Cotto vs Gamboa ??? WTF !!!

[boxing_rocks]

http://www.boxingnews24.com/2016/08/cotto-gamboa-hbo/?

[lefty]

Whoever wrote that article needs to give up "writing". Clueless buffoon.

[PsychoGamerTwo]

I hate the whole site. This black/white style kills my eyes after ten minutes.

[diddy]

Gamboa would get crushed.

[gilgamesh]

Would bomb as a PPV. Cotto vs Marquez is the only slightly interesting rumored opponent I've heard mentioned for Cotto and even that isn't the most desirable matchup.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

For whatever reason the popular boxing media is completely ignoring the 154 pound division.

Cotto and Alvarez (and maybe even GGG) can choose from ...
Lara, Andrade, Charlo, Charlo, Williams, and even Trout.

Whoever emerges top from that group is p4p top 5.

154 could be ...
Alvarez, Cotto, Lara, Andrade, Charlo, Charlo, Williams, Smith and Trout.

154 has probably the best top 10 fighters of any division, and two of the biggest names,
yet no one in the media is pushing for these fights ... that's not strange to any of you?

Before the GBP/TR "Greed War" every boxing media outlet openly discussed every possible fight within reason.
Now the media and fans act as if possible opponent don't exist.

Danny Jacobs could/should be fighting GGG, instead we're getting garbage.
And the media and fans are compliant.

[Enlightened-One]

For whatever reason the popular boxing media is completely ignoring the 154 pound division.

Cotto and Alvarez (and maybe even GGG) can choose from ...
Lara, Andrade, Charlo, Charlo, Williams, and even Trout.

Has things changed very recently? Can Roc Nation, GBP and HBO exclusive fighters face any of Al Haymon's guys nowadays with "ease" or has the political landscape of boxing remained the same as it has been for the last few years?

I really doubt that any of the guys you mention are capable of picking-and-choosing from a list of opponents from Haymon's stable of fighters.

None of these fights are easy to make. They may not necessarily be impossible, but they are incredibly challenging to organise. The history books confirms this.

Danny Jacobs could/should be fighting GGG, instead we're getting garbage.

Is HBO willing to work with Haymon again for non-mega bucks bouts?

Why do people passionately speculate or assume that certain fights are "easy" to make when everyone is well aware that some "advisors", promoters and TV networks often refrain from working with their rivals unless mega-bucks are involved?

This isn't a new pioneering concept...nor a recently occurring phenomenon... this is the way the sport has been for several years.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

For whatever reason the popular boxing media is completely ignoring the 154 pound division.

Cotto and Alvarez (and maybe even GGG) can choose from ...
Lara, Andrade, Charlo, Charlo, Williams, and even Trout.

Has things changed very recently? Can Roc Nation, GBP and HBO exclusive fighters face any of Al Haymon's guys nowadays with "ease" or has the political landscape of boxing remained the same as it has been for the last few years?

I really doubt that any of the guys you mention are capable of picking-and-choosing from a list of opponents from Haymon's stable of fighters.

None of these fights are easy to make. They may not necessarily be impossible, but they are incredibly challenging to organise. The history books confirms this.

Danny Jacobs could/should be fighting GGG, instead we're getting garbage.

Is HBO willing to work with Haymon again for non-mega bucks bouts?

Why do people passionately speculate or assume that certain fights are "easy" to make when everyone is well aware that some "advisors", promoters and TV networks often refrain from working with their rivals unless mega-bucks are involved?

This isn't a new pioneering concept...nor a recently occurring phenomenon... this is the way the sport has been for several years.

Duh ... the question is why are we just allowing it?

[Enlightened-One]

Duh ... the question is why we are just allowing it?

Apologies, I didn’t see this question either literally or otherwise implied.

I guess that casual fight fans and the media feel it’s redundant to speculate on fights that either cannot possibly be made or are incredibly unlikely to ever be made for political reasons?

Perhaps certain media outlets only try to “sell” fights between fighters that they have some sort of affiliation with (i.e. Ring Magazine + HBO = Golden Boy Promotion fighters)?

The thing is… now that the amount of high-profile names affiliated with Top Rank and GBP have dropped to almost negligible levels, coupled with the fact that HBO has a new boss and their boxing budget has been cut, it’s hard to envisage that cable network continuing with their ban of Haymon’s PBC boxers for much longer.

