Golovkin-Adama on HBO 2?

I hate to say this, but I'd rather see HBO boycott this and wait for next time.

As much as I want to see Golovkin on American TV, mismatches like this will only damage his reputation here.

 

It's all about selling the fight IB.

Showtime sold Quillin fighting Fernando Guerrero, so HBO should be able to sell Gloveking vs Adama.

 

I'd agree with you if it wasn't for the fact Triple G has been fighting ever 3-4 months. This won't 'damage' his rep . . .

 

Way different, Rob.

I didn't give him much chance with Kid Choc since his aura of hot-prospect invincibility was shattered by Grady and he mostly hadn't fought anyone halfway decent since then - but Guerrero >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Adama. I might be understating that, actually.

 

He was very active in 2013, yes, but only Macklin was a serious middleweight contender. 75% of Golovkin's schedule of late, since Proksa - now 80% including Adama - is mismatched rubbish. (with all due respect to Rosado, who's a good boy)

Ishida and Stevens are stay-busy opponents at best. Adama is even worse. This continues a disheartening trend. Activity is good, but getting known for only taking on decent challenges once in a great while isn't.

 

Since HBO's not the primary underwriters the fight and are simply broadcasting it, this should be coming dirt cheap to them. It's a smart move to shell over peanuts to market a fighter you're about to invest millions in.

The Ring poll didn't lie; fans want to see GGG fight. Until HBO backs GGG enough for the best to take the risk to fight him, this is still better than nothing.

 

Well, Curtis Stevens was somewhat of a test . . . only insofar as gauging Golovkin's whiskers. Remember, Sergio Martinez and his camp said that Triple G had to get past Stevens to even be considered for a chance at him and the 160 lb. lineal championship. And now that he's passed that 'test,' Martinez has conveniently forgotten that position he held. We know now he's looking to face Miguel Cotto, who has never fought at middleweight.

It's funny what people forget . . . Triple G will get criticized for his opponents, but fans are seeming to almost clamor for Martinez to fight Cotto. At least, they are supporting it. (I'm not.)

All that said, Triple can't fight someone who doesn't want to fight him.

 

Are you really that high on Guerrero IB, despite all his so-so FNF and Showtime apperances? Or do you see Adama as merely a journeyman level boxer with a padded record?

I've always thought Fernando was utter crap, and even predicted the Brewer TKO loss.

 

Proksa, Macklin, and Stevens were all top 10 rated in Ring when Golovkin faced them on HBO. 3/4 isn't bad. Not ideal because he's levels above fringe rated contenders, but that's about the best ratio Golovkin's going to land on the current fight budget HBO's got allocated for him. Currently, he's the biggest bargain in boxing.

To put it in perspective, HBO spent more on Ward-Rodriguez ($2.9 million, 1.9 to Ward) than they did on all of GGG's 2013 fights:

Total purse for HBO fights:

GGG-Rosado: $500,000 (GGG gets 350k)
GGG-Macklin: $650,000 (GGG gets 350k)
GGG-Stevens: $690,000 (GGG gets 400k)

That's 3 Golovkin fights for less than what they paid Ward alone for his comeback bout. Golovkin-Stevens outdrew that fight by itself.

Until he gets paid what he's really worth on the network, he's going to take these kinds of fights (Ishida was a similar fight staged in Monte Carlo without HBO backing) to stay active and cash in.

 

Bingo.

Choc took a step down from HNN in his first defense (Guerrero is basically HNN Lite) and it was only maybe his 3rd or 4th best career victory to date behind Winky, McEwan, and HNN - but FG is still at least reasonable for a voluntary, as would be Danny Jacobs, and being HNN Lite (as both pretty much are) is still enough to hang with a lot of fringe contenders. Adama is unacceptable for Golovkin at this point. He would get schooled by Guerrero or Jacobs or any fringe contender. There is nothing of any real worth on his resume. The versions of Grady and Made In Hell that he beat were beyond shot. Ignore the ridiculous scorecards; he lost every second of every round to Geale without ever making the Aussie break a sweat. He was outboxed by Donovan freaking George. He's really, really, really, really, really, really bad for a world title contender.

 

Fair mate :good

 

Guerrero is not very good, and very chinny, unlike Adama. Smaller also. Based on Guerrero's last fight, he doesn't even beat Adama.

These Monaco shows will never feature good opponents since HBO is not footing the bill. Even with HBO's nice paydays they have trouble attracting top opposition. Now this time they sent offers to Murray, Geale, Lee, HNN, all passed so Adama was what was left. So forget about these, he'll be on real HBO two months later. If HBO2 shows this, it's dirt cheap bonus boxing. Enjoy the undercard, kinda like those Shiming HBO2 cards.

 

Thing is, although I posted up the numbers showing how big of a bargain GGG is for HBO and the limited buget they've given Golovkin fights, I still can't say I "blame" HBO or K2.

HBO had to be convinced to take a chance on an older fighter with no name recognition and without a large ethnic fanbase he could easily be sold to. They weren't going to invest a lot until the ratings justified it. K2 had to sell that and overcome not having the political inroads that Top Rank has with the network- it's tougher for the smaller promotions to get a main event push even if their fighter's worthy of it. They had to take a deal that undervalues GGG just to get him on the air, otherwise he'd still be fighting in high school gyms and only hardcore fans would know him.

The competition is brutal, and I don't just mean in the ring.

The only control GGG has over the situation is to continue knocking guys out and giving HBO the ratings to demand a bigger share of their annual boxing budget. If Adama keeps his visibility up and the hype train rolling along, that's what has to happen. Just being ranked highly doesn't guarantee the top guys will fight you, not by a longshot. He'll need to pay a premium for opponents to face him to account for the risk, and for that, he'll need HBO to increase their investment in him.

Looking at the numbers, it makes zero sense for them not to. But, it makes a ton of cents for them to continue lowballing him for million+ viewer ratings at a fraction of what it costs the other P4P level talents to deliver them.