Tag: Golden Boy

Dana White expresses doubts about boxing venture

Dana White expressed some reservations and doubts about the boxing business in a recent interview…

Dana White has long teased that he was going to dive headlong into the deep waters of the boxing business. The UFC head promised a press conference last October to unveil his boxing operation. Yet October came and went. Then November, December, January … still nothing.

Now it appears he has cold feet.

In a video interview with Yahoo! Sports posted Tuesday, White was asked to comment on how he viewed the economic structure of boxing. He wasn’t so enthused.

“I hate speaking negatively about the sport of boxing,” White said, “other than the fact that it’s a mess – we all knows it’s a mess – and that it needs to be fixed, if it can be fixed.”

White continued: “I told you guys that I would have a press conference last October and announce all these things, but as I dove into this thing and started to look into the sport of boxing, the economics of boxing, that sport’s a mess. It’s a mess and it’s in big trouble. I don’t know. I don’t know if it can be fixed.”

What does White mean by “mess”? He didn’t say during the Yahoo! interview, but it doesn’t take a genius to grasp at least one of his objections.

As the largest mixed martial arts promotional group in the world, with nearly 600 fighters under exclusive contract, the UFC has considerable leverage when it comes to fighter compensation. The outfit signed a $1.5 billion broadcasting deal with ESPN in 2018. A few MMA experts, using publicly available financial documents, have estimated that UFC fighters take home anywhere from 13.6-16.3% of UFC’s total revenue in a given year.

The general consensus is that boxers do much better than that, which might be the reason for White’s reticence to wade in boxing waters. Promoter Bob Arum has been quoted in a recent UFC anti-trust suit as saying that his company Top Rank “pay[s] out 80%” of the revenue to fighters. According to Golden Boy’s financial documents that were brought to light during their anti-trust litigation against Premier Boxing Champions  (which was eventually rejected by the court), their fighter payout was 64% and 62% of total revenue in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

And it’s not a pattern that is likely to change anytime soon. In recent years, new players like the streaming platform DAZN have been doling out mind-numbing purses to fighters from all levels of the talent spectrum in an effort to bolster their presence in the market.

For White, who is accustomed to claiming the biggest piece of the pie, that’s a mess.

Franchon Crews-Dezurn reinstated as titleholder, Alejandra Jimenez stripped

Franchon Crews-Dezurn has been reinstated as 168-pound titleholder after the WBO decided to strip Alejandra Jimenez of the belt.

Franchon Crews-Dezurn can go back to calling herself a women’s super middleweight titleholder.

The Washington D.C. fighter was reinstated as a WBO titlist after the sanctioning body formally stripped Alejandra Jimenez of the belt earlier this week for failing to adequately defend her positive PED test, according to multiple reports.

Jimenez tested for a banned substance shortly after notching a wide points decision over Crews-Dezurn in their Jan. 10 title bout. That fight has since been changed to a no-decision.

According to a letter sent by the WBO to both fighters, obtained by BoxingScene.com, Jimenez was dropped as the titleholder because her argument in defense of her positive drug test was not up to snuff.

The letter read in part: “Ms. Jimenez failed to comply with this Committee’s orders as per the ‘Show Cause’ notices. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Ms. Jimenez filed two email communications with no reliable, credible, or relevant supporting evidence in her defense, rather unfounded allegations unsupported in the record.”

Said Crews-Dezurn promoter Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya: “Justice has been served. This is the correct decision to make on behalf of the WBO to reinstate Franchon Crews-Dezurn as its super middleweight champion. It is always great to see justice in action, especially in this sport.”

Jimenez’s “A” and “B” samples allegedly both tested positive for Stanozolol, a synthetic substance derived from testosterone that promotes cell growth and the development of masculine characteristics.

Golden Boy signs heavy-handed heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov

Golden Boy and Eye of the Tiger Management will co-promote the Montreal-based Russian heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Golden Boy apparently wants in on the heavyweight game.

The company announced Monday it signed Arslanbek Makhmudov, a Montreal-based undefeated Russian heavyweight prospect known for his ferocious power, to a multi-year co-promotional deal with the fighter’s Canadian handler Eye of the Tiger Management.

