LAS VEGAS ? It was only 10 years ago, though it seems like a lifetime, that Top Rank boasted a star-studded roster that seemed like the boxing equivalent of the ?27 Yankees.
Its roster in 2005 was filled with a deep collection of talent. It included Oscar De La Hoya, far and away the sport?s top attraction at the time. It should be noted, though, that after the Golden Boy took on Bernard Hopkins in a middleweight title fight in 2004, he didn?t fight in 2005 and was making the move away from Top Rank for good.
Timothy Bradley is a high-quality fighter, but he can’t carry a pay-per-view. (Reuters)
He was, though, still on Top Rank?s roster.
He was joined by Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez.
That was just at the top, though the company had quality fighters up and down its lineup, including Paulie Ayala, Antonio Margarito and a young Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
On Saturday, Top Rank will host a showdown for the WBO welterweight title between champion Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios at the Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV?s campus.
It will only be Top Rank?s second HBO date of the second half of 2015, following Terence ?Bud? Crawford?s impressive victory on Oct. 24 over Dierry Jean in Crawford?s hometown of Omaha, Neb.
Including pay-per-view cards, there have been 16 cards on HBO to this point in 2015, with Bradley-Rios becoming the 17th. The only shows that Top Rank has been the lead promoter on were Crawford-Jean on Oct. 24, Bradley-Jessie Vargas on June 27, Nicholas Walters-Miguel Marriaga on June 13, Zou Shiming-Amnet Ruenroeng on March 7 and Rios-Mike Alvarado on Jan. 24.
It?s a good amount, but contrast that to 2014, when Top Rank was the lead promoter of 12 of HBO?s 21 shows.
The company is clearly in a transition era, and it?s waiting for the mother lode of talent it signed out of the 2012 Olympic class to blossom.
Top Rank signed nine Olympians, including six medalists, from the 2012 Games in London. Its future is very heavily tied to their success.
Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko, who won gold in both 2008 and 2012 and is regarded as one of the greatest amateur boxers in history, has already won a professional world title.
Lomachenko, who fights Romulo Koasicha on Saturday?s Bradley-Rios undercard, is an exceptional talent who fought for a world title in his second pro bout and won one in his third.
In addition to signing Shiming, a gold medalist from China, Top Rank also has gold medalists Ryoto Murata of Japan and Egor Mekhontcev of Russia, silver medalist Esquiva Falco of Brazil and bronze medalist Alexander Gvozdik of Ukraine, as well as non-medalists Jose Ramirez of the U.S., Felix Verdejo of Puerto Rico and Oscar Valdez of Mexico.
That haul has put the company in position to repeat its dominance of a decade ago, when it clearly had the biggest stars in the sport under contract.
The difference between 2005 and 2015 is that the bulk of Top Rank?s talent is still developing. As Baseball America proves every year with its popular Top 10 and Top 100 prospects lists, many can?t-miss prospects actually wind up missing.
When Manny Pacquiao retires, he’ll leave a huge void on Top Rank’s roster. (AFP)
The other, more important difference to a promoter is not only how those prospects develop as fighters but also whether they mature into money-making attractions.
The biggest ticket sellers of the 21st century include De La Hoya, Mayweather, Pacquiao and Cotto.
They were the fighters whom others called out. They were the cash cows, the men who routinely generated mega pay-per-view sales.
Is it feasible that any one of those nine Olympians Top Rank signed will become the next De La Hoya, Mayweather or Pacquiao?
Top Rank has a solid roster of talent, no doubt. The Bradley-Rios match, as an example, pits men who have been in some of the greatest bouts of recent times. The Bradley-Ruslan Provodnikov bout was the Yahoo Sports 2013 Fight of the Year, narrowly edging out Rios-Alvarado II.
Rios-Alvarado I in 2012 was simply one of the finest fights of the 21st century.
But what Top Rank lacks is superstars to replace its outgoing big names. Promoter Bob Arum said Pacquiao will fight only once more, on April 9, and then will retire. Pacquiao hasn?t confirmed that, but has suggested several times he?s strongly considering that possibility.
Crawford is one of the world?s best fighters, but is he a star outside of Omaha? That remains to be seen. Cotto is with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports.
Bradley and Rios, of course, are top-of-the-bill attractions, although neither is big enough to carry a pay-per-view. And it?s from major pay-per-view fights where the promoter makes a lot of money.
Marquez, like Pacquiao, is near the end of the line and has a fight, perhaps two, left in him before he?s done for good.
Their impending departure from the sport highlights Top Rank?s need for its 2012 signees to take the next step in their development and become stars.
Shiming is a star in his native China, but it?s unlikely he?s going to become much of an attraction outside his homeland.
Yet to be determined is how big of a star he remains in China. He captured a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, then, like Lomachenko, won gold in both 2008 and 2012.
But he wasn?t particularly competitive with Ruenroeng in his title fight loss in March and hasn?t fought since. It remains to be seen how much more Top Rank can get out of him, and with the gambling market in Macau in great turmoil, the company?s business in Asia could start to dwindle.
Top Rank is hoping prospect Felix Verdejo can carry it in the future. (Getty)
Lomachenko is a brilliant talent and there are many compelling bouts that could be made down the line for him in and around his weight class. But he?s not particularly media friendly, doesn?t speak English and seems unlikely to crossover to pay-per-view stardom.
Top Rank?s best bet on its current roster is Verdejo, the super featherweight who had to pull out of a Halloween bout because of injury.
He?s not only got the requisite boxing skills and punching power, but he?s got the personality and the willingness to do the work to hit superstardom.
It would be no shock if he became one of the biggest draws in the world in the next five years. It?s no guarantee, but with his talent, charisma and Top Rank?s marketing muscle behind him, it wouldn?t be wise to bet against him.
Super middleweight Gilberto ?Zurdo? Ramirez is only 24 and, though not in that highly regarded class of 2012, has talent and could become a Morales-level attraction in time.
Valdez is a good-looking prospect and performed well on a recent victory on TruTV.
But outside of Verdejo, it?s hard to look at that roster and predict that any of them will be stars at the level of Cotto, Morales and Marquez, let alone De La Hoya, Mayweather or Pacquiao.
Top Rank has great matchmakers and an eye for talent. It also has a willingness to spend money not only to acquire talent but develop it and market it.
It invested heavily in some of the world?s elite amateur fighters over the last several years. The company?s future will depend, in part, upon getting a return on that investment. There?s a chance it could be like 2005 all over again.
But there?s also a chance that those prospects flop or fail to develop. It?s going to be fascinating to watch it unfold.
