Between the purse amounts for next month’s David Diaz-Manny Pacquiao clash and the winning purse bid for the mandated Nate Campbell-Joel Casamayor rematch, it appears that gas prices aren’t all that’s on the rise these days.
The lightweight division is the current sect to reap the benefits of inflation. Such news was never more evident than at Tuesday’s purse bid to determine who would earn the right to promote Campbell-Casamayor II (should both fighters sign on for the fight). Promoter Don King left the rest of the pack in the dust, submitting a whopping $1,220,000.
Casamayor’s promoter, Golden Boy Promotions was the next highest bidder, though considerably short with their offer of $571,000. Even with a 50/50 purse split, each fighter stands to make more with King’s winning bid than Golden Boy’s total amount.
The purse bid results justifies Campbell’s claim that King (who along with One Punch Productions co-promotes Campbell) is one of the few left in the sport that will put on a show with or without the assurance of network backing, while taking shots at Golden Boy Promotions and their dependence on televised dates before making a move.
If there’s a downside to the joyous news, it’s that the bid itself doesn’t guarantee a fight will take place. That largely depends on the actions of each fighter over the next five business days. Campbell has been on board ever since using Juan Diaz as a human mop in winning three separate alphabet titles this past March.
How much Casamayor’s stance has changed remains to be seen.
The Cuban deliberately held out for a purse bid, in part to see how much would be put on the table, and how it would compare with his offer for a potential September dance with Diaz. Unofficially, King’s bid exceeds that amount, though not by much, and perhaps not enough to entice Casamayor to purse the rematch any time soon, if at all.
Also to consider is this: with King as the winning bidder, it means he not only promotes this fight, but gets options on the winner. Should Campbell emerge, it’s a moot point: the Galaxxy Warrior is already part of the DKP stable. But if Casamayor were to repeat his January 2003 win, it throws a monkey wrench into Golden Boy’s apparent plans for an in-house tournament among its own lightweights.
Casamayor could steal a page out of Antonio Tarver’s playbook. King won the purse bid for the Tarver-Roy Jones rematch in May 2004. Tarver won by 2nd round knockout, and owed King options on his next alphabet light heavyweight title defense. The Magic Man, however, pulled a disappearing act, ditching the hardware, thus freeing himself of obligation to King or his mandatory challenger.
The move allowed him to pursue a fight with Glen Johnson, for more money and no sanctioning fees. Of course, Tarver lost, but won the rematch, as well as follow-up rubber match with Jones, clearing one career-high payday after another with each fight.
It would be a risk on Casamayor’s part, looking more vulnerable than ever in the advanced stages of his career (he turns 37 in July), but should he beat Campbell in the return go, he could always vacate the alphabet title, while still reigning as linear champ.
In doing so, he’ll have had enjoyed the best of both worlds; making more money, and defending, in a linear sense, against his top challenger. He then brings even more to the table for a future date with Juan Diaz, Jesus Chavez, a Michael Katsidis or any other lightweight Golden Boy can get their hands on, rather than having to settle for less than what another promoter believes to be his net worth for a prize fight.
If anything, Campbell is the one that stands to lose the most. At 36 and only now enjoying a career revival after a series of setbacks in recent years, a second loss to Casamayor could leave him operating without a net. While King has proven his loyalty to his fighter, the message is clear that other promoters (particularly Golden Boy) aren’t terribly interested in matching up their lightweights against the Galaxxy Warrior.
Even with a win, Campbell would be looking at future mandatories against undefeated challengers Joan Guzman and Amir Khan for the same reasons as mentioned before ? nobody else is lining up to fight him.
It can be argued that given the aforementioned, Casamayor was not only right in prolonging matters, but would still be justified in passing on a Campbell fight and proceeding with the plans laid out by Golden Boy. But doing so would leave him wide open to criticism.
Regardless of whether you support (or lend any credence to) the alphabet organizations, or if you are of the one-champ-per-division society, the fact of the matter is that Casamayor and Campbell are the top two rated lightweights in the world. Any debate of who’s the division’s best instantly ends with a fight between the two.
It’s not a fight that needs to be marinated and slow-roasted before serving: both are in their mid-30’s, and quite frankly, how much more does anyone expect there to be in the pot for this fight? How many people expected King or anyone else to offer a two-comma purse bid?
So while the business side of this can be argued and/or defended to death, the fact of the matter is, the price is right ? or as right as it will ever be – for the two best lightweights in the world to dance together. Given how much is on the table, and who Casamayor would instead next face should he pass (Campbell’s most recent victim), the ends clearly justify the ends ? and no amount of spin would justify anything other than Campbell-Casamayor taking place on or around August 27.
