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IT'S HISTORY YET AGAIN! By James Roberts |
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IT'S HISTORY YET AGAIN! By James Roberts |
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On the eve of the Winky Wright/Shane Mosley match a blockbuster announcement was made at the MGM Grand Hollywood ballroom. With plans to expand past the Latin community, Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy Productions (GBP) has now signed to promote Bernard Hopkins. As part of the deal, Hopkins will also take the helm (as President) of newly established East coast operations of GBP.
When I saw Oscar and Bernard being chummy at a recent HBO Latino event, I suspected something was up. Apparently, Hopkins approached DLH after their middleweight title bout a few months back (no surprise - a rematch will not happen). The result of the conversation(s) was an eye-opening entrant into the boxing promotion sweepstakes. Since Bob Arum had announced his retirement (and Oscar will not fight for Top Rank anymore), DLH and Hopkins have seen an opportunity to capitalize on Bernard's notoriety in Philadelphia boxing circles (there is some serious talent at their fingertips) and expand GBP operations to the remainder of the eastern seaboard. Now that we know that DLH will be moving to a more realistic fighting weight (147 lbs and less likely 154 again), expect to see DLH to discuss fighting the best at those weights (can we say Corey Spinks? Or maybe as a long shot Winky Wright?)
Hopkins, as usual, was extra confident in the ascension by GBP to the lofty
position of the world's predominant boxing promoter and invited comment from
"all doubters." Stating complete transparency as the foundation of all financial
engagements, GBP productions will eventually approach major Corporate sponsors
and probably enter the public equity markets for capital. In the process of
making boxing a larger
scale sport (NBA mentioned as an example), financial transparency will include
the promoted fighters in expense processing and set standards for profit splits
between all of the parties.
As Hopkins re-iterated that "Pound for Pound - I am God ! -- Thanks to Roy Jones," the newly structured GBP is in discussion with four different fighters for Bernard's next opponent (they are not interested in fighting the IBF mandatory - Howard Eastman). While not being transparent with this information (in fear of other promoters attempting to poach a possible opponent... can we say possibly Don King?), it was stated that Hopkins will not fight much longer than his 40th birthday (January 15th, 2005). It's apparent that this new "transparency" concept also extends to DLH himself (who also didn't mention who he was going to fight next, even though he stated that he was "not retired"). It's interesting to note how far Oscar de la Hoya (who started his notoriety in the Olympics as a Gold Medalist) and Bernard Hopkins (whose career began at the Blue Horizon Ballroom fighting for $400), have come.
In another attempt to re-acquire his previous position as a 154 lbs
titleholder, Shane Mosley made a stronger showing against Ronald "Winky" Wright.
While ringside judges provided a majority decision (with scores 114-114,
115-113, 115-113 Wright), Winky still dominated the action throughout most of
the fight. While Mosley utilized a new tactic (throwing flurries of light
punches to keep Wright busy and not throwing his hard jab), he was still having
problems staying away from Winky's hard right jab. Given that Wright is considering fighting Felix "Tito" Trinidad for his next match (it wasn't mentioned at what weight), who would Mosley have as a big money opponent? After seeing Mosley's anemic punching power against real light-middleweights, maybe he should get past his ego and consider fighting a much less dangerous Cory Spinks, who we all saw get floored by Zab Judah.
11-20-2004
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