Total world domination. That appears to be the goal of Golden Boy Promotions and they are getting closer every day.
They own Ring magazine, a tool by which they plan to completely eradicate the world sanctioning bodies and their odious sanctioning fees. They can also use The Ring as a publicity/promotion vehicle for their rising stars and their established stars.
(For example, using the back cover of the book to peddle Oscar de la Hoya?s biography. The book is written, by the way, by Steve Springer of the LA Times. I tried to get that Springer to pen my biography but he told me, ?I really don?t want to be Marley?s Ghost.? Negotiations with Jerry Springer are pending.)
Now Golden Boy made international sports conglomerate AEG their second largest sharehold behind only Oscar himself.
It?s no secret that GBP has and will continue to have most favored nation status at HBO.
So what?s next for the boxing behemoth?
I see some immediate ramifications, all of which tilt the promotional game even further in Golden Boy?s favor:
1. GBP enjoys increased leverage in dealing with the boys in Vegas as far as site deals. If MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay or new player Planet Hollywood do not want to pay the Golden price, then all Richie Rich Schaefer has to do is ring up Tim Leiweke and his other pals and fellow shareholders at AEG. Bingo, what might?ve been a Vegas bout moves to the Staples Center in LA or to the new O2 Arena in London. This favored promoter status at all AEG properties also makes it nearly impossible for a rival such as Top Rank to get put on a promotion at any sensible price in those same arenas.
2. The day of the Mom and Pop promoter was waning but now is finished. How is a bright, hardworking promoter such as Kathy Duva (Main Events) going to compete with GBP? The playing field is not level and it will tilt even further in favor of the Golden gang. If you?re one of the smaller fish in the promotional pool, you better have one or two real superstars in your stable or you can sell your company to Engulf & Devour and be done with it. Even when the minnows develop a star, the promotional piranha will be waiting to gobble the fighter up. I don?t see any young Bob Arum or young Don King on the scene who will battle GBP tooth and nail, do you? Look for small and medium size promoters to sell their ?stock? to Golden Boy or just go to work for the big guys. Oh, there’s another possible choice and that is to simply take Joe Blow Promotions, independent promoter, and turn your company into a “feeder,” a farm club for big league Golden Boy.
3. Next big acquisition? I would not be surprised to see Golden Boy and its myriad financial partners/backers buy some sort of regional TV sports network. Call it the Golden Boxing Channel (GBC) if you will. If they can do that, they will achieve the dream that King has chased so long, a marriage of the software (boxers) and the hardware (television).
4. The Goldens have done some whining recently about decisions not going their way in Las Vegas. As they get even bigger and stronger, their Nevada influence will only grow as Top Rank?s recedes.
5. Where is the next Manny Pacquiao or Marco Antonio Barrera type going to hang his promotional hat? One reason Mike Tyson eventually wound up with King is that, as a boy, all he heard, saw and knew as big-time promoters were Arum and King and, for obvious reasons, Tyson could more easily identify with ghetto success story King than with Harvard Law grad Arum. The future Barreras, the next Pacmans, will be lured by the Golden Boy and by his partners such as Barrera. How do other promoters compete with that magnetism?
Finally, I used to know this crazy Puerto Rican cat who was a doorman at a high rise building in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan. Despite being a 20something, the guy idolized Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and other swinging cats from a previous generation. But, far and away, Francis Albert was his top dawg.
IT?S SINATRA?S WORLD, WE JUST LIVE IN IT.
That?s the button the Boricua cool cat often wore.
For those of us in the boxing industry, it?s Golden Boy?s World, we just live in it.
How do you stop the Golden tidal wave, the de la Hoya tsunami?
The answer is you can?t, you won?t and you don?t.
