Let us not dwell on a way to fix this broken sport we love. But let us not be remiss, either, in mentioning the trouble of Saturday’s fantastic prizefighting. Once again, if you loved boxing, you had to watch two matches on delay. Digital video recording was mandatory.
Ah, but that’s boxing! we say. Well let us stop, and say, instead: It is ridiculous that in a year that saw our sport go dark for whole months at a time, two of the last three Saturdays had HBO and Showtime cumulatively stacking nine fights, in a five-to-four arrangement, atop one another – ensuring nobody saw more than half of them live.
Shame on all counterprogrammers.
Now we move on. Saturday did bring fantastic prizefighting, didn’t it? Showtime took the first innovative concept in ages – “Super Six World Boxing Classic” – shortened it to four fighters, and introduced “Winner Takes All,” a bantamweight tournament. From the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash., then, Mexican Abner Mares decisioned Armenian Vic Darchinyan by split scores of 115-111, 114-112 and 111-115, advancing to the finals where he’ll face Ghana’s Joseph King Kong Agbeko, who decisioned Columbia’s Yonnhy Perez by unanimous scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113.
In Texas, at least, Showtime’s event began first. So I watched that one. Meanwhile, down the dial on HBO, a place my DVR grows more familiar with whenever there is counterprogramming, England junior welterweight Amir Khan narrowly escaped decimation by Argentina’s Marcos Maidana, at Mandalay Bay, decisioning him by scores of 114-111, 114-111 and 113-112.
The evening was, in its way, a tribute to the late Jay Larkin, who introduced through Showtime the concept of “great fights, no rights.” Larkin succumbed to brain cancer in August, but his spirit lived, Saturday.
On HBO, you saw in one frame the alternative approach. Seated a few rows back was promoter Oscar De La Hoya, greatest beneficiary of HBO’s star system. Beside him sat Saul Alvarez, star-system hopeful. And in the ring Amir Khan, star-system contender, plied his craft. All three looked strikingly handsome, their perfect skin in hues of gold, snowflake and cinnamon, respectively.
Showtime, meanwhile, took four, 118-pound men from various non-English-speaking corners of the Earth and matched them for intriguing fights. None was pretty as the HBO stars, none was as big, none was as celebrated. But all four had that desperate sort of desire that cares little about matchmaking, promotion or biography.
Abner Mares’ victory was the more suspenseful of the “Winner Takes All” semifinals. He went against Vic “Raging Bull(y)” Darchinyan and disarmed him. Down in the second round and penalized a point for low blows in the fourth, Mares nevertheless gained a victory that I scored 115-112 in his favor.
Say this for Darchinyan, though: He’s much better than his awkward approach looks. Ask Mares – after you ask Cristian Mijares. Both Mares and Mijares placed their chins in the exact spot Darchinyan’s hybrid left hand goes when he leaps forward with it, and both were knocked backwards by it. Behind Darchinyan’s scowl and bluster, in other words, there’s real science there.
But it was not enough. Darchinyan may be a great fighter when he can intimidate an opponent. When he is unable to do it, though, he is only a bit above average. He did not have Mares intimidated for a moment, Saturday. Round 6 even saw Mares nudge referee Robert Howard out of the way so he could get on Darchinyan once more. Not the sort of thing Darchinyan was accustomed to seeing from an opponent in the 17th minute.
Mares will make an interesting challenger for Joseph King Kong Agbeko, who conclusively avenged his loss to Yonnhy Perez from 14 months before – in a fight that merited more consideration than it got. In fact “More Consideration Than He Gets” might be a fitting nickname for Agbeko, since “King Kong” is apparently on his birth certificate.
Agbeko is a small fighter from Africa, and that has to be some of the reason nobody realizes what a gem he is. He’s a reminder that the style Floyd Mayweather Sr. taught his son mustn’t be insipid. Agbeko kept his lead hand low, Saturday, and pot-shotted Perez with right hands. But Agbeko did not then leap forward and hold, or hop backwards with his left elbow high. Instead he showed some of boxing’s best legs, gliding side-to-side, forward-and-back.
As a matter of fact, trainer Freddie Roach might want to borrow Agbeko to teach Amir Khan how to move laterally like a professional. Khan, whose hand speed impressed everyone but Marcos Maidana, skipped sideways and burned energy like a 12-year-old lad in a youth-boxing clinic. He also got clocked numerous times by Maidana’s blind right hands.
That’s how a fight that was supposed to continue Khan’s introduction to America turned into what Oscar De La Hoya exuberantly tweeted was “Fight OF the decade.” Despite hopes, Khan is not the next Ricky Hatton; he lacks Hatton’s charisma and work rate. Imagine for a moment what would have happened had Maidana endeavored to bully his way into a prime Hatton’s wheelhouse the way he got to Khan.
Now stop. If you didn’t open by imagining Hatton and Maidana collectively tossing referee Joe Cortez over the top rope, first, try again.
If Khan was not quick or powerful enough to dissuade Maidana, put me in the camp that doesn’t think he can beat Timothy Bradley – the likely winner of next month’s fight with Devon Alexander. And if Khan cannot beat Bradley, he probably won’t fight him. And HBO’s 140-pound round-robin will stall.
Which returns us to the difference between the networks. The winner of Showtime’s bantamweight tournament will not be a household name, but he will be a world champion. The winner of HBO’s unofficial junior-welterweight tournament likely will not be crowned – but he’ll be a household name anyway.
Bart Barry can be reached at bbarry@15rounds.com. Additionally, his book, “The Legend of Muhammad Ali,” co-written with Thomas Hauser, can be purchased here.