We’ve recently witnessed a thawing of the frosty relationship between HBO and Haymon, having witnessed Al’s fighters appearing on that cable network, such as: Dominic Wade; Amir Khan; Roman Martinez; Oscar Escandon; Floyd Mayweather Jr; and Bob Arum negotiating with Adrien Broner as a potential Manny Pacquiao opponent.

We’ve also seen Bob Arum settle his lawsuit with Al Haymon, resulting in Top Rank being able to negotiate fights with Haymon fighters, though it’s unlikely that many bouts will be made involving both parties considering the fact that the PBC guys earn significantly more than those tied to Top Rank (Arum’s words).

We’ve also experienced HBO’s utterly appalling decision to televise the Crawford-Postol bout as a PPV, which resulted in a measly 48K buy-rate, simply because they didn’t have the budget to cover it otherwise. This will surely diminish the "value" and "prestige" that these guys have in the sport (i.e. much akin to the Rigondeaux situation).

It also seems that HBO’s limited budget have deterred them from covering Pacquiao’s next bout, due to the financial risk that the resulting PPV event may incur a loss (as they're televising another PPV event around the same time).

So long term HBO exclusive fighters like Pacquiao may eventually become network free agents, with the timing conveniently coinciding with Arum establishing a working relationship with Haymon.

I really do believe that there’s genuine hope that the long-time political barriers preventing some of the biggest bouts from being made may eventually crumble within the next couple of years or so.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

Duh ... the question is why we are just allowing it?

Apologies, I didn’t see this question either literally or otherwise implied.

I guess that casual fight fans and the media feel it’s redundant to speculate on fights that either cannot possibly be made or are incredibly unlikely to ever be made for political reasons?

Perhaps certain media outlets only try to “sell” fights between fighters that they have some sort of affiliation with (i.e. Ring Magazine + HBO = Golden Boy Promotion fighters)?

The thing is… now that the amount of high-profile names affiliated with Top Rank and GBP have dropped to almost negligible levels, coupled with the fact that HBO has a new boss and their boxing budget has been cut, it’s hard to envisage that cable network continuing with their ban of Haymon’s PBC boxers for much longer.

We’ve recently witnessed a thawing of the frosty relationship between HBO and Haymon, having witnessed Al’s fighters appearing on that cable network, such as: Dominic Wade; Amir Khan; Roman Martinez; Oscar Escandon; Floyd Mayweather Jr; and Bob Arum negotiating with Adrien Broner as a potential Manny Pacquiao opponent.

We’ve also seen Bob Arum settle his lawsuit with Al Haymon, resulting in Top Rank being able to negotiate fights with Haymon fighters, though it’s unlikely that many bouts will be made involving both parties considering the fact that the PBC guys earn significantly more than those tied to Top Rank (Arum’s words).

We’ve also experienced HBO’s utterly appalling decision to televise the Crawford-Postol bout as a PPV, which resulted in a measly 48K buy-rate, simply because they didn’t have the budget to cover it otherwise. This will surely diminish the "value" and "prestige" that these guys have in the sport (i.e. much akin to the Rigondeaux situation).

It also seems that HBO’s limited budget have deterred them from covering Pacquiao’s next bout, due to the financial risk that the resulting PPV event may incur a loss (as they're televising another PPV event around the same time).

So long term HBO exclusive fighters like Pacquiao may eventually become network free agents, with the timing conveniently coinciding with Arum establishing a working relationship with Haymon.

I really do believe that there’s genuine hope that the long-time political barriers preventing some of the biggest bouts from being made may eventually crumble within the next couple of years or so.

I think the best chance would have been DLH completely losing to Haymon. The immediate shift of balance/fighters would have been too great for TR and HBO to overcome. We would have gotten the monopoly we desperately need in top level pro boxing.

I also think that once anyone gets the monopoly, they'll make great matches, because they wouldn't care at that point.
They would become like most other sports franchise owners.

Ur scenario is possible, but I think a far worse reality will occur. Due to P4P fixing , the general perception will be that the 10 (or so) best fighters only fight on HBO. The average "only-HBO" fighter will be able to compete against whoever, but we'll continue to see Manny, Cotto, Gonzalez, Kovalev, GGG, Ward, Crawford, Bradley, Lomachenko (maybe), and Canelo only compete in HBO matches against other HBO fighters.

So we may get lower level matches, but still no Stevenson/Kovalev.

[Stuarty]

Bit late in the year for April fools

[Lackeos]

Could we at least get Kostya Tszyu vs Naseem Hamed on the undercard?