And the timing couldn’t be better, according to Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya.

“In recent years, we have had somewhat of a renaissance in the heavyweight division,” said De La Hoya, referring to the likes of Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua. “The big fights, heated rivalries and constant media exposure that the heavyweights are getting these days is very good for the health of the sport.

“By signing fighters such as Arslan Makhmudov, we are doing our part in continuing this momentum into the future.”

Makhmudov (10-0, 10 KOs) is the fifth fighter from Eye of the Tiger Management to enter into a co-promotional arrangement with Golden Boy. The others include David Lemieux, Yves Ulysses, Erik Bazinyan and Steven Butler.

“I’m confident that with my team. … I will reach my goal of becoming heavyweight champion of the world,” said Makhmudov, 30.

Said Camille Estephan, president of Eye of the Tiger Management: “I’m thrilled to bring the top heavyweight prospect in the world to the U.S. with Golden Boy Promotions. We plan to send a message to the heavyweight division with his performances…I believe we will have a heavyweight champion of the world together.”

The deal means Makhmudov will appear on the streaming service DAZN, the network with which Golden Boy has an output deal and where there is an abundance of heavyweight talent. Heavyweights aligned with DAZN includes Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk, Michael Hunter, Filip Hrgovic, Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora.

Makhmudov is trained by Marc Ramsay, who also works with current light heavyweight titleholder Artur Beterbiev, Eleider Alvarez, Oscar Rivas and Lemieux.

 

Follow Sean Nam on Twitter @seanpasbon

Ricardo Sandoval scores KO; Oscar Negrete beats Alberto Melian

Flyweight prospect Ricardo Sandoval earned a stoppage win, while Oscar Negrete returned to his winning ways, beating Alberto Melian.

Flyweight prospect Ricardo Sandoval dropped and battered Raymond Tabugon en route to a seventh-round stoppage in a scheduled 10-round bout Wednesday at the Fantasy Springs Casino Resort in Indio, California.

Sandoval, a 21-year-old from Rialto, California, was simply too much for his Filipino foe.

In Round 2, Sandoval (18-1, 13 KOs) decked Tabugon (22-12-1, 11 KOs) with a counter left hook. Tabugon was able to beat the count and momentarily stave off Sandoval’s salvo later in the round.

In Round 6, Sandoval switched to the southpaw stance and further doled out punishment on Tabugon, who ate several clean punches to close out the round. During the break, referee Edward Hernandez Jr. checked in on the Tabugon corner, but they wanted to continue.

It was only a matter of time, however. Sandoval came out of his corner at the beginning of Round 7 winging hard right hands and left hooks that had Tabugon nearly bowled over. Referee Hernandez jumped in and promptly halted the fight.

The official time of stoppage was 1.43 of Round 7.

Also, veteran Colombian contender Oscar Negrete (19-2-2, 7 KOs) showed decorated amateur Alberto Melian (6-2, 4 KOs) who’s boss, punishing the Argentine en route to a unanimous decision win.

Melian, once ludicrously described as the Latino version of Vasiliy Lomachenko, had trouble keeping up with the rugged Negrete.

The judges scored it 98-92, 98-92, and 97-93.

Melian arguably got the better of Negrete in the first half of the fight but the tenor changed around Round 6, when Negrete began fighting more intelligently and using his lateral movement. A left hook in that round had Melian buzzed and bloody from the nose. Later, Negrete enjoyed a dominating Round 8, in which he tagged Melian with a slew of right hands.

The victory was Negrete’s first in four fights. He went 0-1-2 against Joshua Franco in their trilogy.

Also on the Golden Boy Promotions card, Sulem Urbina (12-0, 2 KOs) defeated Noemi Bosques (12-15-3, 2 KOs) by a shutout decision in a six-round women’s junior bantamweight bout.

Junior featherweights Leonardo Baez (18-2, 9 KOs) and Moises Flores (25-3, 17 KOs) went at it for eight rounds before Baez was declared the unanimous decision victor. All three judges scored it 80-72 for Baez.

