Originally, Showtime's excellent double-header featuring Abner Mares vs. Vic Darchinyan and Joseph Agbeko vs. Yohnny Perez II was scheduled for December 18th, but now, it will move up a week to December 11th, putting them in direct competition with HBO's last card of the year, featuring Amir Khan against long overdue mandatory Marcos Maidana. If the chatter I've been hearing is correct, it appears Showtime is finalizing the terms for Jean Pascal's Light Heavyweight title defense against Bernard Hopkins on the 18th.
In last week's column, I had said that should Hopkins-Pascal be broadcast on HBO, it would have to be on pay-per-view since HBO ends their schedule on the 11th. Hopkins has had awful pay-per-view ratings in the past, so instead of hoping the third time is the charm, it looks like HBO will steer clear of the clash. Instead, Showtime will broadcast the fight for free and hope that the winner of the Super Six will head up to Light Heavyweight to face the winner.
HBO's loss is a gain for Showtime and the general public, and should Pascal win, it'll set up a very high profile fight between himself and the Super Six winner, or even Lucian Bute, some time next year. I got my money on Hopkins, however, and the last thing he'll probably want to do is fight anybody who he's not absolutely sure he's going to beat.
The Heavyweight Revolution You'd Never Expect
The only division that has been more miserable than the Heavyweight division in recent years has been Cruiserweight. For 30 years, the division hasn't had any real exposure even though it has had some great fights over the past decade or so. For some reason, it seems to be skipped over in favor of the abysmal Heavyweight division in most cases. As bold and impossible as it sounds, maybe Cruiserweight should be the new Heavyweight division and the current Heavyweight division should just become the Super Heavyweight division.
When a Light Heavyweight takes their shot in the big division, they are outweighed by over 30 pounds, lose whatever natural gifts they have, like speed, and find themselves outgunned by their bigger opponents. If the switch from Cruiserweight to Heavyweight happened, more marketable fighters would head up to the division to win the "new" Heavyweight title, in turn making the Heavyweight division more marketable.
It might sound blasphemous to old-timers, but when you consider that the casual boxing fan is more familiar with the Heavyweight division of Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali and the Rocky movies, it makes all the sense in the world. There's a Super Heavyweight class in the amateur ranks (as well as stricter drug testing, but that's a story for another day), so why not implement it for the pro ranks?