The Cold War between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank Inc. looks like it’s coming to (another) end, as GBP’s Richard Schaefer believes a deal for a fight between their fighter, Daniel Ponce de Leon, and Top Rank’s Yuriorkis Gamboa is going to happen:
“We did agree on the financial terms and the deal structure with Top Rank. The ball is in Top Rank’s court. But it looks like that fight is going to happen,” Schaefer said.
This one has been discussed recently and now looks set to go. Ponce de Leon is ready to go, and apparently Gamboa is, too. The deal hinged on Top Rank and Golden Boy being able to co-promote together for the first time in years, and in a strange twist, two of their worst rifts have helped end the war — at least for now.
It was just after Top Rank’s Nonito Donaire won a February HBO main event against Fernando Montiel that Golden Boy signed the Filipino star to a lucrative deal, with Donaire claiming his contract with Top Rank was up. But Top Rank disagreed, and they were ruled to be in the right by retired judge Daniel Weinstein, who has served as a neutral party when the companies have gotten ugly before.
About two months after that, in late May, we started hearing about the companies becoming more friendly after the Donaire hearing, with the two sides at least being able to talk informally. After Golden Boy’s Oscar de la Hoya went to rehab, he issued a public apology to Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Manny Pacquiao, which eventually led to them settling a defamation suit between the parties out of court.
Now, we’re knocking on the door of the first Top Rank and Golden Boy co-promotion since 2009. I know that Gamboa vs Ponce de Leon isn’t the major fight you’d love to see them come together for, but their willingness to work together at all is obviously a big deal. Without this fight, Gamboa would have to scrape and claw to find an opponent for September 10, his HBO return date. This also means that if, for instance, Manny Pacquiao and Victor Ortiz both win their big fights this fall, Pacquiao vs Ortiz is a legitimate possibility for 2012 in what would be a major attraction. It even probably helps the remote possibility of — I’m going there — Pacquiao vs Mayweather.
Simply put, Top Rank and Golden Boy working together is better for everyone, including “The Fans,” that little group everyone in boxing claims is their first concern.