JAKE-N-DA-MAILBAG
Most of the weekend haul was related to the VERSUS doubleheader this past weekend.
Golden Boy Promotions did a good thing in arranging for stateside fans to experience a rare Saturday afternoon of boxing, and should be praised for their efforts.
Many have instead blamed them for the results produced by Ricky Hatton and Paulie Malignaggi, both of whom were victorious in separate junior welterweight bouts, though neither in particularly impressive or entertaining fashion. Not the type of review you want to see when the card was intended to create anticipation for a head-on collision later this year.
With that, two quick notes voicing their displeasure:
Thank God for the Internet as you did not have to order up tons of paper and ink to cover both fights you did! I will stay away from Hatton, don’t like his style never will whatever, of course he won! What a surprise!!! KK Guess I did not stay away as much as I intended, next up …”Paulie” as if I was befriended to that fraud as if I suddenly became “I”talian…please, please. I was entertained by his first victory over N’dou, but his lost against Ngoudjo was pathetic …oh! Yeah he won forgot lol! And now now we have to see these 2 pathetic non fighters, one who leans and holds and hits more from his elbows and another one who cannot hit a fly cleanly please, please!!
I know you have a job to do dang! I just want Hatton to go down again and Malignani to dissapear but looks like like they will milk..!
Just had to rant I did not watch the fight, glad I didn’t!
Denis, Montreal
Jake’s Response: Wow, fights so bad, even those who didn’t watch it were disappointed!
Much like HBO’s Hatton-Urango/Castillo-Ngoudjo doubleheader last year, sometimes the quickest and most efficient way to a point is a straight line. Showcase cards work only when both fights (or the A-side fighters) are entertaining, regardless of how lopsided ? April’s Cotto/Margarito doubleheader comes to mind. But two fights that don’t stand much of a chance on paper of being entertaining is a recipe for disaster, especially when they live down to expectations, as was the case this weekend.
In Paulie’s defense, he was contractually obligated to rematch N’Dou. Sure he could’ve ditched the title, taken any given tune-up while awaiting a Hatton fight. Instead, he did what was intended to be the right thing. And while his style is certainly an acquired taste (I’m a fan, but also a friend, which I admit makes me extremely biased), he’s always the first to admit when he’s on the delivering end of a stinker. He owned up to the hair extensions being a VERY bad idea, and didn’t sugarcoat his performance; he won, but didn’t gain any fans. If nothing else, he alienated at least 55,000 in England, and however many hundreds of thousands watching on VERSUS.
That said, in an era where promoters can take a giant eraser to a recent loss in selling the public on a fighter’s credentials prior to a big fight, the right amount of spin will make this card go away as Hatton-Malignaggi creeps closer.
Spot on with the assessment of the Versus card mate. Hatton should have lost if he was in there with anybody decent.
As for “growing up Malignaggi” I’ve never been a fan. Just what was he thinking? Coming into the fight with long hair. I was almost giddy upon seeing him get punched in the face while his hair was obstructing his vision. He deserved it too.
His career as a fighter has been based on the beat down he took against Cotto. Although it’s quite admirable the punishment he took I just don’t want to watch him on TV. If your going to the Vegas times I wouldn’t mind getting a cocktail for the cotto fight. Cheers
Sincerley, Tommy Salami
Jake’s Response: Many seem to share your sentiments regarding Malignaggi’s bad hair day. His promoter, Lou DiBella, saw it coming a mile away and was vehemently against the idea. Lesson learned for all, though to his credit, one Paulie realized basically the moment the fight began.
He must be doing something right, though, to keep securing decent paydays and premium televised dates. I mean, DiBella can’t have that many favors to cash in, does he? A quote from an interview I did with Paulie way back when, still stands out ? and rings true ? to this very day “Love me, hate? just make sure you remember me.” It’s quite clear in Malignaggi’s case, most boxing fans fall into one category or another ? they’re either a fan, or they despise him. Either way, they’re still talking about him. In this racket, negative publicity is still publicity.
I’m inclined to agree with you to a point on Hatton. I believe he’s been on the slide for the past couple of years, having spent far too long padding his record against no-hopers, and peaking with the Tszyu fight. I don’t make him a runaway favorite against any Top Ten, and if pressed to think about it long enough, would pick a few to beat him outright.
Perhaps he realizes it as well, as he keeps insisting a Mayweather rematch is the fight he most desires. I’m sure the reasons are more financial than anything else (including pride), but wanting to go back to 147, where he’s 1-1, and his one win highly questionable, is, in my humble opinion, suggestive that he’s no longer terribly interested in ruling 140 with an iron fist, as the risk will soon no longer be worth the reward.
Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Comments/questions can be submitted to [email protected].
