Today is not the first Friday on which there is no ESPN2 Friday Night Fights. As the years rolled on, from 1998 to now, we watched college football hack out three months. They also took weeks off during the hot season, as well. However, this is the first blank Friday after which an indefinite number of them will be coming. Al Haymon, who alternately becomes a savior and destructor of our wonderful sport has destroyed the FNF brand to make room for his 11 shows a year on ESPN. As with most things involving the elusive Haymon, there is a good side and bad side.
The good part of this, is that it makes for more accessible cards to the non-die hard fans, whom Haymon has always been more fond of than the regulars. Much like his network shows, he is bringing boxing back to a general audience. The bad part of this, is that Haymon rarely makes for competitive fights. He is a safety-first businessman, who looks to protect fighters with unbeaten records. He'll take risks with Khan, Broner, and Chavez Jr. because those men have losses. However, Thurman, Mayweather, Garcia, and Wilder are matched very carefully, with only the risks that are absolutely necessary.
This is because they have that illustrious 0. No matter how many fighters with losses become fan favorites and hall of famers, many promoters cannot get that unbeaten record out of their heads. It does not help that the biggest star in boxing has one now (something that has rarely happened in the past... maybe Tyson, Chavez, and DLH in his heyday being noteworthy exceptions). One man running boxing would not be good for the sport in any case. When it is a man with Haymon's protective nature, it is even worse.
Have you noticed that ESPN2's fight cards were routinely more competitive and exciting than most other networks? Only Shobox can compare. Golden Boy Live on FSN, Spike, Tru, Haymon's PBC, etc. are all designed to showcase unbeaten young fighters. There are rarely any upsets, or even any knockouts. What FNF offered us was competitive fights. I will also miss the candor of Tessitore and Atlas. If a card was terrible, or nonsense was ensuing, they would call it out. The networks did not have a muzzle on those guys. Now, with Haymon in charge, they will.
The Spike, Tru, and network cards don't call out the crap when it's happening. Half the time, the commentators are utility sports guys, who don't even know boxing. FNF was our show, and now it is gone... with no good replacement likely. I love network boxing coming back, but at what cost? I would rather see network boxing go away than have it fall permanently into the hands of Haymon. Hopefully we can do away with him, soon, as the result of the lawsuits... and we can simply thank him for starting the CBS and NBC participation... and ongoing, we can leave it to smaller promoters who actually take risks. I am not asking for much. Just a boxing show that gives the true fans who have been there all along what WE want for a change.
