While some promoters in our sport continue to act as television programmers and others as want to be marketing firms, the two most recognized faces in fight promoting have chosen to return to rare form this weekend in Las Vegas. Not in rare form in terms of actually promoting, both promoters are almost always busy putting on events in some form or another. However, this time, they are returning to the big stage of boxing pay-per-view events by collaborating with one another. ?Relentless: Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Mayorga? marks the first time that both Bob Arum and Don King have shared promoting duties in five years.
During a time when the sport (other than Manny Pacquiao events) has fallen to the wayside in terms of a mainstream audience, the sport?s two best promoters felt the time was right for their return together. Not only will their return give fight fans (us hardcore nuts) some excitement with the possibilities of fights that the combination of both stables could provide, their reunion also gives at least this writer hope that boxing and the events that come from the sport could be heading back to the spotlight and frontal lobes of the mainstream public.
While the history is already there for all to see regarding the special contrast this relationship has produced, it?s what the future could hold for the sport that has fans chomping at the bit. As is the case with many trades in this life, one needs to truly worry about the skills he possesses and crafts in order to achieve greatness. In the case of Bob and Don, when it comes to promoting separately, they are flat-out juggernauts. However, when they find that the time is right for them to get together, they have simply produced all-time classic events.
Like the fighters in the first promotion these two shared (The ?Thrilla in Manila?), these two promoters are a stark contrast to one another that, when combined, always allow the attributes that make each entity great shine in the bright lights. On their own, both Don and Bob have always nurtured their fighters into stars of the sport, unlike other so-called promoters. It?s when the next level of mainstream audience is ripe for the picking that they decide to join forces.
Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya (you would think he would apply this method to his own stable of fighters), Julio Cesar Chavez and Mike Tyson (and the list of stars goes on?) came from or were at their best when promoted by either King or Arum. Now, with all of their internal limits exhausted, each reached out to his favorite counterpart. Arum knows that King and his stable of names are just one phone call away and vice versa. As a result, the sports world and public are treated to not just fights but big events.
These events, not just good looking fights on paper in a displaced location, but actual events that the public sinks its teeth into have transcended what would take place in the ring on fight night. Usually what went transpired was a welcome addition to an event that was success for the sport despite any one fight itself. However, two fighters in almost any fight deserved to be in the spotlight then and, as a result, you almost always received can?t-miss action on fight night. This never left a doubt in fans? minds why they and non-comped celebrities paid top-dollar to attend these events, while consumers at home didn?t regret shelling out money to purchase the event on pay television.
So as the two greats of the sport get in bed with each other for the first time in five years, its clear this time around that the duo is teaming up and the juice they bring to a seriously depleted and dehydrated boxing landscape is going to be that much sweeter this time around.
?This one is vintage. It?s like a fine wine; it gets better with age, said King about this Saturday?s event, recently. ?This one is something that is very gratifying. You always want to get something that will cause a lot of unrest and a lot of drama. Surprisingly, we are delivering on this fight so far, I?ll keep my fingers crossed because I know my fighter is crazy and so does Bob. But this is the most promotable fight that?s out there today.?
It?s clear that King will always be the mouthpiece component in a co-promotion or any promotion that he is involved in, for that matter. However, with both men at the age of 79, Arum isn?t staying quiet or coy with how he feels the state of the sport is currently in when it comes to the art of promoting.
?There?s never been a better salesman in boxing than Don King,? he said. ?I worked my tail off as a promoter because I had such a measuring stick, a bar to reach. I think Don made me a lot better a promoter than I would have been and I think I made Don a better promoter than he would have been.
?Contrast this to the other so-called promoters today who all they can do when they get competition is whine and complain and shriek that a promoter has their fighters fighting their own fighters instead of getting out and competing against me and Don. These guys don?t deserve to be called promoters,? Arum added.
Bob Arum hits the nail on the head regarding other promoters trying to make large events within their own stables, using unproven fighters to push others. It is proven that it doesn?t work and most importantly, it turns off the public from the sport.
