 When Good Management Is No Longer Needed
The Neutral Corner by Jason Probst (Setember 17, 2005) Photo © Mr Will/HoganPhotos.com
The Ricky Hatton-Frank Warren spat is another case of suggesting that Shakespeare was right – maybe we should just shoot all the lawyers.
That would include a lot of boxing promoters too (just noting that for the record – and I’m not suggesting anybody go out and shoot anybody, after having consulted my own counsel on the matter, who will be the first to go if that turns out to be poor advice).
The Corner has always found it amazing how fighters have an uncanny ability to get legal advice that they’re free from a promoter, make a break, and then, like the utterly predictable B movie plot twist, the original promoter produces paper (or alleged as such) that still binds the fighter to him. Don King is the master of this, although it’s a lot easier to pull this when the alleged document was blank when signed.
Such seems to be the case with Warren regarding Hatton. Ricky jumped ship to promoter Dennis Hobson, who set him up against WBA champ Carlos Maussa in a Nov. 26 showdown. But this week Warren whipped his own legal Johnson out and showed some contractual girth, according to a report by the BBC. He maintains he is still Hatton’s promoter of record and that Ricky and father Ray are making a mistake.
“Dennis Hobson's delivered him Maussa. But I already had that fight agreed…before Ray Hatton (Ricky's father) said we couldn't negotiate on behalf of Ricky,” Warren told the BBC. "I still have a fight date on 3 December, I expect the contract to be honored and I will put every resource I've got into ensuring it is honored.
"It's totally out of order. It's about Ricky and Ray trying to grab as much money as possible.”
If there’s a good analogy for boxing’s prospects, it’s the endless documentaries you see on African wildlife, where the combination of a daunting environment for survival requires an astute blend of utilizing one’s energies and efforts to achieve maximum gain. Sometimes it’s better to be aggressive and kill everything possible, but it’s equally beneficial to save your mojo and instead focus on what others have obtained. You burn a lot less energy staying under a tree, in the shade, and watching what’s going down than wasting time chasing after impalas that can ditch you at the last minute, leaving you to rest half the day in the exhausted postscript of a missed kill.
If a fighter who makes a good dollar is the kill, sometimes it’s better to save your energy and just swoop in and take someone else’s. Sometimes it’s a high-priced lawyer reviewing your contract. Other times, it’s Don King showing up with a duffle bag well past midnight, dealing in the culturally potent currency that only fighters would truly understand.
Why waste all the time and energy building up a prospect, when you can muscle in with a fast-talking lawyer? If there’s one thing about attorneys, they can parse definitions and create confusion so bad, you’ll wonder if you’re wearing your underwear, or your mother’s, if such a line of questioning is pursued. Ask anyone who’s been deposed.
It is considered bad form to kick these people in the nuts, so instead they file writs of stoppage, writs of fear, injunctions, and all sorts of things. The law is the law, they say, but that doesn’t change the fact that in boxing most of the time it is thievery couched in the framework of such.
Warren moved Hatton as masterfully as any fighter in recent memory, building a massive fan base in Manchester and the U.K., while rarely fighting an opponent who was anything less than a 10-1 underdog. Then, like a meek-seeming poker player reluctant to bet an apparently under matched hand, Warren and Hatton went all-in as the river card dropped.
They invited Kostya Tszyu to Manchester and won the world 140-lb. title, the legit title, something lineal, palpable, and wrenched from an established champion, who only had one equivalent peer at the time, Bernard Hopkins, in today’s muddied climate of belts and confusing claims.
Outhustling an aged champion who was a 5-2 favorite, in the dead of the Manchester night, Ricky boosted his career considerably. The world is now in his hands, as he has the best of both worlds – a string of multimillion-dollar hometown defenses against cupcake foes, or megabuck matches against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, or a slew of lightweights who would be happy to challenge him for a career-high payday and the chance to keep their belts at 135 should they lose.
In terms of options, Hatton, as long as he is champion, will never make a six-figure purse again. He’s the only fighter below heavyweight who can say that. And that’s incredible leverage to bring to the bargaining table as a Plan B with Cotto, Mayweather or whoever tries to get sticky over dollars and cents. Hatton can always walk away, and he won’t be making chump change regardless of what he does.
It’s as astute a management job as any I’ve seen in the last ten years, since Bob Arum was matching Oscar De La Hoya against faded but recognizable names in the lightweight classes, getting acceptably minimum risks and huge size advantages. In the process, De La Hoya became boxing’s biggest star and the modern example of a non-heavyweight, pay-per-view attraction.
The difference is that De La Hoya had a lot more natural talent than Hatton, and a more adaptable style, which makes Warren’s charted path even more impressive. He wasn’t holding the hand Arum was. But he pulled in a massive pot of chips just the same.
I’m not privy to all the squabbles and internal scuffles between Hatton’s camp and Warren, and certainly there have been plenty of those. Warren is, after all, a promoter, which among boxing folk ranks you somewhere above a three-card monte operator and just below an aluminum siding peddler who sells guaranteed goods, with a P.O. Box on his business card, chuckling as he pulls away from your trailer in a 1977 Chrysler. But it must be disheartening to see Hatton attempt to split just as the chips are raked in.
