This weekend?s bout at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California between WBA/WBC jr. bantamweight champion Cristian Mijares and IBF belt-holder Vic Darchinyan (Showtime 9 pm ET/PT) is exactly the type of fight that made ‘Boxing After Dark’ the most highly anticipated series among the hardcore boxing enthusiast for years.
In recent years, ‘BAD’ has devolved into a refuge for HBO house fighters rebounding from losses and a showcase setting for well-connected prospects to add wins to their ledger. But Mijares-Darchinyan, which is a battle between two of the very best small fighters in the world, is the type of clash that made it must-see TV in the late ’90’s.
?It?s a prototypical fight because it can’t be a bad fight in the ring. You have two guys, one of them who is a tremendous puncher and a stalker, and the other guy is a pure, classical boxer. It’s a can’t miss matchup.” said Lou DiBella, who promotes Mijares and who was the curator of ‘Boxing After Dark’ during his days as an HBO exec. “So I commend Ken Hershman for buying it. It’s a three-belt unification, but more importantly, it’s two quality guys who can’t help but make a good fight.”
‘B.A.D’ got off to a glorious start on February 3, 1996, when Marco Antonio Barrera and Kennedy McKinney engaged in a memorable slugfest at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. Smaller fighters, which were traditionally ignored by television outlets, now had an available outlet to ply their trade and increase their market value and profile.
?When we created ‘Boxing After Dark’, the whole game plan was, one, guys who were not household names. We did a lot of heavyweight matchups, also. We were looking for fights that had to be good fights in the ring. You had those,” explained DiBella. “Back then, similar to today, people have moved away from the heavier weight classes, but in the lower weight classes you had so many high quality guys who were hungry, who were willing to be matched with anybody, and a guy who’s 112, 115, 118 pounds, you make the match for them, they don’t say no. “It’s not like the heavyweight division or the middleweight division or welterweight division, where guys will turn down fights. If you give an opportunity to a 115-pounder, a 118-pounder or a 126-pounder, they would jump on it because those were the only opportunities.”
Alongside Barrera, men like Erik Morales, Junior Jones, and Kevin Kelley all engaged in memorable showdowns on the series. The first bout of the historic Barrera-Morales trilogy was a ‘BAD’ main event, and introduced both fighters to constituencies outside their Latin fanbases on the west coast. Because of that first encounter, both boxers became household names. “The whole thing that made ‘Boxing After Dark’ 15 years ago, it wasn’t the names,” pointed out DiBella. “McKinney versus Barrera, no one knew either guy. Canizales-Jones, Barrera-Morales, the early days, the guys were unknown names. They became stars because of opportunities like ‘Boxing After Dark’. They weren’t stars when they got on.”
This Showtime fight on Saturday night is a golden opportunity for either Mijares or Darchinyan to raise their Q-rating within the sport. While Mijares is greatly respected by the boxing cognoscenti and insiders consider him one of the sport?s most deft craftsmen, outside of Mexico (where he does large numbers at the gate) he is relatively unknown. Darchinyan, who has gotten consistent work on Showtime and who just recently captured his second world title by halting Dimitri Kirilov over the summer, is just another little guy with heavy hands to many.
The winner not only comes away with more belts than the GAP, they put themselves squarely in line for other lucrative bouts versus the likes of Fernando Montiel (who holds the other 115-pound strap), Jorge Arce, and Nonito Donaire in the near future.
And with that, a chance to become a marquee name.
“We’re at a time now when the only recognizable names now are old men,” said DiBella. “And as much as you gotta respect Hopkins – he was brilliant, what he did with Pavlik – he’s 43 years old. Oscar’s an old man, Shane Mosley’s an old man. We need great fights with new blood. And I think with Mijares-Darchinyan you have two relatively young guys, neither of whom is paid millions of bucks, and the winner of that fight is going to have three belts and he’s still going to be hungry.”
Showtime has had a strong 2008, not by showcasing stars, but making ‘fight fans? fights’ – which I’ve often said is a euphemism for ’15 people really give a damn about it.’ But oftentimes those are the fights that deliver the most action. You can have all the stars in the galaxy you want, but as HBO is finding out with their flagging ratings, there comes a time when the audience wants to see compelling fights – regardless of the names under your banner.
This year, Showtime has telecast Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez III, Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson, Arthur Abraham-Edison Miranda II, Kendall Holt-Ricardo Torres II and, most recently, Lucien Bute-Librado Andrade. These fights were greatly anticipated by the hardcore fan and delivered some memorable moments. In many ways, Showtime’s boxing franchise is doing what ‘Boxing After Dark’ did during it’s salad days.
