That said, Gaz, it's not confirmed. As slip says, maybe Top Rank are just trying to sabotage the tournament. After all, the tourney official announcement is apparently imminent: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=4317510 :thinkI don't know what to believe.
one thing with the tourney thats very attractive is theres a certain amount of guarentee even if you lose, thats very good in this age of being discarded after a defeat (one poster on here was trashing pavlik with the line "HE COULDN'T EVEN BEAT HOPKINS" atsch what will those type of "fans" say of froch if he were to lose to pavlik which is likely
The problem I have with the tourney is that I can remember the one Don King put together with the heavyweights. It was a very straight forward knockout format and IIRC, besides Tyson and Spinks, all the fighters were owned by Don King and it still decended into chaos, lawsuits, pull outs and didn't achieve its aim of an undisputed, lineal world champion. I think this SMW tounranment with all the different promoters and working on a drawn out league system has really got the odds stacked against it being completed the way Showtime are hoping. For instance, is a fighter who has lost 2 tough fights and who knows he can't advance to the semis going to want to take on a 3rd tough fight just to finish off the league? I know they'll be paid for it but they may think their career would be better served resting and taking a couple of easier fights and trying to get a fight with the eventual winner, or will people want to see a last round fight where both fighters have lost their last 2 fights and neither can get into the semis no matter what the result? I know I sound like a cynical bugger but theres all sorts of "what if" problems that could derail this tournament before its finished.
Totally agree Gaz there is no chance at all that this tournament plays out as suggested No chance whatsoever
Gotta agree there is no way they'll be able to make this work , its pie in the sky. if Pavlik wants it , take the fight , I reckon Froch smashes him to bits at SMW anyway.
Well it seems to be falling apart already because Kessler has a mandatory against Perdomo and his management team seem happy with it, so this could jeopardise the tournament straight away before it has even begun.
The tournie makes more sense. The WBC and WBA champs are in it, which means a linear champ will come of it.
:goodI completely agree. With no news today it now appears that the Pavlik fight was just hot air. IMO, Froch gains more by fighting in the tourny.
Kessler could easily fight Perdomo then be ready for Dirrell in November. Kalle Sauerland appears to be one of the prime movers behind the tournament so don't see any indications there that anything is 'falling apart'.
It depends if the fighters stay in the tournament, don't assume that the fighters with the belts (at whatever time) will see the tournament out. Just because they have the 2 belt holders at the start of the tournament it doesn't mean they'll have them at the end.