No Hitting Below the Belt...Especially the Wallet

By Don Deane

16.01 - In about six weeks or so the month of March will be here. Now where I'm from in the northeastern United States, this is the beginning of the warm weather coming back…sometimes. So picture this scenario. A bright, winter day of 41 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly 5 degrees Celsius), this boxing writer standing on a city street corner yelling "Here Yee, Here Yee" and as you come over to my corner table I show you the greatest phenomenon of the modern sporting world…the pay per view schedule.

First up is March 1st, where Roy Jones will move all the way up to heavyweight and take on John "Jab and Grab" Ruiz. Now if that doesn't entice you to spend the better part of a day's wages, maybe this will. Not only do you get the Jones-Ruiz match up, but Don King will also throw in Jean- Marc Mormeck and Santiago Samaniego, fighting Alejandro Garcia. Maybe we will get lucky and Samaniego will defend De La Hoya's title. Wait; let's not go there, we are gathered here to bash promoters not sanctioning bodies, that can be saved for another day.

Now if that doesn't peak your interest maybe this will. March 15th. Super middleweight unification bout! Sven Ottke against Byron Mitchell. Sven Ottke, the only man to fight 29 pro fights and never leaves his backyard. Byron Mitchell, the man with a decent 25-1-1 record. But think, if he didn't step up and fight one decent fighter he would be 25-0! This is a pretty good fight, but it is unfortunate that Ottke isn't getting in there with Michalczewski or Joe Calzaghe. That might be worth paying for, but sorry Don King, your boy Byron just doesn't really cut it.

The following Saturday, March 22nd, Top Rank is looking to get in on the mad dash for cash with Jesus Chavez challenging Sirimongkol Singmanassuk for a version of the 130lb title. Two things wrong with this. One, Acelino Freitas is the real champ at 130, and two, this fight belongs on ESPN2 Friday Nite Fights. I mean I can see this fight being a pay per view in Thailand because Super Featherweight is Thailand's heavyweight division. But on the other side of the pond, no dice, this stinks something foul. To Top Ranks credit, the proposed Julio Diaz- Jose Luis Castillo undercard bout is intriguing.

Moving back a few days to March 17th we have the possible debut of a series of Monday night pay per views. A series of pay per views, meaning more than one event in a short succession. DiBella Entertainment is the guilty party here. Angel Manfredy and Jermain Taylor are slated to fight as yet unnamed opponents on the March 17 debut. I can remember quite recently watching both those guys fight for free and I'm not talking with press passes either.

As a disclaimer, none of this is entirely set in stone, but for this purpose that is good. It would do no good for the fight fans to consider the injustices of pay per view if we are sitting in front of the television watching it. The month of March 2003 stands a good chance of going down in infamy as one of the most outrageous time periods in modern boxing history. The good thing is we the boxing fans can prevent that. Look what public opinion did to the Bernard Hopkins-Morrade Hakkar fight. Granted, these matchups are a little better than Hopkins-Hakkar and I would like to see them all, but most people are already paying for HBO and Showtime. It is ridiculous to demand more money from the fight fans.

Right now I ask the three aforementioned promoters to reconsider their pay per view bids and do the right thing. I was recently at a DiBella Entertainment show that aired on ESPN2, and it was an excellent show. Top Rank and Don King are no strangers to the cable and pay channel market either. That is where boxing belongs.

Before this wraps up I would like to say kudos to Main Events who is exploring the idea of bringing boxing back to the free networks. Being only 22 I am a little young to remember the ABC Saturday fights, but I do know that the free networks had great fights over the years and this would be a wonderful thing for our sport. Main Events, I tip my cap to you, my hopes is that the rest of the promoting world notices.