By Steve Kim, SecondsOut.com
While he is squarely focused on finalizing the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather match-up, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer still has other business to take care of. Namely, finding Bernard Hopkins his next fight. He was supposed to have faced Roy Jones this upcoming spring before Jones was knocked out by Danny Green a few weeks ago in Australia.
But that doesn’t mean that the possibilities are limited for “The Executioner.”
Schaefer told Maxboxing on Wednesday morning, "We basically evaluated all the different options for him and you know all these names. It was Roy Jones, who threw his hat in the race again, coming up with some creative deal structure. There was Don King calling about Felix Trinidad."
Roy Jones?!?!
He must’ve forgot what took place on December the 2nd. And Trinidad can’t even be taken seriously.
"There was HBO being interested in Chad Dawson and Paul Williams fights," continued Schaefer, "There was (Tomasz) Adamek, there was Lucian Bute and there is Danny Green. So it’s a pretty long list. So Bernard, what he wanted me to do was to evaluate just how realistic the various options are. So that’s what I’ve been doing, as well, the last few days. So here we go."
Schaefer has no delusions of grandeur; he realizes that we are coming up to the year 2010, not 2002.
"Jones and Trinidad, I don’t think are realistic. Adamek, HBO has no interest in that fight. So that eliminates that," he explained. "Then you have Paul Williams. [Williams’ promoter] Dan Goossen called out Bernard. But the issue there [is] the weight. Bernard is not going to be able to go lower than 175 pounds; maybe give or take a couple pounds. So that eliminates Paul Williams. Chad Dawson is living in a dream world and I think he should keep on dreaming about the potential Hopkins fight. I wish him sweet dreams. So that one is eliminated as well.
Schaefer adds, "So then we basically have two guys; we have Bute and Green. And these are the two names we’re focusing on in the last two days. As a matter of fact, yesterday (Tuesday), I met with Danny Green in my office with his advisor, Gary Shaw, and we have been going through the numbers for a Hopkins fight happening in Australia and there is some interest from the networks for that fight, as well. Then we have been looking at a Bute fight. So I had conversations with Bute’s promoter, Interbox, and we have been going through those numbers, as well. There is interest from the networks for that fight."
To maximize his earning potential, Hopkins will most likely have to fight outside the United States.
"Now I’m going to be fine-tuning the numbers," said Schaefer. "I need to get the exact numbers from the overseas revenue sources and from the domestic revenue sources and then see what kind of deal structure we can do with the various camps and then go to Bernard and tell him, “Look, here is the deal. If you go to Australia’ -which he’s willing to do- ’this is what the compensation package would look like.’ And if he would be going to Canada, which he’s willing to do, as well, ’Here’s what that package is going to look like.’"
Schaefer says that Hopkins would prefer to get back into the ring in March. But another source says that a bout with Green in Australia would most likely have to take place in early April.
STUFF
Worked the phones like crazy on Wednesday after taping “The Main Event” (this week’s guests are Calvin Watkins and Tom Hauser) and there is plenty brewing...
- Amir Khan was back in Los Angeles, already, and the word is that he’s meeting with various “people.” I’m hearing that he and his promoter Frank Warren are having some issues. Could something be brewing here? It wouldn’t be the first time Warren lost a marquee attraction once they got on American soil (Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe).
Once source told me that he could be facing Nate Campbell on March 6th on HBO.
- Don’t be stunned if Kelly Pavlik’s next foe, should he get past Miguel Espino as expected this weekend in Youngstown, Ohio, is WBA beltholder Felix Sturm. The idea is already being kicked around by Top Rank; I’m told.
- Word is that Hopkins, for whatever reason, has grown very disenchanted with Golden Boy Promotions. Now, from the outside looking in, not knowing everything, why would he be upset with his “partner” that has seemingly represented him well and taken a relatively small slice of his pie? If he bolts GBP, I think he goes down as perhaps the sport’s biggest malcontent.
But the bigger question is: What happens to Golden Boy East, at that point?
- One prominent promoter believes that the March 13th date for Pacquiao-Mayweather is a bit rushed and says that he believes there are bigger obstacles to this fight being completed than being let on publicly by the two factions. But he says, "It just seems too early. December is already over, and it’s following the Super Bowl and the Olympics. If you’re expecting to do the biggest fight in boxing history, don’t you need more time?"
Don’t think I can disagree with that.
FIGHT NIGHT CLUB
Golden Boy has nailed down their dates for the second season of their successful “Fight Night Club” series at the Club Nokia at LA Live. The dates are as follows:
February 25th
March 25th
April 29th
May 27th
June 24th
July 29th
August 26th
September 30th
October 28th
See you guys there. First, second and third round is on everyone but me.
HUMP DAY FLURRIES
In my fantasy “Super Six” at junior welterweight, I somehow omitted Marcos Maidana. Trust me, he and Tim Bradley would be the first two guys I would include in this format...Wow, just when you think it can’t get any worse for Tiger Woods. Are sports writers going to label this whole saga a “divot” for the game of golf?...Let’s see, if you have DirecTV, you don’t get “Versus” but you get the NFL Network (meaning you get games like the Saints-Cowboys this Saturday night). I’d call that a fair trade off...”The U” was the highest rated documentary ever shown by ESPN with a 1.8 rating this past Saturday night. And yes, I’m told by one of the producers, they will be releasing a directors cut DVD next year...OK, fess up, how many of you guys will be ordering this weekend’s pay-per-view show being distributed by Top Rank featuring the return of Kelly Pavlik?...I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com... Twitter.com/stevemaxboxing…
Source: secondsout.com
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