John Dean
BOWING TO AL HAYMAN GAVE HBO BOXING CANCER
San Francisco, CA– “There’s a Cancer growing on the Presidency,” those were the famous words of John Dean, a member of President Richard Nixon’s cabinet that he spewed during the Watergate scandal of the early 1970′s, which led to Nixon’s resignation. At HBO Boxing, there has been something similar festering in HBO’s underbelly at the offices at 1100 Ave of The Americas in New York City.
DAVIS HAS TO BE SHOWN THE DOOR!
First off, HBO Sports VP Kerry Davis is a man who like Muhammad Ali once said about me, “Not as dumb as he looks.” With a lawyer’s education, the African-American took over the “boxing” end as Vice President of HBO Sports 11 years ago when Lou Di Bella was shown the door. With a beautiful family that has been featured in national publications, and the lofty gig at HBO, Davis had the world in his hands. When I say the world, I also mean the world of boxing, as Davis was given a horse akin to Secretariat when he took over for Di Bella circa 2000.
BUT TWO GUYS CAN’T RIDE THE SAME HORSE!
Truth be told, Secretariat, the greatest horse in the history of thoroughbred racing, couldn’t have won the Triple Crown with two men on his back. The same can be said for HBO Boxing, as Davis has aligned himself so closely with manager Al Hayman who handles Paul Williams and Andre Berto, to name just two members of his flock. Managers have come to me and asked if I thought it was wise to cut Al in on their fighter for “10 points,” which in the boxing vernacular, means “10% of their fighter.”
TEXAN SAID HBO WON’T TAKE HIS CALLS
A prominent manager who has a slew of champions over the past couple of decades, posed this question to me as he stated he couldn’t even get Kerry Davis to return his calls. He even went on to ask if I had “Big Al’s” phone number, stating, “They (HBO, and meaning Kerry Davis) aren’t dealing with anybody but Hayman.” Well, that’s not 100% correct, for Davis did sign a “sweetheart” deal with Oscar De La Hoya’s “Golden Boy Promotions,” that irked a lot of people, including Massa’ Bob Arum, the head of Top Rank promotions, which was commonly referred to back in the 80′s as, “the Top Rank plantation,” this by the extraordinarily eccentric writer Malcolm “Flash” Gordon.
HAYMAN IS A TUMOR THAT IS MALIGNANT
There is no question that sans having Al Hayman calling the shots for them, the aforementioned Andre Berto and Paul Williams, the pair would have never made the kind of money they have. Both have reaped million dollar purses from HBO through Hayman’s relationship with Kerry Davis. For the record, both Davis and Hayman are African-Americans. Berto, a B+ fighter at best, showed his limitations time and again while appearing exclusively on HBO. The same could be said for Paul Williams.
BERTO-WILLIAMS & THE DAVIS-HAYMAN CONNECTION
Berto illustrated what he has, or more importantly, what he doesn’t have when he was “gifted” in a 12-round fight with Luis Collazo. Williams also got a questionable call when he outpointed Sergio Martinez in their first outing. Now, neither Davis nor Hayman pick the judges, Hayman’s guys always got the edge I believe because they were considered, “the house fighters,” meaning they and their manager Al Hayman, were attached to the HBO hip by way of Kerry Davis.
ICING ON THE CAKE WAS THE MARTINEZ-WILLIAMS REMATCH!
After Kelly Pavlik thrice pulled out of fights with Williams, the Youngstown, OH native decided to instead defend his middleweight championship against Sergio Martinez. A huge mistake on his promoter Bob Arum and company, this seeing Martinez licked Pavlik like a postage stamp in a 12-round romp. Soon thereafter, the rematch between Martinez and Williams was proposed with Sergio now the reigning and undisputed world middleweight champion.
DI BELLA TOOK THE SMALLER PURSE!
While I’ve applauded Lou Di Bella for being a “boxing genius” to many, I was perplexed that Sergio would get less money than Williams for the second go-around. As it turns out, this had more to do with the seemingly incestuous relationship between Kerry Davis and Al Hayman, than it did with Di Bella’s boxing acumen. The only way Martinez and Di Bella could secure the second fight with Williams, once the most avoided boxer in the game, was to take less money, again, as Hayman’s guy Williams was the “house fighter” here.
MOST DEVASTATING KNOCKOUT IN RECENT BOXING HISTORY
The end result of the Martinez-Williams rematch was Sergio knocking Williams out with such devastation, something boxing fans in recent times have never seen. With the referee counting to 500 and Williams still prone, one would think a “tune-up” fight would be in order. Instead, Hayman, seemingly acting like a farmer intent to get every drop of milk out a his cow, puts Williams in with unbeaten (southpaw) Erislandy Lara.
MOST OBJECTED TO SCORING IN RECENT BOXING HISTORY
The Majority Decision given to the beaten to a pulp Williams caused such a roar among boxing fans and the media that New Jersey Athletic Control Board chief Aaron Davis suspended all three judges. HBO’s judge Harold Lederman, not going with the house fighter Williams, scored the fight 9-3 in rounds for the Cuban born Lara. “I watched the fight three times after and I couldn’t score it any differently than 9-3 in rounds for Lara,” said Lederman while appearing on “Ring Talk” radio this past Saturday. (The Podcast of that show is both here at RingTalk.com and ITunes)
THERE’S A CANCER GROWING ALL RIGHT!
In closing, like John Dean said about the 37th President of the United States, there is a “Cancer growing on HBO Boxing,” and it is the team of Kerry Davis and Al Hayman. Time Warner, the parent company of HBO, it would behoove them to remove Davis from power and with him siphon off the gravy train of cash that he has fed Al Hayman and his fighters with. More than anything else, HBO Boxing and Time Warner need a corporate Oncologist.
Pedro Fernandez