Andrew Cancio makes move to Top Rank official

Former junior lightweight titleholder Andrew Cancio, who left Golden Boy under difficult circumstances, signed with Top Rank on Thursday.

It was a blue-collar promise from a blue-collar boxer.

Andrew Cancio, a former junior lightweight champion who works for the gas company when he isn’t in the ring, said he’d be back after Golden Boy fired him three days before Thanksgiving, just a few days after he lost his title and ripped the promotional company.

Cancio is back, fulfilling a promise the way he completes a job.

Top Rank signed him Thursday.

In announcing the multi-fight deal, Top Rank, miraculously, didn’t mention Golden Boy.

“He was a free agent, miraculously, and we didn’t hesitate to make a deal with him and his team,” Top Rank’s Bob Arum said in a statement.

Miracles happen. So, too, does some subtle trash talk.

There’s nothing subtle about Cancio’s power or his working-man appeal. He is the West Coast’s version of Joe Smith Jr., a Long Island, New York laborer when he isn’t knocking Bernard Hopkins out of the ring or beating Jesse Hart.

Cancio (21-5-2, 16 KOs), who is from the Colorado River town of Blythe, California, stunned Alberto Machado last February, knocking him out in four rounds for a 130-pound belt. In a rematch four months later, he needed only three rounds to stop Machado.

On November 23, however, Cancio’s championship run came to an abrupt end. Rene Alvarado of Nicaragua knocked him out in seven rounds. He had knocked out Alvarado in December 2015

“I’m very grateful to begin the next chapter of my career with Bob Arum and the entire Top Rank team,” said Cancio, who criticized Golden Boy in a Los Angeles Times’ story for not promoting his blue-collar roots with appearances on bigger cards. “I look forward to returning to the ring in front of my army of supporters and am fully prepared to fight my way towards becoming a world champion again.’’

Cancio is expected to make his first appearance for Top Rank in April on ESPN. He provides another matchmaking possibility for Top Rank’s other junior lightweights, including Miguel Berchelt (honorable mention pound-for-pound), Jamel Herring, Oscar Valdez Jr., Carl Frampton and Masayuki Ito.

Andrew Cancio to sign with Top Rank: report

Andrew Cancio to sign with Top Rank: report

Andrew Cancio, who recently left Golden Boy Promotions, reportedly has signed a multi-fight deal with Top Rank.

Andrew Cancio will soon be back to working two jobs.

The former junior lightweight titleholder and Southern California day laborer has reportedly signed a multi-fight deal with Top Rank, just two months after he was released by former promoter Golden Boy for voicing his discontent with the company before his knockout loss to Rene Alvarado on Nov. 23.

Cancio, who crafted one of the best feel-good stories of last year by upsetting then titleholder Alberto Machado twice, took his ex-promoter to task for what he perceived was a lack of a promotional boost. After Cancio’s loss to Alvarado via seventh-round stoppage, Golden Boy promptly dropped the fighter from its roster.

“He wanted bigger purses and he wanted to fight in bigger venues,” Golden Boy president Eric Gomez told ESPN. “He didn’t think Golden Boy was providing that for him so we released him and wish him all the best. I hope he finds what he’s looking for.”

Cancio’s new promotional deal with Top Rank means he joins a packed stable of 130-pounders, including titleholders Miguel Berchelt and Jamel Herring, as well as contenders Carl Frampton and Oscar Valdez.

Cancio isn’t the only ex-Golden Boy fighter on the move. Longtime Golden Boy client and junior featherweight titleholder Rey Vargas reportedly signed with Premier Boxing champions.

 

Rey Vargas leaves Golden Boy for Premier Boxing Champions: report

Rey Vargas, a longtime Golden Boy fighter, has signed a new deal with rival outfit Premier Boxing Champions, according to The Athletic.

The talent drain continues at Golden Boy Promotions.

Rey Vargas, a junior featherweight titleholder who has spent most of his professional career under Oscar De La Hoya’s promotional banner, has entered a multi-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions.

The news was first reported by The Athletic.

