victory in the 2014 rematch. Both fights were good, neither was great and most feel Pacquiao won twice. So you can understand fan frustration at matching them up for a third time.
But that obscures that this is a really good fight, likely the most evenly matched of the rivalry, and should present the kind of drama that was absent in the two prior meetings.
Pacquiao has been on the shelf since last May, the result of a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery, and will be coming off a deflating loss and nearly a year layoff when the fight takes place.
Bradley looked great, perhaps the best he's looked in his entire career, dominating and stopping Brandon Rios under the tutelage of recently hired veteran firebrand coach Teddy Atlas in November.
With all those new factors swimming around this fight, you can see why it has the feel of a 50-50 type contest—and one that will likely generate more interest in the ring than it does in the buildup to fight night.
It's not what the fans wanted, but it's still a quality, high-level bout.
Will Pacquiao-Bradley III Sell?
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Probably not.
Most of the selling point for Pacquiao's April 9 PPV tilt revolved around it being the final fight of his historic, future Hall of Fame career. That may well still prove to be the case (though it seems increasingly unlikely), and Bradley is a million miles better as a final foe than Andre Berto. But Arum has already thrown some cold water on the idea.
Pugmire reported on Wednesday that the veteran matchmaker was refusing to market the fight as the Filipino's last, owing to his desire to not be labeled a "huckster" should he change his mind. And Pacquiao himself has said he'd postpone calling it quits if he can land a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr., per PhilBoxing.com (h/t Chaykovsky).
To be safe, expect to see Manny at least one more time.
The general trend for Pacquiao-Bradley fights on PPV is a downward one.
Their first bout generated approximately 890,000 buys, a very solid number. But the rematch came in somewhere between 750,000 and 800,000—still good—but a financial drop-off of some significance. Clearly it wasn't where the promoter or fighters wanted it to be.
Without the selling point that this will be Pacquiao's final time between the ropes, and with a matchup many fans have lost their taste for, this one has the potential to be a great fight but a serious box-office flop.
Does Golovkin-Saunders Have Legs?
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Money sure seems to talk, doesn't it?
Per Chris McKenna of the Daily Star (h/t BoxingScene.com) Billy Joe Saunders didn't wait long after winning the WBO Middleweight Championship against Andy Lee to declare himself "18 months away" from being ready for a fight with Golovkin. But that timeline might have accelerated thanks to the almighty dollar.
Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reports that representatives for the two fighters have been discussing the possibility of an April unification bout, with GGG's promoter Tom Loeffler claiming a "significant offer" has been made to the newly minted titlist.
Saunders promoter Frank Warren confirmed that in a piece he penned for BoxingScene.com:
"I know Billy Joe has intimated he may not be quite ready for this, but money talks louder than anything in boxing and such are the sums involved. It is one certainly worth considering," Warren said.
It's worth mentioning that nothing here is settled, and it still seems a long shot that this fight happens.
SkySports.com reports that the Kazakh wrecking ball's manager Oleg Hermann doesn't feel the Saunders team is serious about the fight because it keeps passing the buck and hasn't been able to provide a straight answer.
That might be for the best.
Saunders is a slick, southpaw boxer. But you're not going to find a hell of a lot of people who give him much of any chance of unseating GGG, a knockout artist with frightful power and a 21-fight KO streak.
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What's Holding Up Thurman vs. Porter?
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Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter have been dancing around each other for some time now, and while various media outlets have reported that a fight is close, the fact that it has yet to materialize is curious.
Jake Donovan of BoxingScene.com reports that the fight is being targeted for a March 5 date on Premier Boxing Champions, prime time on CBS. But Kenny Porter, Shawn's father and trainer, claims this is "news" to him and that nothing has been received in terms of time, place or date, per Steve Kim.
The elder Porter further claims that he's received assurances that the fight will happen (at least, according to the powers that be) but that the hold up is a signed contract from Thurman—again, curious.
Thurman's last time in the ring saw him stop veteran former welterweight titlist Luis Collazo in a surprisingly difficult fight. "One Time" was badly hurt by a body shot in the fifth round, before opening a terrible cut above his challenger's right eye in the seventh that ended the fight.
Porter defeated Adrien Broner by decision his last time out.
Both are considered among the top young welterweights in the sport, and their fight, when it finally comes together, will go a long way toward clearing some of the clutter in a wide-open division loaded with talent.
Can Amir Khan Smarten Up and Fight Kell Brook?
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At this point we can clearly call Khan's pursuit of Mayweather and Pacquiao an abject failure. His tunnel vision has cost him the last couple of years of his career and led to avoiding high-profile (and significant) matchups in the hopes of earning a superfight with his mouth and not his fists.
Khan's constant social media harping, claiming time after time that a Mayweather or Pacquiao tilt was imminent, needs to stop now. It's time for him to settle down to the business of boxing and go for the logical fight that has been standing right in front of him.
It's make-or-break time.
Khan needs to fight IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook.
Shaun Brown of BoxingScene.com reports that representatives for the two British fighters will begin discussing a fight next month that they hope to stage on June 4 at Wembley Stadium.
All we can say (to steal a phrase from our friends across the pond) is that it's about bloody time.
Brook must first get past his mandatory challenger Kevin Bizier. The two are negotiating the terms of a bout, but the IBF has scheduled a purse bid for January 12 in the event a deal can't be reached.
Bizier twice lost to Jo Jo Dan, who was destroyed by Brook in four rounds last year. So barring something unexpected, he shouldn't pose too much of a threat to a Brook-Khan fight.
Khan, on the other hand, is notoriously difficult to deal with in terms of negotiations. But with Mayweather—and now seemingly Pacquiao—off the table, all excuses, real or imagined, are now gone.
Just fight or go away.
Kevin McRae is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter @McRaeWrites.
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