Dawson/Diaconu Purse Bid Results

It's almost definite that it will be Diaconu or Tarver, and it wouldn't be that outlandish for Dawson to seek out the greater exposure he'd get for fighting Antonio, but Tarver continues to duck him.

 

No, Decebal, you still don't get it.

Boxing is a business that is run based on money first and everything else last. Ducking, therefore, is defined as acting against one's own financial well-being due to competitive circumstances.

I know this is difficult for you to accept, but the belts and their mandatories mean nothing. Or, rather, they mean only what financial clout they bring to their possessor.

In this scenario, Dawson holds a belt that he needs in order to command good paydays. Hypothetically, were he to drop that belt and take on a more marketable (TV, credibility, etc.) opponent in Tarver, he'd benefit based on Tarver's greater renown than the obscure Diaconu, and he'd still be fighting for a belt.

He loses nothing whatsoever by dropping the WBC belt for Tarver's belt except some fans who can't or refuse to acknowledge the boxing business for what it is. Everyone should understand why Calzghe wants Jones, just like he wanted Hopkins. He is avoiding Chad Dawson, a bigger challenge, for a more lucrative payday. He is not ducking Dawson, just like Dawson is not ducking Diaconu.

Tarver is ducking Dawson because he has avoided that good payday -- a fight Showtime campaigned very hard for in 2007 -- to fight two bums before finally taking on a decent opponent in Woods. Now, however, the only fights that would be more lucrative than one against Dawson are Calzaghe (no interest) and Jones (no interest). He is acting against his own financial well-being. Thus, it's a DUCK.

You have it completely twisted.

 

Don't be dramatic. I agree with you on other topics, just not this one.

We don't know what Dawson has been offered to fight Tarver, mostly because Tarver himself has made that impossible. Not only that, there is non-monetary value in being on American televison and have a victory over a famous fighter under your belt, rather than taking on an unknown mandatory instead.

So it isn't all about the purses, although again, the Romanians did a great job piecing together that much money. A fight in Romania between them would be a lot of fun and a real shame to miss if American TV doesn't touch it.

Dawson needs to have a belt. Which belt he holds doesn't matter. If he didn't care about a belt at all, he'd have just shrugged off the Diaconu bout. We agree that he has shown no interest in that fight. But now that Tarver has defeated Woods, he can drop the WBC and fight for Tarver's strap. He loses nothing in the exchange but has more to gain.

If he refuses to defend against Diaconu and then fights anyone other than Tarver (or Calzaghe or someone else huge, which appears unlikely), then I will share your disappointment.

 

Right. Dawson's manager definitely was jumping the gun. The purse bid only came through yesterday afternoon, so there's no way the TV people would have had time to process whether they'd broadcast it.

The difference from those Ruiz and Mendoza fights, though, is that it's very expensive -- and especially so now because of the fuel crisis -- to carry an entire broadcast to a foreign country. If the fight were in North America, there's no question it would televised.

Hopefully, it will be, anyway. A real shame if that fantastic crowd doesn't get to make its voice heard on American airwaves.

 

Has King shown any fights that weren't under his banner?