Trinidad v DLH 2

[Autobarn]

And they've just signed Prawat Singwatshisname. Schaefer will have the rename the division the GBP Lightweight division soon!

I'm still waiting for John to fight someone with a pulse in the US. That said, I think he just beat Marquez. Just.

I'm a John fan. I think Jose Rojas was a very underrated challenger. Southpaw with a W over Cel Caballero 1 weight down. I had John scraping home without the points taken off JMM. Lovely work with the jab and JMM's eye's not been the same.

John has a decent mandatory (Ring mag #4) Enoki in Japan later this year. I think he can have a very credible year, as Asiku will be no pushover provided it happens.

IMO Golem Boy are set on John v Juarez. They offered it for this Sept, they offered it for the DLH-Mayweather undercard.

John definitely needs to up things a bit though. Him vs Rafael Marquez or Vazquez would be winnable and good money. Him vs Linares, if built right, would be a great unification.


Another Golden Boy lightweight signed. Bloody hell. Perhaps if they monopolise 1 or 2 weights they might leave plenty alone.

[Poncey]

Just remembered they have two other RING champs in Hatton and Haye (think he still is technically, but they did change their rankings recently).

If you're ever bored, look at their website. Apparently David Haye beat Carl Thompson.

I'll check out the Caballero fight of John's.

I've only got the JMM and Gainer ones. He's not the easiest fighter to get hold of fight tapes.

[Autobarn]

What I meant was that John beat Rojas (who beat Caballero). Good form, still.

It was either John v Rojas 2 or John v Acosta that prevented John from fighting Juarez on the first opportunity. Too many head clashes, made a mess of his face and couldn't have recovered on time.

GBP are a big boost for ppl like Haye but their relation with HBO is too close for comfort.

[Glyn Leach]

GBP are a parasite to people like Haye, who should cut out the middleman and deal straight with the organ grinder, not the monkey. What's happened is that HBO funds GBP as an promotional agency with which all fighters must deal in order to do business with HBO. How's that good for the fighters? Maybe GBP take less of a cut than other promoters, because they can afford to because more fighters come their way due to their being the gateway to HBO. But make no mistake, GBP isn't there for the benefit of the fighter - unless that fighter is Oscar, of course. It has found a way of operating, in conjunction with HBO, that subverts the standard fighter-promoter relationship, because HBO don't like dealing with boxing people, which Liberace Schaefer is not.

[Autobarn]

Like I said earlier in the thread, I don't think it's good at all what's happening with HBO and Golden Boy. HBO advising Roy Jones to get help promoting the Calzaghe fight from GBP - Jones won't deny it - is outrageous and a sign of things to come despite recent denials.

I prefer a promoter like Arum who will build fighters from the start and be willing to put on a show without being dependent on HBO. Someone who will put on good cards, never midn just main events.

It just seems a lot of ppl want in on the party, including Hatton, Hayemaker, etc, as it is. If they're in with Oscar, they're more likely to get the TV dates and possibly the opposition, that they want. It's a door into the US for ppl like those Cubans (was is Barthelemy & Lara) promoted by Arena Box also. The alternative is Showtime, who pay less money and demand tougher comp, and in this day and age not all fighters want that.

Is it possible, if the HBO boss hates dealing with boxing ppl, that he'd be actually more open to new ideas (so long as they suit GBP) obviously?

I worry more about the ppl who will get excluded as a result of all this, the fighters that won't play ball, the fighters whose faces don't fit, ppl like Nate Campbell for instance who don't fit in with the GBp scheme of things.

There should be some kind of anti trust law to stop GBP and HBO doing this. Broadcasters should stick to broadcasting and promoters should stick to promoting, in an ideal world.

Any rumours on how long the GBP/HBO deal is going to be?

[DavidPayne]

...AND MANAGERS SHOULD MANAGE AND PROMOTERS SHOULDN'T MANAGE AND....

[Coco]

Whatever happened to the division of labour?

At this rate boxers will be training themselves as well as managing themselves and promoting themselves. Imagine a boxer giving himself advice between rounds: "Ricky Hatton has been watching Ricky Hatton closely and you are not moving aronud the opponent when throwing your shots. You may take a few but what do you think this is, a tickling contest."

It won't be a prob for Ricky, he speaks about himself in the 3rd person ayway!

[Goz]

I've long thought this whole GBP 'franchise' scenario was a front. It's a bit condescending to some of the fighters...

"Oh Bernard why not be your own businessman and become a 'partner' of Oscar. And you too Shane, and you Winky, and you Marco etc etc" - they get their self-respect because they aren't 'slaves' and being exploited anymore yada yada....

And now the franchise opportunity is being extended to the UK for Ricky, Joe and probably David Haye.

[Autobarn]

What does everyone make of Haye planning to follow GBP's business model to "pay fighters what they are worth"?

Haye went on about GBP raising fighters' marketability, paying them what they are worth, empowering the fighter. He used Bernard Hopkins as an example, that Golden Boy were the best promoters. Not sure he should have used Bernard as an example. The only reason Hopkins has been on HBO so much is because a) he beat DLH and b) he's a partner in GBP and c) obviously HBO will put bad GBP shows on (seniors tour fights; and the big vs small fights that Glyn mentions in his latest editorial). In other words he's been carried by Oscar, who's too close to HBO. Hopkins was one of the least popular world champions of the modern era, was never even featured on the HBO Legendary Nights series (shows you how little the network really think of him), & has been taking the cake ever since he's been with GBP.

[Glyn Leach]

It would be interesting to know exactly how much Hopkins, Mosley and Barrera are actually involved in GBP, which is essentially Oscar and Schaefer (and more likely just Schaefer using Oscar as a door key and a willing front). My bet is that the threesome are just there to add some glamour and give an illusion of fighter power — but that is all it is, an illusion. Haye may be right in terms of GBP maximising fighter earnings for existing stars, because that's the only level of fighter they deal with - fighters who are veteran or established and almost certainly out of contract. GBP have not brought through a single fighter. And why, one might ask, should any promoter go through the effort and investment of developing fighters if all that happens at the end of the process is the fighter has no option but to jump ship to GBP in order to get through to the real money at HBO? Why would any promoter bother? The system, imperfect as it is, has to fall down under those circumstances. HBO now have a buffer (GBP) between themselves and boxing, a booking agency if you like. But promoters? GBP? Never in a million years, Nate Campbell had it exactly right.

[Autobarn]

If Hopkins, Mosley et al had done anything important re promoting, we'd never hear the end of it.

They - and MAB - just seem to take advantage of where they are and engage in low output, messy fights on a stage too grand for the fights.

Hopkins brought his nephew into the fold, for a while - can't think of anything else. Mosley tried to poach Corrales, when Chico was still contracted to Gary Shaw and nearly sparked off a nasty lawsuit. Careless, but in trying to grab already established talent, some would say typical of them.

Anyway, will the HBO/GBP deal extend to Boxing After Dark shows as well? Or will it be just the major stuff, the world championship boxing and the PPV shows?