“If you can make a war at 115, make the war,” says DiBella. “In the ring, when two guys are the same size, the guys watching on TV don’t know what they weigh anyway. So make a good fight and I think that’s going to get us out of the hole we?re in. I think we gotta go back to just saying, ‘OK, now the time has come to start rolling the dice and taking chances,’ What are we protecting guys for? Stop protecting guys. We all have to do it. I’m putting myself among everybody else. We gotta say, ‘OK, if the networks are putting up the money, we’ll put up the money.'”
M&M
So, will we see a bout between Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley in 2009?
“Margarito is on board for the fight,” said his manager, Sergio Diaz. “That’s the next big fight out there, he’s ready for it. Mosley was out talking, calling him out, saying he had the fire for Antonio. Now, Antonio’s wondering if Mosley urinated on himself once he found out Margarito was interested in that fight.”
Word is that Mosley is contemplating a fight with either ‘the Tijuana Tornado’ or WBC titlist Andre Berto. He will be meeting with Golden Boy Promotions CEO, Richard Schaefer, early this week to discuss his options. “Financially, it doesn’t make sense,” stated Diaz. “But I think what’s happening is – and these are comments made from Tony – that his wife, his wife is not letting him fight. I guess she wants to use him for another couple fights before he retires and Tony believes he’ll be the first guy to knock out Shane if he accepts that fight. And he will be the one to retire Mosley.”
Oh, no, he didn’t just go there.
Well, actually, he did.
MARLON B. WRONG
I’ve gotten more than a few irate emails in regards to the ending of the Bute-Andrade bout this past Friday. It was a fight that saw a hard-charging Andrade floor Bute near the very end of the 12th and final stanza. Forget the fact there may have been a long-count (and remember, a 10-count isn’t necessarily 10 seconds, but the cadence of the particular referee administering the count. Think of every 10-count as a snowflake – no two are ever really the same), but what was really troubling was the ‘performance’ of the Montreal-based referee Marlon B. Wright, who may not be a chef, but who was serving up a good dose of home-cooking all night long at the Bell Centre in what is Bute?s home base.
At times it looked like it was two-on-one in there, with Wright never really warning Bute for his excessive clinching till the very end, and only paying attention to Andrade’s indiscretions for the most part. He didn’t even seem to notice or care that Bute more than once lifted Andrade’s leg up in the air. And was it just me, or when he broke up the boxers inside would he really make an effort to push Andrade away with much more gusto than Bute, making sure Bute got his much-needed breathing room?
His outing reminded me of the old pro wrestling scenario where there is obviously a ‘work’ in progress and the third-man in is a hand-picked official from the likes of a Bobby ‘the Brain’ Heenan or ‘the Grand Wizard’, who would do anything and everything to insure his man would have his hand raised in victory.
It’s stuff like this that continues to erode the credibility of the sport. No one is denying that Bute clearly outpointed Andrade. What’s bothersome is that he seemed to have gotten a lot of help from external forces. Wright was incompetent at best. At worst, well, c’mon, you know.
I think Andrade’s trainer, Howard Grant, actually displayed great restraint by just shoving Wright shortly after the fight. I know many other guys that would’ve gone after him with the corner stool.
FOUR KINGS
I thought George Kimball did a great job in penning ‘Four Kings’, but the funniest moment in the book for me was when just a few days before Leonard-Hearns II was set to take place in 1989 in Las Vegas, with Arum expecting great numbers internationally, Tiananmen Square would take place in China.
Arum would tell a cadre of reporters, “You can’t trust those Orientals. They’ll do anything to upstage you.” And seated nearby was Arum’s first wife, Sybil, who just happened to be Japanese.
But yeah, I hear ya Bob, you can’t trust them Orientals. The people or the rugs.
FINAL FLURRIES
Well-regarded welterweight prospect Mike Jones will headline the December 5th Telefutura show from the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pa…..Again, if the boxing business is dead – it’s in America. But it seems that in places like Montreal and other foreign markets, they are playing to packed houses in electric settings. What gives? Well, they have real promoters who develop local attractions and just don’t stuff their fighters into any casino that gives them two bucks. They also don’t seem to have nearly as much network interference….Santana Moss is the Allen Iverson of the NFL. Pound-for-pound, he’s as explosive as they come….I have a feeling Penn State is bound for the Orange Bowl…..I went to the local show at the Doubletree in Ontario, and lightweight Luis Ramos got a good learning experience in moving to 8-0 by decisioning the game Sadot Vazquez in six. I think Ramos is a real prospect. Also on that card was Ronnie Rios, who made his pro debut. Folks, I know it’s early, but I love this kid?s blend of quickness, hand-speed, power and body punching. He’s just 18 and he has some possibilities…..Sources tell me that the Hopkins-Pavlik PPV did under 200,000 buys. I guess Joe the Plumber and the like really don’t have that much discretionary income….Andre Johnson of the Texans is the best WR in the NFL, IMO….Steve Carbone and I are taking over for Dave Smith on his afternoon shift (3-7 pm, pacific) on 830AM on Thursday and Friday. If you enjoy torture, tune in….