Vargas is the latest fighter to leave the Golden Boy stable. Andrew Cancio, a former junior lightweight titleholder, was recently cut from the lineup after he voiced his discontent with his promotional handlers. The Athletic also reported that Cancio has signed a multi-fight deal with Top Rank.

A tall, rangy junior featherweight, Vargas has a chance to defend his WBC belt against PBC stablemates Brandon Figueroa, Stephen Fulton, and possibly current bantamweights Guillermo Rigondeaux and Luis Nery.

Joseph Diaz Jr. ‘not too happy’ about his promoter, Golden Boy

Canelo Alvarez isn’t the only presumably unhappy Golden Boy fighter. Joseph Diaz Jr. had some harsh words for the promoter in an interview.

You can add Joseph Diaz Jr. to the shortlist of disgruntled Golden Boy Promotions fighters.

The junior lightweight contender recently went on Sirius XM’s Fight Nation radio show to discuss his title fight against Tevin Farmer on the Demetrius Andrade-Luke Keeler card Jan. 30 in Miami. When asked about his thoughts on his promoter, Diaz expressed dissatisfaction. 

“I would say not too happy, not too happy, man,” Diaz (31-1-0, 15 knockouts) said. “I would say after the Gary Russell (featherweight title) fight (in 2018) they (Golden Boy) didn’t really promote me or do anything as much as they should.

“They gave me a another world title fight against Jesus Rojas, but I just felt that they started to treat me like an opponent, started to treat me like I’m not the fighter that [has] the talent like I do.”

It’s the latest sign of discontent from within Oscar De La Hoya’s promotional stable. Things became icy between cash cow Canelo Alvarez and De La Hoya, as they barely acknowledged one another in the lead-up to Alvarez’s bout against Sergey Kovalev on Nov. 2. Around the same time, Ryan Garcia engaged in a war of words with his promoters before cooler heads prevailed and Garcia was pacified with a lucrative new contract.

Most recently, former junior lightweight titleholder Andrew Cancio spoke out against Golden Boy ahead of his title-losing bout against Rene Alvarado. Afterward, Golden Boy cut Cancio from its roster. 

Diaz didn’t mince his own words. The former Olympian truly believes he has been neglected after coming up short against Russell. 

“With Jesus Rojas, they had me fighting on Facebook Watch, a brand new network where hardly anybody is going to be watching that,” Diaz said. “I had a good purse with Gary Russell Jr. and with Jesus Rojas I had a really sh– purse, and I accepted it because I knew that I had lost and that I had to work my way up.”

Vergil Ortiz Jr. puts punctuation mark on remarkable 2019

Vergil Ortiz Jr. scored a fifth-round TKO of Brad Solomon on Friday in Indio Calif., the welterweight prospect’s fourth victory in 2019.

It’s hard to know exactly when a prospect becomes a contender, but Vergil Ortiz Jr. might have taken that step with a definitive stoppage Friday night that left him with a perfect record in 2019 and limitless possibilities in the New Year.

Ortiz (15-0, 15 KOs) scored a fifth-round TKO of Brad Solomon at Fantasy Springs in Indio Calif. Solomon (28-2, 9 KOs) used a mix of tactics in an apparent attempt at forcing the young Ortiz into doing something he can’t.

But Ortiz, a 21-year-old welterweight from Dallas, continued to show that there’s nothing he can’t do.

Solomon, of Douglasville, Georgia, stayed away in the opening moments. Then he moved forward, throwing punches. But it was all to no avail against the multi-skilled Ortiz, a Golden Boy-promoted fighter who knocked down Solomon in the fourth round with a jab and finished him with two knockdowns in the fifth.

“He was pretty difficult to figure out,’’ Ortiz told DAZN.  “He kept me at bay and really made me use my brain. I had to figure out the range. I just had to use my smarts.’’

The stoppage was Ortiz’s fourth in 2019. It was also his third straight of a fighter who had never been stopped before. He finished Mauricio Herrera in three rounds on May 5. He stopped Antonio Orozco in six on Aug 10.

Stopping Ortiz in 2020 might be hard to do.