HBO's 2010 boxing year can be summarized as a house of cards; the network hopelessly banking on a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight that never was and not spending enough time making other fights that people would have cared to see. Instead of trying to make more competitive fights, like their rival Showtime, HBO found themselves missing marquee matchups and were happy enough to market mismatches as main event cards. If HBO is in fact the leader of primetime boxing, it's going to have to steal a page from Showtime and I have the blueprint of how to do it.
2011 should be the year where HBO takes its three most prominently aired divisions Featherweight, Junior Welterweight and Junior Middleweight pick the fighters who will favor network exposure, instead of high paychecks, and make a tournament in each weight class.
The rules for the HBO Boxing "Tournament of Champions" would be as follows:
- It will be a single elimination tournament, thus avoiding the long-term commitments that are troubling Showtime's own Super Six Tournament. Promoters will be less hesitant to sign in this case (that means you too Mr. Arum).
- There will be a 50-50 split of the purse in each fight, with the exception of a 60-40 split in favor of a winner by way of knockout.
- At least one champion shall participate in each tournament, just to get the belt of a major sanctioning body involved.
Who would participate, you ask? The best candidates are those fighters who are on the verge of superstardom, but need the exposure of breakthrough bouts. Sure, they may not be household names yet, but neither were Andre Ward or Andre Dirrell prior to their tournament success. It's not about star power; it's about the best fights possible.
So without further ado, here are your participants:
FEATHERWEIGHT
- Chris John (WBA Champion)
- Celestino Caballero
- Daniel Ponce De Leon
- Jhonny Gonzales
- Devon Alexander (WBC & IBF Champion)
- Zab Judah
- Andriy Kotelnik
- Victor Ortiz
- Sergei Dzinzriuk (WBO Champion)
- Saul Alvarez
- Vanes Martirosian
- Kermit Cintron
Of course, seeing that this is too good of an idea, it's highly unlikely HBO would pursue such a daunting task. Instead, they'll continue to overpay fighters like Andre Berto, Chad Dawson and Robert Guerrero, who have yet to prove themselves as legitimate stars to the general public as opposed to the HBO brass.
One way or another, HBO is going to have to change the way they do business when it comes to the sport of boxing. Showtime has been catching up to them in terms of the fights they've had and they're smart enough not to stink up their network by signing fighters to exclusive deals. Instead, they just look to make the best fights. One can only dream that HBO will eventually do the same. Lord knows I am.