For the record, August 4 is not April Fool’s Day. So that means that the scheduled pay-per-view fight between Erik Morales and David Diaz probably isn’t a practical joke. What it is, however, on a more optimistic note, is something of an anomaly, as boxing appears to be slowly getting its house in order in the face of competition from other combat sports.
Morales is a near-legendary fighter, and many would argue that the world “near” could be removed from that moniker. He fought and beat a laundry list of many of the best super bantamweight, featherweight, and super featherweight fighters of his generation. Before his recent downturn, his only losses came to his arch-rival, Marco Antonio Barrera (Barrera’s record, on the other hand is much more chequered.)
But Morales is clearly a fighter on the downside of his career. In fact, this is probably the first time in history that a man who has lost four out of his last five fights has been given top billing on a boxing pay-per-view show.
But it’s not just that Morales has been losing a lot lately. It’s very apparent that the punishment he has absorbed, particularly in his recent bouts against Pacquiao, but also in his latest loss to Barrera, have taken a heavy toll. Even when he beat Pacquiao, he did so under heavy fire. People are already saying that that was the fight that “broke” him as a fighter, despite the ’W’. That might be a bit too neat and tidy an assessment, but it’s probably not an altogether inaccurate one, either.
Morales doesn’t have to apologize to anyone about his fight career, of course. But HBO might have to do some apologizing after what is sure to be a lacklustre PPV program.
Morales’ opponent in the main event is David Diaz. Diaz, you might recall, pulled off a somewhat stunning upset win over Jose Armando Santa Cruz a little under a year ago. After being drubbed for most of the match, the unknown and unheralded Diaz scored a surprising KO victory over the Santa Cruz, who is pretty unknown and unheralded himself.
That fight gave Diaz a nice boost of confidence, no doubt, plus a paper “interim” title. That means that those promoting his bout with Morales can call it a title fight. Right.
Diaz is a decent enough fighter, and everyone loves a good underdog story. But to put him in with a banged-up Morales and to try and charge people to see them go at it in the ring is a certifiably crazy idea. HBO knows that most fans will shy away from this fight, of course. The reason they can charge for it is a purely cynical one: they know that Morales has a built-in Mexican audience that will shell out to see their hero in what may be his last performance.
This isn’t the first time that HBO has pulled off this stunt: Barrera starred in an absolutely nonsensical PPV main event against Mzonke Fana a couple of years back. Even with the patriotic partisan fan base behind Barrera, however, the buy numbers for that one were pretty embarrassing. One would have thought that the network had learned its lesson.
Thankfully, this sorry card is looking more and more like the exception, rather than the rule, when it comes to HBO’s 2007 shows. For it seems that, finally, so many of the matches fans have been hoping for are finally going to happen.
It was recently announced that Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton have signed on to a fight for December 8th. This is a match-up that fans on both sides have been screaming for for years (though Hatton’s fans were a bit more muted until his recent destruction of Jose Luis Castillo). The hype on this one should approach Mayweather – De La Hoya when the date gets closer.
That’s not the only big thing happening on HBO this fall. On November 3rd, we get Joe Calzaghe taking on Mikkel Kessler. Again, except plenty of venom to pass back and forth between the partisan camps when the time arrives. Fans should also except a thrilling fight.
At the risk of sounding like a marketer for the TV networks, I’ll quickly go through the other great bouts they’ll be offering to us soon: September 29th, we get Jermain Taylor against Kelly Pavlik. October 6th, we get a rematch between Pacquiao and Barrera. October 13th, we get Juan Diaz against Julio Diaz. November 10th we get Miguel Cotto against Shane Mosley. Even September 15th’s main event between Juan Manuel Marquez and Jorge Barrios isn’t half bad.
You get the idea. The point is, there’s something going on here. Why, after fans have been complaining for so many years about the inability of promoters and networks to set up good fights, are we getting one of the most exciting line-up of bouts to come along in years? Surely it can’t be a coincidence.
Of course it isn’t. It seems as if the sport is finally waking up to the threat to its survival in the face of the surging popularity of UFC and other combat sports. Such sports were dismissed by boxing’s big-shots for years. But now it seems as if they finally realize that their livelihoods are at risk.
UFC was never going to kill boxing. But it could have dealt it a serious financial blow. Things were looking especially bleak earlier in the year, when the hype over Mayweather – De La Hoya smacked of desperation, while UFC cards were going off a couple of times a month with increasing viewership. Mayweather – De La Hoya came and went, people gave it a bit of attention, but then it went away. Meanwhile, UFC was showing up on he covers of America’s major sporting magazines. All signs were looking bad.
Now, however, it appears that boxing has managed to stabilize itself. Partly this is due to luck: since Miguel Cotto and Zab Judah’s thrilling brawl a couple of months back, the sport has seen a string of decent fights. Beyond that, though, the moneymen seem to delivering a more organized and powerful counterpunch to their upstart rival.
The Pacquiao – Barrera and Cotto – Mosley bouts mentioned above are happening because Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya managed to “patch up” the personal differences that were preventing their respective promotional companies from working with one another. After so much animosity had built up between the two men over the past several years, it seems rather interesting that they suddenly kissed and made up. Don’t get me wrong: it’s great that they did. But the timing does seem a tad convenient.
A little competition never hurt anyone. And it seems as if boxing has been given a jumpstart thanks to the emergence of rival claimants to its throne as the king of pugilistic sports. Many fans may not like UFC, but they can thank it for the great string of fights they are about to experience.
