It seems to me that if you regularly read the boxing columns from a number if sites, you might begin to feel after awhile that there is an overall media bias against Golden Boy Promotions (GBP). It wasn?t always this way but it seems to have developed over time. And, if it?s not a story in print, there are the subtle whispers and snickers from behind the scenes that evidence my point.
My experience has been that Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank, is spoken of in far more respectful terms that either GBP CEO Richard Schaeffer or president and resident cash cow Oscar De La Hoya, who has always been a media darling, yet somehow seems to have suffered somewhat of a fall from grace, justified or not.
Golden Boy is regularly criticized for their cozy relationship with HBO, their ongoing failure to develop champions in-house, and their methods of procuring free agents. They?ve been called the George Steinbrenner of boxing, the Wal-Mart of boxing as well as some other odious terms.
Now they?re being castigated for their desire to put big, old Oscar in the ring with little Manny Pacquiao in Oscar?s farewell fight, instead of a serious challenge, such as Antonio Margarito. Manny will have huge deficits in weight, height, reach, and undoubtedly, strength, but he is the sport?s pound for pound best and is a genuine international superstar. Obviously, this is about financial rewards rather than competition.
I?ve gone on record in previous columns about my thoughts on these and other matters involving Golden Boy, so in the interests of fair play and an open dialogue, we sought out some opinions from the Golden Boy perspective.
Hall of Fame promoter Don Chargin is a consultant for Golden Boy and a man who, in his prime at 80, is as knowledgeable as anyone in the game. While he?s a loyal Golden Boy associate, Chargin is nobody?s yes man.
?There are times that I disagree with some of the things that Golden Boy does,? said Chargin. ?And, I tell them what I think.?
On the alleged HBO-GBP marriage of convenience, Chargin said, ?For years and years Arum was the only one who could get a date on ESPN. When people complained he said, ?It?s because I?m the best.? But when someone else gets the dates, they start complaining.
?These things I read about HBO giving Golden Boy too many dates are ridiculous. These guys at HBO aren?t going to jeopardize their jobs and you can imagine how many times Arum and [Don] King go to the higher ups at HBO and complain that they?re playing favorites.?
Reportedly HBO is close to making a deal with GBP to promote a set number of fights a year through the next five years. This carries a measure of risk as the promotional company has yet to develop a star and some current fan favorites are fading from the scene.
For years, Golden Boy has ridden on the shoulders of Oscar, Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, and Marco Antonio Barrera. Barrera recently defected, a move I sense was welcomed by the GBP team.
In his last fight, a loss to Manny Pacquiao, his team and family disrupted the post fight press conference by accusing everyone and anyone of fixing the fight. He didn?t pay his trainer, or anyone for that matter, and rid himself of everyone connected to him. And it wasn?t the first time.
That?s a lot of aggravation from a guy who, despite his Hall of Fame career, is now well past his prime. Barrera?s value as a Golden Boy partner without a viable fight career was virtually zero.
On the Golden Boy website, its mission statement says in part, ?We want to offer promising young fighters a platform from which they can showcase their talents to a global audience and want to offer our viewers and fans high quality programming.
?Golden Boy is committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining the best and brightest young fighters to help achieve our mission.?
Yet, if you look at the GBP fall schedule the names De La Hoya, Hopkins, Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Joel Casamayor and Jeff Lacy are prominent on the list.
Chargin says, ?They will sign free agents but they turn down a million free agents as well.
?Pavlik had no one to fight and he sought out Hopkins. Mosley is a great kid, a great champion who can still fight. You can?t just throw him off to the side and say you?ve outlived your usefulness.?
The question is however, does Golden Boy scout and recruit prospects and can they break the barrier and develop new talent?
As for right now, according to Chargin, ?Shelly is the one who usually gets the fighters.?
Shelly Finkel is not only one of the premier fight managers in the game but he has long been acknowledged as having a keen eye for talent, arguably one of the best in the game. Finkel supplied the prime talent that marked the glory years of Main Events, and then did the same thing for Gary Shaw to help get his promotional company off the ground. Now Finkel is bringing his talents to Golden Boy in much the same way.
On the subject of the historic difficulty of Golden Boy in developing new prospects, Finkel said, ?I think that?s going to change with me bringing a couple of kids to them. They have good matchmakers now. They were young, only been around for a couple of years and learning the ropes.?
Finkel enthusiastically singled out blue chip names such as the Velasquez bothers, Carlos and Juan, Danny Garcia, Julio Garcia, Hylon Williams and Marco Periban as examples of upcoming prospects who are now in the Golden Boy stable.
How soon, if ever, it will take for these prospects to become relevant players might be argued, but Finkel is convinced that the future looks bright from a recruiting standpoint.
Meanwhile, at least for the present, they have the advantage that fighters want to come to them. Golden Boy doesn?t have to put on a sales job to lure in fighters. Kids see that GB logo on HBO and dream of being there someday.
?I talk to Oscar quite a bit and we have many good conversations about fighting, styles, and fighters,? Chargin said. ?No one realizes what a down to earth kid he is.
?I know Oscar and Richard as well as anyone and it really upsets me because I see them when there?s no newspaper guys around and I can see what their ultimate goals are.?
As far as the De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight goes, the Hall of Famer said, ?Oscar sells tickets, and you watch, Oscar-Pacquiao will go through the roof. You?re going to have the ultra fanatical Oscar fans and the really fanatical Pacquiao fans.?
But what about Antonio Margarito and Oscar?s legacy?
Chargin brought up a salient point. Bob Arum hasn?t mentioned Margarito since he began negotiating the Pacquiao fight.
?Oscar?s in a position where he can?t do right,? Chargin said. ? He said before the fight that he would fight Cotto but not Margarito. The legacy that he worries about is that he wants the Mexican fans in his corner.?
