J-J-Jones-Hopkins?!?! You talkin’ J-J-Jones-Hopkins?!?! You kiddin’ me?!?!
These organizers of this cannot be serious. But, unfortunately, they are. It would be more appropriate for this fight to be staged on April 1st because you’d have to be a fool to buy into it. But it looks like Golden Boy Promotions has knocked out common sense to acquiesce to the demands of the always-disgruntled Hopkins; who had been making some noise about leaving his “partners.” Yeah, they’ll tell you this is personal; that Hopkins has a beef to settle with Jones who decisioned him waaaaaay back in 1993. But to hoist this on pay-per-view now? Why not do what Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa did at the end of Rocky III and just box each other in private? I would at least respect that.
But this?
Simply put, it’s an insult to everyone’s intelligence. Do they forget what took place in Australia not too long ago when Danny Green knocked Jones Down Under? In case you musta’ forgot, let me refresh your memory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfkXMFUuWm8
Yeah, that’s the guy that Hopkins is now facing in his next fight. For fifty bucks, no less. All this talk of facing Green or a Lucian Bute was a ruse. It seems as though Hopkins never had any serious intention of facing anyone else but the badly faded Jones. And again, just in case ya’ forgot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfkXMFUuWm8
People wonder why Jones is still fighting. Some say it’s the love of the sport or stubborn pride. Hogwash. This guy has always had an ambivalent relationship with the sport. He did it because he was extremely gifted at it, in his younger days, and he could continually fleece his jock-sniffers at HBO who wrote out exorbitant checks in his name to face no-hopers and mis-mandatories. The reason why he is carrying on is very simple: the money. Yeah, he needs it. More than one source has told me that he lost multi-millions on his record label, Body Head Entertainment (I guess he had too many albums that went aluminum and not platinum). Yeah, in that venture he took a beating to the body and head and, because of that, he’ll continue to take one inside the ring.
The Green fight is just the latest instance of Jones getting knocked out. This is just a continuum that saw him get starched by the likes of Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson several years ago. This fight, according to Schaefer, will take place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. If you’re the Nevada State Athletic Commission, I think you’d be well within your rights- and perhaps your responsibility- to subject Jones to an extra battery of neurological and physical tests. And need we remind you that Jones is now the ripe old age of 40?
Hopkins is 45, but has taken much less punishment with his sound, defensive stylings. But the guy who was once the renegade of boxing, trying to make dollars out of fifteen cents, has become that guy who is simply sticking around too long at his cushy corporate gig and trying to milk it all the way ‘til he hits his pension. Jones, however, is a guy who simply shouldn’t be fighting anymore.
Oh, and I’m not the only one who feels that way, it turns out. Oscar De La Hoya himself made his thoughts clear on this issue in a recent blog entry on RingTV.com:
http://www.ringtv.com/blog/1380/oscar_de_la_hoya_blog_jones_should_retire/
(Seriously, Oscar might hate Google more than China, the way these things have been retrieved recently. But, geez, I guess if these guys learned anything from working with Arum all these years, it was to lie yesterday and tell the truth today.)
But seriously, the guy whose silhouette is the Golden Boy Promotions logo said himself that Jones should hang ’em up, yet now, they will try and peddle Jones-Hopkins II? That’s not just bad or hypocritical; that’s an insult to the public’s intelligence. And shame on the NSAC, Golden Boy and Hopkins for allowing Jones to participate in this televised execution (and no, that’s not a pun or a play on words). But there is a party that can go a long way in trying to stop this.
And that’s HBO Sports.
Because without their participation, they can make it that much more difficult for their “strategic partners” to go on with this fiasco. But they should absolutely be above the fray and move on to bigger and better things. Heed the words of former First Lady, Nancy Reagan: Just Say No.
I don’t envy HBO Sports president, Ross Greenburg, right about now. Greenburg, who just came back from a vacation in Thailand, (and Ross, you’re going to have to tell me all the juicy details. I’ve heard some crazy stories about that place) not only has to deal with the re-emerging “Cold War” between Golden Boy and Top Rank that has gone nuclear in the wake of the Pacquiao-Mayweather implosion, now he’s got this to deal with.
But, in many ways, he’s created this mess. It’s well known that HBO has an exclusive output deal with Golden Boy Promotions and, with that, Golden Boy can offer prospective free agents slots on the network that other entities simply can’t. And in return, Golden Boy offered the services of De La Hoya, then the financial titan of the sport. But right now, this is the marriage that has hit a rough patch.. HBO figured that by having an in-house promoter, they didn’t have to deal with the headaches associated with the likes of Don King and Bob Arum.
But did they create a monster, instead?
