Last weekend saw four major world title fights take place, two involving young developing stars signed to Golden Boy, another signed to rival organization Top Rank, and unquestionably, this time it was the former who emerged victorious in the ongoing battle between the two companies.
Of the three fights on offer, (a fourth otherwise interesting bout between Chris John and Daud Cino Yordan not being readily available in many parts of the world), two of the overwhelming favorites were upset.
Firstly Amir Khan as expected defeated Irish challenger Paul McCloskey, although under circumstances few could have predicted.
Secondly Victor Ortiz became a world champion for the first time, upsetting Andre Berto.
And lastly Juan Manuel Lopez was stopped by Orlando Salido in what most predicted would be a routine defense.
From a promoters point of view it was the riskiest bout that ended up being by far the most entertaining.
Putting Ortiz in against Berto, though not a typical promotional move, in the end paid off.
After losing to Marcos Maidana, dispelling much of the hype surrounding him and having drawn with Lamont Peterson since, if anything the bout with Berto was a last chance of sorts for Ortiz.
At light welterweight there was no clear path to a title given that promotional stablemate Amir Khan holds one of the four titles, and that he is in talks to fight Tim Bradley who holds two of the remaining three.
The remaining major title is held by Zab Judah, although once again this appears to be a no go since Judah recently claimed that he will be defending his title against Juan Manuel Marquez in the summer.
The obvious thing to do for Ortiz then, a huge light welterweight for whom making the 140lb limit wasn’t easy, was to move up to welterweight.
And waiting for him was WBC champion Andre Berto.
Berto was the favorite, still undefeated and was against a fighter both moving up in weight and who had a reputation as quitting when the going got tough. Something Berto has had to overcome regularly throughout his career.
Victor Ortiz upsets Andre Berto in thriller
Ortiz’s victory then was possibly a surprise to his Golden Boy handlers. Always publicly supporting him of course, but certainly not unaware of the odds against him.
Oscar De La Hoya, tweeting before the fight:
“From what I’ve studied Berto when he gets hit on the chin he kinda wobbles a bit.so being the fact that Ortiz is talented and powerful…..”
Golden Boy not only now have a reliable presence in the previously Top Rank dominated welterweight division, but a brief glance at the rankings also reveals that almost all of the top 25 fighters in the division are older than Ortiz, with the top three all being in their thirties.
Meaning that before too long he could find himself as the top rated welterweight in the world by virtue of the fact that everyone above him will likely have retired in the next three years.
Ortiz’s unexpected triumph also comes after last weekend’s gripping encounter between Marcos Maidana and Erik Morales, a bout which was panned by critics beforehand but turned out to be much closer than most imagined.
Golden Boy’s WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan was also victorious at the weekend, albeit under different circumstances than Ortiz’s thriller against Berto.
Khan’s defense against Paul McCloskey was stopped in the 6th round after a clash of heads caused a cut above McCloskey’s eye, giving Khan a technical decision win.
Khan retains against McCloskey, targets Tim Bradley next
Despite winning however, Khan’s fight was marred somewhat by the fact that it was refused pay per view status by Sky Sports, Khan’s UK television partner, on the grounds that the undercard was lacking in drawing power.
After being offered a spot on what his team regarded as a lesser channel within the Sky Sports group, Khan eventually ended up on little known pay per view channel Primetime. Apparently settling for around one tenth of the purse he would have made had the event been aired by Sky pay per view.
Why is this further good news for Golden Boy?
With Khan less inclined to fight in his native England, he is instead more likely to fight more often in the United States, where Golden Boy are in charge of promoting his fights.
As Khan becomes more famous and develops a bigger following this will also mean making more money from his fights and that Golden Boy will have more of a hand in who he faces.
Sky Sports fiasco makes future U.K fights less likely for Amir Khan
On the other side of the promotional divide things weren’t quite as rosy this weekend, with previously undefeated and top rated featherweight Juan Manuel Lopez being controversially finished in the eighth round at the hands of Orlando Salido.
Not only does this diminish Lopez’s drawing power but it also substantially postpones at the very least the much talked about showdown with fellow champion Yuriorkis Gamboa, who beat Salido only last year.
Furthermore it undermines Bob Arum’s recent comments regarding the validity of Golden Boy’s match ups, including Maidana vs. Morales and Ortiz vs. Berto, both of which he was critical about.
Of course the battle between the two promotional giants will probably never be fully won by either side, and Top Rank will certainly have their victories in the future as well.
For now though Golden Boy are riding high, and Bob Arum has some plans to adjust regarding the future of the featherweight division.
Eric Sampson, Pitt: “Things couldn’t have gone better for Golden Boy lately, Arum will be seething”
Ralph Lindemann, Erie: “I bet GBP will take over and get much bigger when Don King and Bob Arum aren’t around anymore”
