Like most normal people, fight promoters like to sleep in their own beds from time to time. Working for a major boxing promoter, and I worked for the (Don) King himself, is like joining the circus. You become a road warrior, going anywhere a site fee or otherwise suitable venue can be found. You’re not going to be home very often to greet the mailman or to feed the cat. And, trust me, self feeding cats are hard to find. Which brings me to “Believe It Or Not,” the nickname for Saturday night’s HBO PPV TV event in Los Angeles headlined by a light heavyweight title bout between Ageless Wonder Bernard BHop Hopkins and n’eer do well Chadwick Dawson. On the surface, one might ask why in the hell Philadelphian Hopkins is fighting a fighter from New Haven, Ct., in a city where there is no such thing as decent pizza, let alone the marvelous clam pies you can get at Pepe’s in New Haven. I say it’s so that the Golden Boy staff can sleep in their own beds. But, beyond that, I say who cares where BHop and Chadwick fight? It’s not like anyone has had the temerity to pitch this fight as being “by popular demand.” Since he turns age 47 on his next birthday, it’s likely that this is Hopkins last West Coast ring appearance. So, if you’re a real fight fan, you will go to the Staples Center, because this is an historic occasion. Neither Golden Boy or any other promoter will be bringing in any 50 year old fighters in PPV TV main events anytime soon. The old joke was that funnyman WC Fields wanted “On the whole, I’d rather be in Philadelphia” etched on his gravestone. The older jokes were that, in any given contest, first prize was a week in Philadelphia, second prize was two weeks in Philadelphia and the consolation prize was a month in Philly. Golden Boy figures to sell a few tickets off the name of Jorge Linares and maybe Antonio DeMarco. But, if people don’t come to watch “The Executioner” do his shtick, it’s their loss. This is really a “One Night Only” performance.
