Btalk.com is reporting that Golden Boy is close to a sponsorship deal with Tecate and a partnership with ESPN that would include Golden Boy Promotions taking over every ESPN date for the rest of the year starting in late April. This would be HORRIBLE for boxing. Thoughts?
Golden Boy would have some good shows, but there needs to be more diversity of promotions for the channel.
I don't think it would be "horrible", Golden Boy would likely put on some very good cards, but like boxingwizad said, there should be more diversity in a weekly boxing show like FNF.... but if ESPN is having trouble getting name fighters to book fights, then I'm all for Golden Boy taking over.
Look what happened to Versus when Top Rank had an exclusive deal......It became a place for Tye Fields to get built up........Nobody can be sure that the ESPN shows under the Golden Boy banner would be any better. What have they done on their PPV undercards that would lead you to believe that this is going to be an upgrade?
That doesn't mean that Golden Boy wouldn't co-promote events on ESPN either. Also, one thing about Golden Boy is that their fighters aren't blown up with easy fights. They really put their guys in there against tough competition.
Some of GB's recent PPV undercards have been dreadful. I like the comparison to the Top Rank and Vs. agreement. There were some terrible cards during that spell and we had to watch Tye Fields get built up for an eventual ko at the hands of Monte Barrett. I'm not too thrilled with this idea.
I don't care...Im gonna go to the Peter-Chambers FNF in March...should be great....gonna bring a sign:"WHO NEX!"
There needs to be competition between promoters. As someone said abov,e give it to one promoter and they will just make safe matches. The promoters should all have to try their best to impress the broadcaster. GBP have done a crap job of developing prospects. Who has heard of Danny Jacobs, Danny Garcia, Victor Ortiz, Abner Mares? Those PPV undercards etc are anonymous affairs. GBP have mostly promoted big fights involving GBP partners; but can they develop young talent? If they're being given free reign, we will see. ESPN should be careful because the Top Rank/Versus thing was a load of rubbish. Too cozy for the promoter who doesn't have to impress.
