Richard Schaefer The Dark Knight Of Boxing

0
1207

Dark Knight Al Haymon Richard SchaeferHey, who out there is a fan of The Dark Knight? You know, as in The Caped Crusader? Batman, okay, I’m talking Batman. Quite possibly the greatest idea for a superhero ever (I pray that real comic book nerds aren’t reading this because Nes will be pissed at me for willingly giving up this spot as a debate forum).

Nevertheless, I ask because I’m about to make a big leap, and I need everyone to buckle themselves in for the ride. Please don’t criticize until the ride is over, then feel free to rip me a new one.

Richard Schaefer was once the single most pivotal individual within Golden Boy Promotions, and his fundamental role made him one of the most important people in boxing. You could make the case that any promoter with a stable as deep as the one Schaefer once wielded is a man of considerable influence. But what separated Schaefer from Oscar De La Hoya and Top Rank’s Bob Arum was his direct connection to Al Haymon. It wasn’t just a connection, either. Schaefer and Haymon had a relationship built on mutual understanding that had direct results on each other’s professional success.

Schaefer was undoubtedly part of Haymon’s plans to take that deep stable of fighters to network television and away from premium cable. However, with the unsuccessful attempt to take Golden Boy away from De La Hoya, Schaefer now finds himself on the outside looking in, for the time being.

Schaefer and Haymon didn’t plan on that, I’m sure, but I believe they are smart enough to have established a plan of action that included every scenario. Now, with Schaefer unable to take an active role in Haymon’s boxing venture he must sit out of action until the unspecified amount of time agreed to in the settlement with Golden Boy is up. Reports suggest that Schaefer cannot promote for anywhere between one and two years, although he was under contract with Golden Boy until 2018.

But what will happen when Schaefer’s inevitable return to the sport becomes reality? What surprises are we in store for and what has he been cooking up during his hiatus? After all that has already come to fruition and as the light shines brighter on Haymon’s plans, what can Schaefer offer up and how does he even fit into the plan?

Schaefer was an influential figure, but Haymon successfully moved on, which brings into question the necessity of Schaefer? And even if Schaefer is somehow required, is he the big impact player he once was in this new boxing market?

There are still tons of questions without any real resolution available to us until the actual moment Schaefer is allowed back in boxing.

Of course, we can speculate that Schaefer is the one missing element from Haymon’s plan, which is the need for a consistent promoter/promotion. The stability of one working promotion would solve a lot of the issues that have been speculating behind the scenes over at Haymon boxing—reports of clashes between working dates with licenses and promoters and venues have circulated.

I don’t know if these things are actual issues in the sense that Haymon is facing a real dilemma. Scrambling to find cards for the amount of fighters needed to be showcased throughout the year and how that plays with planned telecasts on various networks is taxing, I’m sure.

While Haymon’s time-buy deals make no obligations for the level of fighters he places on what networks, it’s apparent that he’ll hold the biggest fights for actual network television. Still, he does have a certain obligation to spread his talent accordingly. After all, what use does Bounce TV, ESPN, and NBC Sports Network have for Haymon boxing if they aren’t provided with the kind of fighters that can give a ratings boost?

For Schaefer to offer up some stability with an actual promotion that Haymon can manipulate would alleviate the daunting task of strategic planning for future cards.

In this sense, Schaefer can’t bring his ball back to the court soon enough for Haymon.

So, we established that Schaefer would theoretically make Haymon’s job/plans easier, but does that make Schaefer the hero or the villain?

Batman was the first dark-hero in the sense that he blurred the line between doing good and doing bad things out of necessity for the greater good.

To gauge where Schaefer stands in terms of hero or villain, you’d first have to take a stance on Haymon’s initiative in boxing.

Haymon is all-powerful, all-controlling, and all-capable. His influence seems to be without bounds. Haymon must be Superman. But determining whether or not he is using his powers for good or evil is tricky.

Is Haymon a champion for boxing? Is he making the valiant effort to secure boxing’s future by making it a viable commodity in the world of commercialism? Or is he a fallacy without any shred of decency, evident by the way he stabbed Golden Boy, Showtime, and others in the back over the years?

Will he help boxing reach its full potential by stripping it of its most indigent flaws and producing matches free of politics? Or will he continue his legacy as the ultimate roadblock between the best matches the sport has to offer?

And where will Schaefer land once Haymon’s true purpose is established? Schaefer could act as a catalyst necessary for the best events to be made as the promoter in charge of successful cards with the most competitive matchups. However, Schaefer’s fallout with Golden Boy started on the public stage after De La Hoya stated he intended to work with Arum and bridge the gap between promotions, thus ending Boxing’s Cold War.

The worst part was that Schaefer didn’t even mask his discontent with the idea of working with the other top promotional company. He blatantly stated his issues with Golden Boy working with Top Rank.

At the end of Christopher Nolan’s second installment of his Batman trilogy, “The Dark Knight,” he cast the Batman character into the shadows by claiming that Batman was “the hero Gotham deserved, but not the one it needed right now.” Somewhere in the beginning of the same movie, Harvey Dent (Two Face) references the Roman Empire at the dinner table during an impromptu meal with Bruce Wayne and makes one of the most famous quotes of the movie when he says, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

This is exactly where Schaefer finds himself now, and he fits one of these two categories.

Perhaps Schaefer is a hero, just not the one boxing needs right now, and the day he comes back it will be to further hash out Haymon’s plan to help better the sport.

Although, he could quite as easily be the villain that survived too long in the dirty sport of boxing and has become jaded to the point of corruption. Basically, if Schaefer retires from boxing at this point, his legacy is cemented as one of the most crucial figures in the history of boxing. However, he could come back and become the villain of boxing by refusing to work with other promotions.

In a recent interview Schaefer gave to FightHype.com, published on their YouTube channel, he had some encouraging things to say that makes me hold out hope that he is indeed boxing’s “Dark Knight.”

While discussing the topic of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao’s mega fight on May 2nd, Schaefer hit on the topic of whether or not any one fighter could replace Mayweather as the cash cow of the sport and, as the successor, eclipse the records Mayweather has set over the years. His response amplified the very definition of humility and the essence of what boxing needs to comeback full force.

“When you see quality events, young talent, and network television, it’s going to make young athletes want to become boxers again because they are going to have a platform to shine and if you can find that next diamond in the rough, a young kid from somewhere, being built up on an NBC or a CBS, who says those records can’t be broken,” Schaefer told FightHype.

Schaefer could’ve been blowing smoke. That is a definite possibility. However, his answer seemed genuine and at least his first thought regarding the benefits of national exposure had more to do with the influence it’ll have on young athletes, and less to do with the money that can be made to get Danny Garcia and Adrien Broner new grills (by the way, it’s not 2006 and you’re not from H-Town, boys stop).

Time will tell whether or not Schaefer will cast himself the hero or the villain, but this is boxing and much like Jared Leto’s new role as The Joker there is always someone new in this sport ready to play the bad guy.