What’s further ironic is that Maussa is the perfect opponent for Hatton, and if legal squabbles delay the bout, that’s a shame for Ricky. Before he upset Vivian Harris in July to win the WBA belt, Maussa wouldn’t have been considered more than one of those iffy defenses for Ricky. But since he beat Harris, he offers both a very winnable fight and a belt, further solidifying Ricky’s bargaining position with Mayweather and Cotto. Maussa is perfect for Hatton – hittable, tough, and willing to trade.
If history shows anything, it’s that personal and promotional distractions can bring down a good fighter. Hatton’s in a great position right now, and he established himself as a star with his great showing against Tszyu. The Warren situation, depending on how it plays out, could be one of those distractions. But if he fights Maussa or some other 5-1 long shot in the future, it’s hard to take any complaints seriously when he’s getting ten times as much to fight the guy as anybody else would have.
October Surprise
October 1 is another regrettable situation of too many fights on a conflicting schedule. As Maxboxing’s humble scorer, I spend two or more weekends per month working fights, usually Saturdays. That’s not a problem, because I’d be watching them anyway (and it gives one an ironclad alibi to ditch social engagements, most of which blow, like outings to craft stores with your lady, visiting in-laws, or covering a utilities commission meeting, etc.).
But what do you do when there’s two fight cards? That’s the case Oct. 1. Antonio Tarver-Roy Jones is on HBO pay per view, competing with the Showtime card featuring James Toney-Dominick Guinn. Fans are weighing in on which overall card’s better.
Toney-Guinn, which will be up the road Reno from the Vegas pay-per-view competition, has the Chris Byrd-DaVarryl Williamson bout, along with a potentially explosive showdown in Rafael Marquez-Silence Mabuza, whom I listed as a fighter to watch in last year’s ratings of boxing’s best punchers. Marquez is an all-out banger, and his battle with Mabuza definitely gives this card an edge. Jones-Tarver has Andre Ward facing TBA last I checked, which is iffy at best. And when you’re getting charged $49.95 to watch a potential disastrous mismatch in Jones-Tarver, in my humble opinion, that’s another case of boxing offering up something way too late.
Jones-Tarver isn’t worth that, especially with such a weak undercard. Toney-Guinn isn’t exactly a heavyweight bout that sets your pants on fire, but it’s on Showtime, and has decent supporting bouts. Buck for buck, it wins this round 10-8, unless Jones pulls off the comeback of the year and digs the win out over Tarver. I’ll never be happier to be wrong, but when I feel that way I rarely am.
These double bills also bring an additional incurred cost – usually a series of complex, pre-fight strategy calls between Max webmaster G. Randall and myself, plotting a series of timed scoring moves to get all the results in. Two televisions running, at least one VCR, a gaggle of documents and e-mails flowing, and not a whiff of high-grade biker crank to be found – it’s a good thing I’m naturally frenetic.
Pay-Per-Tiger
In case you didn’t know, you can add another pay-per-view charge to your cable bill this weekend if you decide to buy the Marco Antonio Barrera-Robbie Peden clash. It’s got Shane Mosley vs. Jose Luis Cruz. And the only reason it isn’t on regular HBO is because of the recent phenomenon that has emerged in the sport, which I called the “Built-in Market Effect.” The BME is when a certain boxer has such a loyal fan base that they’ll pay to see him against virtually anyone; previously, it was relegated to lousy heavyweight showdowns, usually promoted by Don King, but at least you got a few belts possibly exchanged amongst the big boys – a modicum of badly needed progress in the stagnant, intractable heavyweight mess since Lennox Lewis left.
Now, with fights like Oscar De La Hoya – Yory Boy Campas, and Barrera’s April execution of Mzonke Fana, a trial balloon is being sent out. It’s to see if fans will buy pay per view junk that at best would be on HBO or even HBO After Dark, the latter of which probably would turn down both of these Barrera matches because of the high standard the show established (ironically, beginning with Barrera’s incredible war with Kennedy McKinney in 1996).
The one thing I like about pay-per-view is that it’s the ultimate test of free market wares. The market usually corrects itself, because promoters can lose a lot of dough compared to just taking a guaranteed rake from a cable date. The disastrous buy rate of Vitali Klitschko-Danny Williams, which drew 100,000 willing suckers, was a key indicator that Klitschko needs to face more compelling competition to draw in fans.
It’s a free country and you can buy what you want, but with pay per view shows creeping up constantly and popping up twice a month or more, the market submerges itself, harming legitimate offerings like the Oct. 8 Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo rematch.
I guess it’s just a test of what boxing fans want, and I’m hoping that the Oct. 8 show crushes both Jones-Tarver and Barrera-Peden. In reality, it’s a case of Square Ring vs. Golden Boy Promotions vs. Gary Shaw Promotions/Top Rank, but the bottom line speaks louder than the rhetoric about why you should buy the show.
The pay per view market rarely coincides with the meritocracy, but in this case I’m hoping it does. For hardcore fans, who support the sport at every turn, it’s the difference between getting a $150 cable bill and smiling, or feeling like you were had, and thinking twice about buying the next one that comes along.
For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Jason Probst at jason@jasonprobst.com
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