The Art of Matchmaking

As fans I think most of us want to see genine 50/50 fights. Two well matched opponents with an outcome that's in doubt until the end. Promoters and Broadcast networks want happy fans, but they also want the guy they've invested money in to win and keep winning until they're in the big money PPV and everyone gets handsomely paid. Then rinse and repeat. Boxers meanwhile would probably like to face a heavy bag with a face drawn on to it. So when it comes to matchmaking a canny promoter has to balance conflicting factors.

The last couple of weeks one of the UK's canniest promoters has seen two of his brightest stars fail their latest tests. Much hyped Daniel Dubois was unable to cope with Joe Joyce's reliable, but unremarkable heavy jab. Then Anthony 'The Beast from the East' Yarde lost to Lyndon 'King' Arthur, again unable to come up with an answer to a fast and accurate jab and little else.

It's got me thinking about matchmaking and how so often it proves the downfall of a promising prospect/hypejob. Sometimes you watch a fighter and think that there's been a lack of progression, they've taken too many 'stay busy' fights at a lower level and aren't able to cope with opponents that test their technique, speed, stamina or boxing IQ. At other times we see guys get an opportunity to step up a level and they seize it with both hands and prove themselves.

Everyone makes a mistake at some point, but getting this balance of progression and learning whilst making money in the interim and being able to take opportunities when they come is clearly as much an art as a science. Mayweather for instance managed to pick his opponents very cleverly, maximised return for minimising risk. His matchmaking was as good as his boxing and he was of course a hell of a boxer.

So who are the masters of the art of matchmaking? Which promoters or managers managed to play the system to best effect for their guys and which failed to make the most of their talents due to either being too ambitious or not ambitious enough?

 

Thank you for rescuing this from the thread graveyard! Don King knew how to sell a fight and build a fighter, sadly too many of those guys came out badly on their dealings. That's the main reaon I don't miss him.

That's the thing about matchmaking, if done well it's the difference between a guy finishing his career as a champion with multiple signature victories or a record like Boone's. There's a lot of guys that have the credentials, most or all of the gifts required, but either through financial neccessity, or sometimes because it suits the promoter, they damage their career and suddenly they're in every promoters phone as the guy to call at short notice and it doesn't matter if you lose because you're going nowhere with those 6 defeats on your resume....