With the boxing scene slightly quiet and anxiously pending the announcement of Floyd Mayweather?s and Canelo Alvarez? opponents for May 5, the leading topic this past few weeks has centered on a proposed bout between top featherweights Nonito Donaire and Abner Mares.
Twitter shots spearheaded the campaigns for the last few weeks, and last Friday Golden Boy Promotions (Mares) officially threw out the first punch by sending a $3 million dollar offer and contract in the direction of Top Rank (Donaire).
Boxingscence.com procured the document which is available to view with this link: http://www.boxingscene.com/donaire-vs-mares-full-contract-details-revealed?61876
At both of Donaire?s two Los Angeles based fights at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California in 2012 (against Jeffrey Mathebula and Toshiaki Nishioka in title winning and defending efforts) Mares was ringside and gave interviews to all who cared to listen, calling out Donaire at his own fights from ringside.
Photo: Chris Farina / Top Rank
Donaire as well has not been quiet, shy or shown signs of running away in his post-fight interviews or while social networking to the masses.
In this You Tube video, Mares, still welted and bruised from his tough out against Anselmo Moreno this past November, calls out Donaire for a match.
The very next month, Donaire blasted out vet Jorge Arce and was quoted by both HBO and this piece as being willing for a Mares match up.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/boxing/2012/12/15/nonito-donaire-knockout-jorge-arce-super-bantamweight-title/1772511/
So will we see these two fighters get in the ring and mix it up like them and each of their factions have done via the internet and interviews?
Perhaps not in their next bouts. And perhaps not ever, really.
This fight has apparently already ?died on the vine?, with TR wishing to stick to their April commitment to HBO and looking to see what happens from there, while Mares will be forced to either bide his time or look elsewhere in the first quarter of 2013 if he wants to remain active.
Once its made official that the fight is not official, expect the usual blame-game, finger pointing to ensue from both sides vociferously.
Photo: Gene Blevins ? Hoganphotos / GBP
We as boxing followers are used to the ups and downs, fallouts, cancellations, bluffs, pops for steroids, you name it. As a boxing fan, these intangibles are commonplace and often disrupt best laid out plans and fights that were often too good to be true. Most notable of those affairs is of course the never happened Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao bout, but also what recently comes to mind is the Brandon Rios/Yuriorkis Gamboa fallout when Gamboa suddenly decided he didn?t want to fight.
This after months of hype and a devoted fight freak following that was lead to believe they had a Fight of the Year candidate coming their way.
Just imagine a basketball fan having to swallow the news that their beloved Miami Heat will not be playing against the Los Angeles Lakers or refusing to engage in a contest with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It would be unheard of for two teams in any of the major sports to refuse to engage against each other, yet in boxing it is almost commonplace for important fights to stall, postpone, and even never end up happening.
And sadly, it looks like again, boxing fans will be shorted out of yet another intriguing match up. This all at the hands of the companies that represent the guys throwing punches.
Just like the case was with the May/Pac bout negotiations, (again featuring the two top companies in the sport in GBP and TR) when all is said and done, a little blame can be sprinkled on top of all parties all down the line.
It has now become almost comical to read feature stories with exclusive interviews given by the heads of these companies, as within a few inspirational lines that lead you to believe positive will prevail and a fight will be made, mud is thrown across the street and hurdles such as ?which premium network will televise?, to ?which company gets top billing? and even ?which sponsor will lead? are thrown out, as if the regular boxing fan even cares what logos are ironed onto the canvas and which TV network symbol is in the bottom corner of the television.
None of the above listed issues, while understandably important to each aspect of a boxing event in the economic scheme of things, should hinder a fight from being made.
The promotional companies circle and jab each other consistently when it should be their fighters doing exactly that in the ring but are derailed from doing so.
These successful factions are big money generators and have no problems doing business without each other, and as recently seen last year and probably will be repeated this year, will even do business against each other head to head on the same day at the Mecca of boxing that is Las Vegas on Mexican-themed holidays.
