Coming into his HBO Boxing After Dark reappearance, it was clear that HBO was big on the affable and entertaining Mexican KO artist
Back about a year ago, following a series of odd life events, I found myself temporarily based in a senior citizen-heavy Florida community. On one evening out with a lovely young lady friend of mine, I decided to visit one of the many, many strip mall casinos in town.
?Lucky Ducks? was packed with slot-loving retirees, no younger than 70. The smell of pipe tobacco and hair spray wafted through the stale, air-conditioned air.
As we moved through the gamblers, looking for some loose-looking slots, the old folks started coming up to us.
?Oh?you?re so young and pretty,? one lady told my date. Another reached out to feel the smoothness of her skin. ?So smooth,? she marveled.
Before long, there was a Walking Dead-like group around us, all of them awed, apparently, by my friend?s youth and beauty. More than a handful reached out to touch her skin or her long, black hair. It was as though they had never seen a young person before and just couldn?t believe one had actually wandered into their stale domain. It was a very strange moment.
I almost got that same vibe last Saturday when Jaime Munguia returned to HBO to defend the WBO junior middleweight belt he took from Sadam Ali in May.
OMG, a star might?ve accidentally wandered through HBO?s doors and nobody there seemed quite sure of how to deal with their accidental find.
The 21-year-old Mexican banger had started ?he?s a star in the making? talk with his dominant stoppage of Ali and many, many members of the media had continued that narrative going in the 60 days or so before his return to the network.
Coming into his HBO Boxing After Dark reappearance, it was clear that HBO was big on the affable and entertaining Mexican KO artist. And the big shots with the big HBO salaries had to understand the importance of getting their hooks into a bankable fighter so early in his career with so many possible big fights available in his size range (which may run from 154 to 175 within a few years).
At various points of the broadcast, Lamps and Kells (my ?affectionate? nickname for Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman), drew comparisons between Munguia and George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Arturo Gatti, Canelo Alvarez, and Oscar De La Hoya. The enthusiasm and reverence shown was overkill for a kid with only Sadam Ali and a bevy of Mexican club fighters on his r?sum?. Again, it resembled the awe with which old ladies at ?Lucky Ducks? picked at my friend?s hair??Ooooh, so pretty?so young.?
After a dominant, but still too competitive encounter with Liam Smith, the fellas at the premium sports outfit had some harsh realities to face. As Munguia noted, himself, he was still very green and still learning on the job. The star they wanted right here and now is still a few years away from his best and will require some smart matchmaking to keep him unbeaten and undamaged while he develops.
Munguia is what he is?a likable and compelling all-action fighter with star potential. He?s not someone the network can fast track to the opponent slot for the winner of Canelo-Golovkin and he?s not someone who?s going to help carry the network through its rough patch of falling ratings and general malaise.
One can totally understand, though, HBO?s desperate hunger for a star.
The network has seen most of its biggest and most bankable talent walk away over the last several years under the disastrous leadership of Ken Hershman and now Peter Nelson. Of their remaining stars, PPV kingpin Canelo Alvarez has been sullied to a still-unknown extent by his recent clenbuterol scandal and hard-hitting Sergey Kovalev has had his star shot to pieces by several racist comments and a pair of embarrassing losses to the now-retired Andre Ward. Current top non-PPV draw Gennady Golovkin is not far from retirement at 36 years of age and, frankly, just never became the crossover sensation the HBO suits hoped he?d become after six years spent pushing him to the moon.
Boxing, no matter what the rock-headed ?purists? say, is a star-driven sport and a dozen thrilling super flyweight brawls do not amount to one NAME who can bring subscriptions to the network and put a buzz in the air.
Munguia?s not that guy. Not yet, anyway.
Oh yeah, and as for my evening at ?Lucky Ducks?? In between the senior citizen muggings, we somehow managed to lose a few hundred bucks and a creepy old man who does ?private videos? and owns a luxury yacht slipped us his phone number.
