So, everything went according to plan on the August 9 Brooklyn Showtime card. Danny Garcia got his highlight reel KO, after several tough assignments in a row. Lamont Peterson got his dominating win. Daniel Jacobs can officially call himself a champion, and did so in his backyard. All three did so by stoppage, and all 3 made money for very little risk, while making Al Haymon even richer. The Haymon backlash is certainly justified. His charges repeatedly dodge tough assignments, to the point where you can tell it is even irritating them.
Keith Thurman, Deontay Wilder, Gary Russell etc. are all very talented fighters who are taking on very limited opposition. Russell was finally forced to face a very tough assignment, and seemed ill-prepared by his soft-opposition to handle the task. However, the man is so powerful in his hold over boxing, that we are forced to deal with his cards. Not only that, but he is so reclusive, that we are forced to anticipate his next move. Throughout the telecast, the Showtime commentators were forced to refer to the current joke of a card as some sort of pre-cursor to another event. Haymon made no mention of his intentions, we are just hoping against hope that this is leading to a Quillin-Jacobs, Garcia-Peterson unification card in December. I hope so, but I would not bet on it.
It is not as if Haymon never takes risks, but they follow his own timeline, not one created by the wants and needs of fans or fighters. Should Broner have taken the Maidana fight? No, but it set up an opponent for Floyd where there was none, and made the move to 140 a natural for Broner. Haymon now has a piece of Peterson, Garcia, Broner, and Matthysse, yet other than the Garcia-Matthysse fight, they do not seem to be facing one another. We are assuming that by Dec or Jan, Broner will challenge Matthysse, while Garcia and Peterson will finally unify, but I'd be very surprised if that happens. There is too much money to be made by stalling as opposed to fighting one another.
No matter how many examples of fighters who retain their ticket selling power after losses, their is always the fear that they will not. Surely Broner's brand has hurt from his loss. Chavez Jr barely sells 1/3 the tickets he did prior to his loss to Martinez. Haymon also dodged a bullet with Mauricio Herrera, and will likely be protecting Garcia even more than he did before. Also, the 140-147 talent pool is rich enough to keep digging up the Chaves, Diaz, and Soto-Karasses of the world to kill time. In addition, don't forget the Bob Arum-friendly factions of Provodnikov, Vargas, Algieri, Bradley, etc. If Haymon breaks from Golden Boy, these men become possibilities again. I am not sure which path Haymon will choose for his fighters in these weight classes, but if his recent history has shown us anything.. there will be one or two exciting matchups, and about a dozen disappointing ones along the way.
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com
