Truth be told, Terence “Bud” Crawford is my favorite active boxer. And it was AWESOME to see him take center stage at his boxing equivalent of a quinceañera on Saturday night at the BMO Arena in Los Angeles, with all eyes on him as he entered the main event against Israil Madrimov.
And, perhaps, if he had managed to overpower his clumsy, un-exploitable opponent, I would have been tempted to focus on the fight rather than all the nonsense that night. But, for God’s sake, I had seven hours to think about the stench coming from under the thobes and a twelve-round decision was not going to be enough to divert my attention.
Oh my gosh, where do I start?
I guess we can start with the whole “This is the biggest night of boxing in American history” line that was used throughout the buildup to the event and then sprinkled throughout the broadcast. Todd Grisham calling this show “The biggest fight boxing has ever seen” is either Grisham being really, really stupid or really, really desperate to keep his job by, oddly enough, using the same phrase that wannabe boxing dictator Turki Alalshikh uses on social media when describing any event he sponsors.
And, speaking to Ring Magazine’s Dougie Fischer, Turki…
I don’t care how you feel about Saudi involvement in boxing, but you’re not an American if you don’t cringe at the sight of grown men giving Alalshikh tongue baths all evening long.
Rich Marotta being brought up like a pale, shivering villager paying homage to a volcano god to make Turki an honorary member of the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame is a disgrace. Call me Magstradamus, but I think the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame is going to be really, really embarrassed in a few years when reality comes knocking on their particle board doors. Mark my words, their aggressive salad-tossing and hasty induction of Turki into the honorary hall of fame will go down in history as Ted Bundy getting the Senate to approve it.
In any sane, rational world, an event promoter scheduling a “celebrate me” segment into his show would be a huge red flag. However, boxing likes to ignore red flags when a few quick green flags are generated.
And, yes, I understand that I am the only one in the boxing media who has actually been vocal in criticizing the Saudi boxing initiative and that lovely fight fan, Turki, who recently posted photos of himself sharing laughs and pledging brotherhood with two guys federal authorities have targeted as perpetrators of the brutal 2018 murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But that doesn’t mean I am the only one with these criticisms, concerns, and doubts. Many in the media share my views, but the business politics of working for a company that is now “in partnership” with Turki and the Saudis make speaking out a job killer.
These “partnerships”, extended through Golden Boy, Top Rank, DAZN, Matchroom, Queensberry and the two sanctioning bodies (WBA and WBC), mean that virtually every media voice is compromised to some degree. Those who are not bought directly are forced to lease themselves if they want access to fighters, promoters and events.
That was clear in the way this Riyadh Season card was hyped and the respect paid to the one guy, front row, center, who controls all the money and wields all the power from Saudi money laundering investments. That’s why this card—with four HBO Boxing-level fights and two squash-level “free preview” fights—could be marketed as “The Biggest Night of Boxing in American History” and get absolutely no media backlash.
I have stated many times why I am extremely skeptical of this Saudi boxing takeover. I will not go into that in this column. But I will give you the Cliffs Notes version.
It is extremely unwise for a poorly organized and easily corrupted sport to hand over so much operational power to a dictator who is still powerful, opaque, has no history of playing fair in the free market, and is completely outside your jurisdiction.
For me, watching this Saudi-boxing mix is like watching your sister date a drug dealer. It’s all great at first, with lots of money being thrown around and bills being paid, but you know there’s only heartache and drama down the line.
It’s tempting to say that getting a few good matches in a short period of time is all that matters. It’s always easy to lose sight of anything that’s out of your reach. But there must be some adults in the room, somewhere, pointing out the very real and very bad receipts that often come with making bad trades.
The funny part is that all these people — the promoters, the managers, the media — are actually putting themselves out of business by becoming money dogs for the Saudis. They are making themselves irrelevant to their own business by giving their power to an entity that is not loyal to them and to a man in Turki who has revealed that all the power is his ultimate goal.
This isn’t like the new media nerds at Triller trying to host shows or Al Haymon with his business degree trying to outdo Harvard-educated boxers. Turki and the Saudis are playing the real deal, and there are countless ways this whole deal could go very wrong.
The old saying is that a rising tide lifts all boats. But a storm lifts all boats into wreckage. And, contrary to popular opinion, that is exactly what the Saudi invasion of boxing could do.
Okay. I’m happy that Terence Crawford is benefiting from this acquisition and I’m happy that other fighters are making money. I’m also happy that the fans are happy with the product they’re seeing.
But all this Saudi stuff is a “deal with the devil” and most of what fans like about it is actually just the result of an over-focused public relations stunt.
If there is one good thing that can come from this, however, it is that the eventual collapse of the Saudi/boxing marriage could lead to a collapse in the sport that requires a healthy rebuild. Boxing’s bigwigs, without murderous tyrants dragging them into dark places, could then learn a final lesson from this mess – collaboration and fan outreach are the keys to a successful boxing product.
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