Kelly Pavlik, Lucian Bute, the Super Six, and the Greatest Day in Boxing History

Amidst rumblings that surfaced on the Internet on Thursday that Showtime may indeed move the Super Six World Boxing Classic-Stage two doubleheader featuring Carl Froch vs. Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward vs. Alan Green from Apr. 17 to a new date, possibly only one week later, the first emotion that came over me was...disappointment.

Yes I said it.  Disappointment.

I fully understand that there are probably a lot of boxing fans that would say I was wrong and misguided in that feeling, that I was simply confused and that this would be the best thing. 

Why?

We all know why.  The dirty, two-word phrase that all boxing fans greet with anger and despair.  That phrase is, obviously, “counter programming.”

It’s a big turnoff to the fans of a sport that everyone seems to think, possibly rightfully so, is in desperate need of all the fans it can muster.  The two major networks responsible for purveying the best fights to the public, Showtime and HBO, partake in counter programming on a fairly regular basis. 

But, in all fairness to Showtime, I don’t think I’d be going too far out on a limb if I say that HBO is usually the offender in that category.  Allegedly.

So, back to the disappointment. 

HBO, although it hasn’t been officially announced, has plans to air a split-site doubleheader of their own featuring Kelly Pavlik vs. Sergio Martinez from Atlantic City and Lucian Bute vs. Edison Miranda from Montreal on...Apr. 17.  Obviously, that’s the same date that had been reserved for the aforementioned Showtime Super Six doubleheader.

Counter programming complaints be damned.  They’re competitors and this is business, right?  They can put their cards on the same night and may the best show win.  Right?  That’s clearly wrong.  What’s wrong with the scenario is that they would be making the fans choose. 

I know these are modern times and that people now have TiVo’s and DVRs.  I understand that.  However, if that’s what the networks would’ve been banking on, that’s a bad bet. 

How can anyone assume that a high percentage of boxing fans have the technology or the resources to be able to watch both shows?  Isn’t there a risk there though?  Isn’t there a gamble?  What if the ratings for both shows were cut in half?  No one wins then.  Not the fans, not the networks, not the industry itself.

So, I’m really getting back to the real crux of my disappointment now.  I promise.

The real root of my discontent stems from the fact that both of these cards may not take place on the same night.  That goes against everything I just said...in a way. 

My disappointment stems from the fact that Apr. 17, 2010 could have been the greatest day for boxing fans ever.  In one day we could have seen Froch vs. Kessler, Ward vs. Green, Bute vs. Miranda and Pavlik vs. Martinez. 

There has never been a night filled with so many great fights.  Never. 

There is truly not a bad fight in the bunch.  In fact, all of them should be great fights full of action and intrigue.  The unfortunate part was that they would be on competing shows.  But just imagine a single show of that magnitude? 

Four days after the Super Bowl and my head is filled with delusions of grandeur.  The idea of these four magnificent fights on one night combined with the sheer pageantry of football’s ultimate game, not to mention the nearly three feet of snow fall that has kept me homebound this week, has my imagination running away from me.

Why can’t boxing have a Super Bowl?  Why can’t there be a yearly show, just one, where the card is stacked from top to bottom?  They could even have it on roughly the same date every year and call it something like the Super Brawl or Pugi-Palooza (they’re terrible names, I know).  They could put it in a big, new stadium. 

They could put the spotlight on boxing for a whole week; maybe have smaller shows at smaller venues for a few days leading up to the big show. 

All of the promoters that are in the Boxing Promoter Association (that’s probably not the name of their organization but it escapes me now because I didn’t put much stock into it when I heard about it) could get together and work out a card and the networks could co-produce it. 

Don’t laugh, it’s happened.  Everyone remembers the Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis co-production, right?

Okay laugh.

This will never happen.  Oh, how the imagination can run wild when confronted with what could’ve been the greatest night of boxing ever, if it had all been on one show of course, and a few days being trapped in the house.