Boxing: Very Good News!

ESPN's Friday Night Fights has arranged two interesting 8-man tournaments. One is in the lightweight division, the other is among welterweights. The tournaments will be held during February through May.

Older fight fans will recall that the WBA held an 8-man tournament in 1967-68, to replace Muhammad Ali as heavyweight champion. In all seven of the bouts, the underdog won. Ali's former sparring partner Jimmy Ellis won the WBA crown, which he eventually lost to Smokin' Joe Frazier.

In 1976, Don King promoted a tournament that tarnished the reputation of The Ring magazine, which had been known as "the bible of boxing." I know, I know: hard to believe that the Great Sport has had more than its share of corruption.

In recent years, Showtime held what started as a 6-man "round robin" tournament in the super middleweight division. Although the tournament was imperfect, it was not tainted with corruption. In fact, the eventual winner, Andre Ward, is one of the sport's most honorable men. More, he is widely recognized as the #2 pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport.

That tournament's popularity became a major factor in allowing Showtime to contract with the #1 fighter, Floyd Mayweather, Jr.; Floyd's leaving HBO for Showtime has had a very positive impact upon boxing promotions, with 2013 being the most competitive year the sport has had in a generation.

ESPN's Teddy Atlas has also worked to improve the quality of televised fights in recent years. Atlas is a favorite among the boxing community, because he is honest and willing to expose corrupt promoters, as well as incompetent officials (both referees and judges).

The upcoming tournaments feature good young contenders in two of boxing's better weight classes. These are not fighters from the "top ten" in their divisions, but are from the next tier. ESPN found guys who have the potential to be title contenders within a year's time, and this will not be limited to the eventual winner in each class. The exposure that each young man will get can provide them with top ten opportunities. And that's something that television can definitely help with.

Here are the lightweight contenders, as they will be matched in the opening round:

• Chris Rudd (12-1, 8 KOs) vs. Yakubu Amidu (22-4-1, 18 KOs).
• Fedor Papazov (14-0, 9 KOs) vs. Petr Petrov (32-4-2, 15 KOs)
• Miguel Gonzalez (22-3, 16 KOs) vs. Miguel Angel Mendoza (21-2-2, 21 KOs).
• Fernando Carcamo (15-5, 12 KOs) vs. Samuel Neequaye (21-0, 15 KOs).

And here are the middleweights:

• Donatas Bondorovas (18-4-1, 6 KOs) vs. Willie Monroe Jr. (15-1, 6 KOs).
• Cerresso Fort (17-2-1, 11 KOs) vs. Vitalii Kopylenko (22-0, 12 KOs) of Ukraine.
• Brandon Adams (12-0, 7 KOs) vs. Daniel Edouard (23-4-2, 12 KOs).
• Raymond Gatica (13-1, 7 KOs) vs. Sena Agbeko (15-0, 15 KOs)

The initial bouts are scheduled for six rounds, allowing ESPN to broadcast all four on the same card. When the winners meet in the semi-finals, they will be eight round bouts. The finals of both divisions will be ten round fights, on the same card in May.
The middleweight semi-finals and the finals are being held at the Turning Stone Casino in upstate New York. I will, of course, be ringside.

While every one of the 16 young men are solid prospects, I am especially excited to see my friend Willie Monroe, Jr., in the middleweight mix. His great uncle holds a victory over Marvin Hagler. Willie is a slick boxer, who has benefitted from being in training camp with Roy Jones, Jr. In fact, Willie reminds me a lot of a young Roy. Plus, he's my youngest daughter's favorite fighter!

I'm looking forward to these fights, and think that you will enjoy them, too. I'll keep you updated with more information.