Showtimes six-man super middleweight tournament appears to be doing what too few matchups do capturing the imagination.
The U.S. television network has called a news conference for Monday in New York to formally announce the 12-fight, round-robin competition, which will include six top 168-pounders -- Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Jermain Taylor, Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell and Arthur Abraham.
Top-level fighters sometimes go a year or more without facing another top-level fighter. In this tournament, theyll be forced to fight one another at least three times in less than two years. And when its over, assuming it doesnt fall apart, well have a pretty good idea who the best 168-pounder is.
Also, the risk for the fighters is significant. At least five of the six including four who are currently undefeated are guaranteed to have a blemish on their records, whether its a loss or losses or a draw.
Gary Shaw, who promotes Dirrell, was thrilled on Thursday.
First of all, its better than an elimination tournament, he said. They can go balls to the wall because they know theyll have another fight. Its not like if you lose and youre out; you might fight cautiously. In this tournament, you get extra points for a knockout. Theyre gonna go all out. I think youre going to see some great fights.
And if somebody comes out of this with a perfect record, the tournament will have built a superstar. No doubt about it.
The tournament isnt perfect.
One, a lot can change in almost two years contractual issues, weight issues, injuries, anything unforeseen that could prevent a fighter from fulfilling his obligations. Showtime reportedly has mechanisms in place to replace anyone who drops out.
Two, some big-name 168-pounds are missing, most notably Lucian Bute.
Three, Jermain Taylor is involved even though hes coming off what some thought might be a career-ending knockout loss to Froch. That said, the former titleholder dominated Froch for most of the fight.
Four, a super middleweight who might deserve to be in the mix might emerge out of nowhere.
And, five, if I understand the definition, this isnt a true round-robin tournament because each fighter is only scheduled to face three of the other five participants. Ideally, theyd face all five in the first round but that would take too long.
Still, Ken Hershman, head of Showtime boxing, did about as well as anyone could in putting such a tournament together.
Getting two promoters to agree on terms in a single important fight is a major accomplishment. To get five to sign off on such an enormous event is borderline miraculous.
I think if President Obama were smart, hed load the 13 of us [promoters, fighters, Hershman and two fighters advisor Al Haymon] into an air force jet and send us to the Middle East to make peace, Shaw said.
Now that it appears it will happen, it will be amusing to handicap the tournament.
The first-round schedule, as reported by ESPN.com, is as follows: Froch vs. Dirrell, Abraham vs. Taylor, Kessler vs. Ward, Abraham vs. Dirrell, Froch vs. Kessler, Ward vs. Taylor, Ward vs. Dirrell, Froch vs. Abraham and Kessler vs. Taylor. (See accompanying chart.)
That gives you an idea how competitive the tournament is, at least on paper. I asked my colleague Doug Fischer who he thought would win the first few fights and his initial reaction was, Oh, man. Thats tough.
