Boxing Politics - Top Rank INC vs Golden Boy Promotions.

By Damien McKinley.

I think its fair to say that in years to come we, our children and our grand children (if they ever follow boxing) will have plenty of mythical match ups to argue and debate over.

Right now in boxing, two of questionably the biggest promotion giants, Top Rank and Golden Boy have a self inflicted restraining order placed upon themselves. This “feud” has been dragging on for a good few years now and it seems that it isn't going to end any time soon.

Golden Boy is to put it in simple terms, still in nappies and being pushed in a pram compared to Top Rank who last year celebrated 40 years at the forefront of one of the toughest sports on the planet. The CEO of Top Rank is Bob Arum, who has been involved in some of the biggest boxing events of the modern era. Such fights include Marvin Hagler vs Sugar Ray Leonard, Julio Casear Chavez vs Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield vs George Foreman, George Foreman vs Michael Moorer, Sugar Ray Leonard vs Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler vs Thomas Hearns, Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier II and both Ali vs Michael Spinks fights. Feuds with other promoters though are just another notch on his bedpost though with run ins with Don King, Barry Hearn and once upon a time stable front runner, Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Oscar De La Hoya was one of Arum's most famous fighters. Having won Gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games for the United States in the Lightweight division. Nicknamed the Golden Boy due to his good looks and good PR mannerisms, this blended with his all action style immediately made him a massive hit with both men and women.

In 2002, Oscar set up his own promotional outfit which was named after his ring persona “Golden Boy Promotions”. At this time Oscar co-promoted fights with Bob Arum's Top Rank and also alongside other promotional set ups such as Main Events, Gary Shaw Productions, Lou Dibella, Murad Mohammad, etc. The company over the next few years became a big success signing a wealth of talented fighters and also breaking the records for most purchased Pay Per View subscriptions when Oscar himself took on current Pound for Pound number 1, Floyd Mayweather Jr. A fight in which Oscar lost by split decision.

However the success of Golden Boy Promotions became such that they were and still are to this day, Top Rank's biggest rivals. This in turn led to legal disputes and a once amicable relationship, quickly spiralling into a personal bitter one. Its anyone's guess what the reasons behind the biggest feud in political boxing stems from, jealousy? Money? Who cares, the worst thing about it is the match ups that the fans want to see or may want to see are all to often being or will be accepted that they will never happen due to this feud.

There have though, been certain fights made in the last few years between the two. These fights include Ricky Hatton vs Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins vs Kelly Pavlik, Shane Mosley vs Miguel Cotto etc. But these fights went through a legal dispute to be made so obviously had their difficulties when suggested.

Top Rank and Golden Boy play their game very shrewdly and with the multitude of world title belts to choose from, they have a host of champions under their respective banners and with promoting countless fighters within each champions weight divisions, their boxing cards are 99% of the time match ups of fighters who are each promoted by the same corporation. This means the profits are kept in each Bob and Oscar's pockets and with television giants HBO and CBS (Showtime) entering the feud, it doesn't seem that this smear on boxing is likely to end any time soon.

HBO currently shows Top Rank cards with Showtime airing Golden Boy card. The decision to sever ties with Golden Boy made in the early part of 2013.

Although this feud between Top Rank and Golden Boy leaves a bad taste in Boxing fans mouths when we miss out on fights (like Abner Mares vs Nonito Donaire for example), lets not forget that 2013 saw the sport have an incredible year with some fantastic fights made. We had Floyd Mayweather vs Saul Alvarez, Danny Garcia vs Lucas Matthysse, Tim Bradley vs Juan Manuel Marquez, Nonito Donaire vs Guillermo Rigondeaux, Wladimir Klitschko vs Alexander Povetkin just to name a few. So when we are quick to throw cyber punches at both Arum and Oscar remember. Boxing ain't doing half bad these days even with their “feud” still bubbling away.


http://v2journal.com/16/post/2014/01/boxing-politics-top-rank-inc-vs-golden-boy-promotions.html

Look at the heavyweight scene of the 80s. It was almost exclusively DKP. If you weren't in some way connected with Don King you would not get a shot. Didn't help Lewis much in the 90s after his loss to McCall either.

There have always been shady characters in the boxing promotion world and they don't always get on and/or work together. I would wager that there is LESS corruption now than 30 years ago.