Back when this deal was made and De La Hoya was still a viable prizefighter, it was like marrying a supermodel and they figured they’d live happily ever after. Now, with De La Hoya in retirement, it’s like that former dime-piece has pumped out a few kids, ended her membership to Bally’s Health Spa and hasn’t gone to a pilates or spinning class for at least a year or two. The love-making has become more and more infrequent, she doesn’t look nearly as good in the morning without make-up as she once did and she looks dumpier and dumpier in her favorite pair of sweatpants she insists on wearing more and more. Yeah, it’s at that stage where you stop giving a damn if you leave the toilet seat up or down and you have no problems passing gas in front of each other.
That’s where Golden Boy and HBO are right now. No, they don’t need to get a divorce, but they certainly need counseling, at the very least.
It’s up to Ross to be the boss. Simply put, he needs to tell their CEO, Richard Schaefer, that while he enjoys the partnership with his company, Golden Boy needs HBO much more than HBO needs Golden Boy; which is the truth. There are plenty of compelling matches to be made under their umbrella that involve other promoters. By even just merely distributing Jones-Hopkins II, they are hurting the HBO Pay-Per-View brand. This is an easy call, if you think about it. What will be much more difficult will be the issue of March 13th.
Because not only do you have Golden Boy involved, but the other HBO, Al Haymon (AKA The Haymon Boxing Organization), in-house adviser/manager for HBO, who represents Mayweather and still has not figured out who he will be facing on that much coveted slot in mid-March. But some industry sources believe that this game of chicken is really a way for Golden Boy to get more concessions down the line, in exchange for making the magnanimous gesture of moving off this date which they claim was originally theirs. (Of course, that was for a Jones-Hopkins II, before Jones was stopped by Green). Again, Greenburg will have to go all Al Gore here and tell Schaefer the inconvenient truth- unless “Money” faces the likes of Paul Williams or Shane Mosley on this date, Top Rank has the superior fight and, with Dallas Cowboys Stadium being involved (where Greenburg preferred to have Pacquiao-Mayweather), they have the superior event..
You guys are going to have to abdicate this date because we’re also in the Pacquiao business.. And business is real good, right now.
As things shape up right now, Golden Boy (which, by the way, was my “2009 Promoter of the Year” for all their good works) is looking more and more like NBC, in regard to Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno. If they do indeed stay on March 13th and go through with Hopkins-Jones II, with their May 1st pay-per-view card featuring the return of Juan Manuel Marquez vs. TBA, that would mean three pay-per-view shows in the span of a month-and-a-half. This is shades of 2006 all over again.
So much progress in rehabilitating the business and image of boxing was made the past year or so. Now, it’s bad enough that the one bout the general public yearned for will not be a reality. The powers-that-be are threatening to add insult to injury.
Greenburg can do his part to stop the insanity and bring back reason and prudence.
Or he can be NBC head honcho Jeff Zucker.
It’s up to him.
BELTRAN BUZZKILL
Bad news, Miguel Garcia’s opponent Joksan Hernandez did not show up, so the talented Garcia will not fight on Saturday night on the initial edition of ’Top Rank Live’ on Fox Sports Net/Espanol. Which, unfortunately, is par for the course; with too many boxers represented by one Fernando Beltran, whose company, Zanfer Promotions, is partners with Top Rank.
What was supposed to be the start of a big year for Garcia, instead, doesn’t get off the ground because the opposing side didn’t execute its due diligence. After the disaster that was the TV Azteca deal for Top Rank (which Beltran had a huge role in), this is not the way to begin this new relationship with Fox Sports, in my opinion.
The thing is, one show a month will come out of Mexico under this new deal. And guess who’s in charge of those shows?
Yeah, good luck with that..
MORE MORA
This guy was great for reporters. Underrated coach, outstanding sound-bite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tie0tz7jGDI&feature=related
WEEKEND FLURRIES
Teddy Atlas certainly called it to a tee when it came to Demetrius Andrade and Bernardo Guereca...Because “Mikey” Garcia has been scratched, the pro debut of the highly-touted Jose Benavides will make lead-off the FSN broadcast...Great news, Nick Charles, who has battled bladder cancer, will be making his return to “ShoBox” on January 29th. Charles, is one of the sports good guys...Funny, but in terms of April 17th, Showtime has a “Super Six” doubleheader and HBO, I thought was going to go with Lucian Bute’s latest appearance at the Bell Centre in Montreal...Playoff predictions, I like the Colts over the Ravens, Saints to out-score the Cardinals, the Cowboys to get past the Vikings and the Chargers to down the Jets...The latest edition of “The Main Event” features ESPN2’s Joe Tessitore and promoter Lou DiBella...I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com... twitter.com/stevemaxboxing…
