On Thursdays, in this corner of the Pugilistic Universe, it’s all about my bag (my bulging, bulbous, sore bag) and the sticky, salty truth it contains. So… sit back, close your eyes, put your hair up, and get ready for this week’s injection of money and wisdom. This week we have comments/questions about the impact of the Saudis on boxing and the future of Deontay Wilder.
The Saudi future in boxing
PMag.
FIRST, I hope all is well with you and your family. Secondly, you talked in Subway Notes about the potential for Saudis to get involved in boxing and how fighters could start to leave their country when it comes to fights. About two weeks ago, Hearn said fighters shouldn’t wait by the phone for a Saudi call for a big payday.
He also said that the Saudis are looking to host BIG fights (not super featherweight fights) at different times of the season. A little later, Frank Warren said otherwise. He said he believes the Saudis seek to fight there on a regular basis. It seems that your premonition is slowly coming true. Care to prepare?
-Robert Elmore
Hello Roberto.
It is highly likely that neither Hearn nor Warren know anything about the Saudis’ plans beyond where the checks are signed and the tacit agreement of more controls in the future. It doesn’t seem likely that the Saudis will be very open about their long-term plans, and I doubt that any of the foreigners taking their money will be too aggressive in pressing for more details. So both Hearn and Warren could be 100% honest with their personal assessments of the future, at least as far as they know.
Still, fighters who believe they can receive a big Saudi payday will be conservative with their career options as long as that money keeps flowing. It’s just human nature, especially in the boxing business. Forget about any movement at the top end of divisions above 168, esp. No one is going to risk a big and/or easy money haul by taking tougher fights elsewhere for a lower payout. We saw this on a smaller scale during the Klitschko era. Anyone in line for a trip to Eastern Europe to receive a payday from Klitschko simply sat there until his number was called. It happens and will happen on a larger scale with Saudi Arabia. We may get a small handful of really important fights, but that will come at the expense of most of the movement a level or two below that. And even those fights we “get” won’t be of much benefit to the sport, as they will be located outside the reach of the sport’s actual fandom and behind the afternoon’s pay-per-view paywalls.
I would like to say that I am surprised by the ease with which the media and boxing businessmen in general are embracing the possible restructuring of the business by the Saudis, but it is really not surprising at all. As I mentioned in this Monday’s Boxing Underground Notes column, boxing people have always struggled to curry favor with new money coming into the business. The Saudis, with their unlimited supply of dishonest profits, make the perfect monetary frameworks. So expect everyone to continue doing everything they can to ingratiate themselves into the “kingdom.” And with rumors abounding that the Saudis might be looking to fund a “super” boxing media site, the media is expected to be even more fawningly supportive of everything they do.
Saudi Arabia becoming more involved in boxing (and that seems to be the case) is not positive for the sport.
A bronze bust?
Hi, Pablo.
Happy holidays to you and yours.
Is Deontay Wilder over or what? It’s not so much that he lost to Joseph Parker, but rather the way he lost. He showed none of that bombastic aggression or self-confidence for which he became known. He came out quite meekly and didn’t seem to recognize where he was going wrong. Even after the fight he seemed to think he had done enough to win. Is this the end of the Wilder era? If so, it’s been fun and I wish you the best.
– Damian from El Paso.
Hello Damian.
Barring some strange change, I think Wilder is finished. Honestly, I haven’t seen him as the same fighter in a while, probably since the first fight with Fury. He’s never been a skill guy, but I’ve noticed a decline in skill, coordination and overall efficiency over the last few fights and what we saw on Saturday may have been the latest stop in that deterioration. It’s a good thing he wasn’t fighting a killer who could have hurt him. My guess is that perhaps less effective training work and/or less dedication to training and just a general lack of fire have contributed to the decline. Plus, there are, of course, the beatings he took against Fury. Is it possible to regain that fire and refine your technique, even at 38 years old? Yes, but it’s not likely, and it’s even less likely if the person in question is sitting on piles of cash, surrounded by friends and hangers-on who will tell him anything he wants to hear.
Wilder has been fun and there is no need to try to add to a legacy that should already fit well into the bigger picture of boxing. The man went from being a boxing novice who began practicing the sport as an adult, to becoming a world champion and having the reputation of being one of the greatest heavyweight punchers of all time. It’s a shame that so many people tried to shit on his achievements while he was piling them up, but Wilder’s place in history is secure and very respectable.
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