A few years ago, Al Haymon had a nasty split with HBO, which resulted in boxing fans believing the notion that they’d receive bigger and better fights on Haymon’s side. We got some big fights on Showtime during a period of time in which the premium cable network housed Haymon’s stable and was the only outlet available to the array of fighters.
Then, Haymon and his associates decided to introduce us to “PBC,” which would allow boxing fans to view big fights on mainstream TV and help bring boxing back into the spotlight. Since the premiere of PBC, there have been a handful of good fights, but the stars have yet to shine as bright as they should have. In fact, lesser-known fighters have done more for their career within the PBC platform and against other Haymon’s fighters.
Fighters such as Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Robert Guerrero, Devon Alexander, Amir Khan and Adrien Broner have failed to put on the type of performances that transform popular fighters into stars.
Since losing to Kell Brook , Porter had only one significant fight against Broner. He did well in that fight but was dropped by Broner in the last round.
Thurman looks good against Robert Guerrero. However, when he went up against Luis Collazo, Thurman was hurt by the lighter punching veteran. His upcoming fight with Porter will be the fight that both fighters need to possibly break out as the next bonified superstar in the welterweight division.
After Guerrero lost to Thurman, he looked forward to a bounce-back-fight against Aaron Martinez. Unfortunately, Martinez put a whooping on Guerrero and then went on to beat Devon Alexander, who hasn’t had a significant victory in quite some time, either.
Khan, on the other hand, has a significant upcoming fight where he is a huge underdog against Saul Alvarez. Aside from that, Khan has not done much on PBC. Besides, any success that Khan would gain from a win or loss against Canelo would count as the blossoming of a star on HBO territory and not as validity counted towards the PBC brand.
Broner’s last significant fight was against Porter. He may have recently won a junior welterweight title, however, it was against someone that shouldn’t have even fought for the title. It’s the typical story of Broner’s career, fighting overmatched opponents (except for some close calls and losses).
One of the fighters mentioned, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., suffered a major setback in his career on April of 2015, when he took on Andrzej Fonfara in his first fight under Al Haymon. Chavez has always taken a lot of criticism due to his lack of commitment to training and his tremendous weight gain in between fights. In the fight with Fonfara, Chavez broke one of the biggest rules in boxing when it comes to Mexican fighters, he backed down and quit. Since then, many boxing fans have given up on Chavez; being the son of a boxing legend is irrelevant at a certain stage in becoming a top star in the sport. He need to proves himself with his hard work and dedication, instead of just being a name.
Everything that has happened to these boxing stars made an impact on their popularity or credibility in one way or another. This effected their opponents, mostly in a positive manner, especially towards Fonfara and Martinez.
Recently, Fonfara caught up with TheBoxingVoice, and discussed his recent spike in popularity since the Chavez victory.
“[I get] more, maybe more recognition,” said Fonfara. “All Latino people around here, around California, last time that I was at the Santa Cruz fight a lot of people [took] a photo with me. [I may be] more popular because you know the name of Chavez [did] that.”
While Haymon may have not put his stars in the best position with boxing fans, he has inadvertently created new stars in boxing.