With Top Rank pulling two of the biggest names in the sport away from the biggest network in the sport (Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto moving from HBO to Showtime) for at least three fights, it?s clear that Arum and King have one goal in mind, to take boxing back into every home in the country and they don?t need to be in bed with a supposed network of champions in order to do it.
Step one was getting Pacquiao, who is already a household name, to burst through the ceiling that HBO presents in terms of viewers. Remember, HBO is a paid subscription-based channel. Top Rank moved Pacquiao to Showtime, who is a sister network to CBS, a network that is not only a non-subscription-based station but is a network that reaches every home in the country with a working television. Additionally, CBS is a network that isn?t a stranger to the sport.
Former lightweight world champion Ray ?Boom Boom? Mancini was a huge star for the network in the late ?70s and early ?80s. His connection to the everyday man was impeccable and at times, Mancini was the most watched fighter in the world. This of course occurred without him having a perfect record.
So with Arum and Top Rank making the right moves to set up their fighters to be viewed and appreciated by larger audiences, the timing was perfect to reunite with King to create events that the masses would be interested in. Enter ?Relentless.? What a perfect way for the two promoters to have a ?tune-up? opportunity to co-promote an event with two well-known fighters.
It?s clear that their advanced ages has not made these guys pump the brakes at all. Thank the boxing gods that this is the case. All I can say is whatever you may think about the actual event this weekend as far as the fights and fighters involved, it?s good to see these two back together again, if not just for our own viewing pleasure, but for the fact that if they still weren?t around, who would ensure this sport sustains the low pulse it does? This sport is currently in crisis mode; with these two guys around, there seems to be hope that brighter days are coming. At least Don King thinks so.
?I never would have known how good I was if I wouldn?t have had Bob Arum,? gushed King. ?So I?ve always been able to be a promoter of the people and for the people and by the people with my magic lines and my people ties. And so when you have somebody who is formidable, you have to deal with what is real and you cannot rest on your laurels. You?ve got to make the next one better than the last one. And so he?s always been there sniffing at me, which means I have to go out there and work that much harder to bring the people the best in boxing.?
Arum and Top Rank, like King, are not saying that they are suddenly going to work exclusively with one another, although it does seem that what they look for in a co-promotion dance partner is not easy to find. ?I have no problem dealing with another promoter. The operative word is ?promoter.? Don King is a promoter,? said Arum. ?He knows how to sell a fight and he knows how to sell an event. We don?t fight with each other while we do the event. We promote the event and we know what the goal is. I mean, look around today; other than maybe Kathy Duva, how many real promoters are out there in boxing in this country? I say very few. There are free riders who make deals with a network or some Indian casinos and they call themselves promoters? To me, that?s not a promoter.?
After Thanksgiving, I mentioned that I saw both Don King and Floyd Mayweather sitting courtside at a Miami Heat-Philadelphia Sixers game. We all know whom Top Rank and Bob Arum promotes as their top star but if any movement is going to occur with the 10,000-pound elephant in the room (or 10,000-pound fight), who better to co-promote an event of this magnitude? Now we here at Maxboxing.com didn?t make our bones on speculation, so I?ll end it simply. If all the egos in the room are going to cooperate and controlled to pull this thing off, I?ll take a lawyer and crazy-like-a-fox promoter over any of their golden contemporaries any day.
[Writer?s Note: I don?t care if I?m never invited to a Victor Ortiz fight again?]
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Regarding the history of the sport and the events that Bob and Don have put on in the past, I mentioned that their first gig together was the classic Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight in Manila. However, it was Sugar Ray Leonard against Roberto Duran in Montreal that really was the first event of its kind.
See, while the ?Thrilla in Manila? was a co-promotion, King was really the lead promoter and Arum was in a supporting role. The Duran-Leonard fight was not just the first fight where they really shared the duties but also the first modern pay-per-view fight. Closed-circuit fights had stopped running in 1976 and in 1980, with the advancements in cable television, Bob and Don were able to provide the masses with the first modern fight card at home.
Aside from the nostalgic ?Thrilla? and the record breaking first Duran-Leonard fight, Arum and King combined for other great cards like Trinidad-De La Hoya and Leonard- Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
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