By Norm Frauenheim-
The end is near for another forgettable year, memorable mostly for fights that didn’t happen and a controversy still raging over the one that did.
Yeah, 2016 was lousy, yet the year’s final month is a sure sign of a heartbeat despite the usual obituaries. Year-end diagnosis: Boxing isn’t dead, but pay-per-view might be.
A sure sign that the scarred patient is still kicking unfolds throughout a Saturday with five cards on three networks from time zones on all sides of the international dateline.
There’s heavyweight contender Joseph Parker-versus-Andy Ruiz Jr. in Auckland on HBO, tape delay. Featherweights Abner Mares and Jesus Cuellar meet on Showtime in Los Angeles. Unbeaten junior-welterweight Terence Crawford is at home in Omaha against John Molina Jr. on HBO. Anthony Joshua, the projected face of a resurrected heavyweight division, faces Eric Molina in the UK on Showtime. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., now 30, is back, back all over again, against German Dominik Britsch on beIN in Mexico.
The sun never sets on the pro ring. Not yet, anyway.
Each of the cards helps set the table for a New Year, hopefully a better one. A year from now, however, it looks as if only two things will determine how we’ll look back at 2017:
· An immediate rematch of Andre Ward’s controversial decision over Sergey Kovalev for the light-heavyweight title.
· Gennady Golovkin-versus-Canelo Alvarez for the middleweight title.
Both have to happen. If they don’t, we may be hearing last rites instead of reading tired obits. Kathy Duva of Main Events, Kovalev’s promoter, exercised the rematch clause within minutes after Ward was declared the winner, 114-113, on all three scorecards on Nov. 19 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Meanwhile, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy, Canelo’s promoter, has promised repeatedly that the long-awaited showdown with GGG will happen in September.
But this is boxing, which means caveat emptor is attached to every promise and rematch clause. With less than a month left in the year, we’ve yet to hear Ward’s management even acknowledge that the reported rematch clause is in place.
It’s clear that Ward’s management is keeping options open, perhaps for an immediate bout against somebody other than Kovalev. The Russian would have to agree, but only at a steep price. It’s called step-aside money.
In this case, it would be stepping all over public expectations for a quick sequel, if not an immediate resolution to the noisy debate over the scoring. The business — still reeling from 2015’s Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao dud — can’t afford a postponement. A 2016 full of frustration over no Canelo-GGG bout is symptomatic of an impatient fan base that won’t tolerate much more delay.
Canelo is working his way back from a right-thumb injury sustained in a stoppage of the UK’s Liam Smith in September. Projections are that Canelo will fight again, perhaps some time in early 2017. Will the junior-middleweight champion need one fight, or two, against a true 160-pounder before GGG? Will the thumb hold up?
In most years, small questions. But the answers loom large, larger than ever in a critical 2017.
