In this week’s three punch combo I will first take a look at the upcoming Showtime card entitled “Night of the Olympians.” Next, I will take a critical look at HBO’s decision to televise the upcoming Keith Thurman vs. Carlos Quintana bout. And finally I will look closer look at the recent announcement of NBC’s re-entrance into the sport, and boxing’s return to network television.
Night of the Olympians Card
I am very excited about the recently announced Showtime card on November 9th featuring Gary Russell Jr. and the professional debuts of five U.S. Olympians. Gary Russell Jr. is probably the sport’s best prospect and though the U.S. team did not fare well in the Olympics, there are some very quality pro prospects among the group.
First, let’s take a closer look at Gary Russell Jr. As stated above, he is probably the sport’s best prospect and his hand speed ranks amongst the best in the sport today. His opponent will be Vyacheslav Gusez of Russia. On paper, Gusez represents Russell’s toughest opponent to date. Gusez has a record of 20-2 with only 5 KO’s. He has not been knocked out and has been down only once in his career. His toughest opponent was Juan Carlos Burgos, who he lost a unanimous decision to in 2009.
Gusev seems to be the perfect opponent for Russell at this point in his career. Since September 2011, Russell has only fought two times and a total of 4 rounds. Gusev is durable as evidenced by the fact he took the hard punching Juan Carlos Burgos the distance and should give Russell some badly needed rounds. Gusev is also not a hard puncher so Russell should be able to work on some things in the ring without hesitation of being hurt. In the end look for Russell to shake off the ring rust and either win by a decision or late stoppage.
I think all five former Olympians (Dominic Breazeale, Marcus Browne, Terrell Gausha, Errol Spence and Rau’shee Warren) making their debut on this card have a chance to have very successful professional careers. The one I feel will be the best of the bunch is Terrell Gausha.
Gausha fought primarily in a pro style as an amateur. He displayed above average hand speed and tremendous punching power as an amateur. Unlike many amateurs nowadays, he was also a very committed body puncher. I think as a pro he is going to be a very powerful Middleweight/Super Middleweight. He will also develop his boxing skills over time. I definitely look for Gausha to one day win a world title and can’t wait to watch his development over the next few years.
Keith Thurman Returning to HBO
It appears that Keith Thurman will be making his second appearance on HBO on November 24th to face Carlos Quintana. While I think Thurman is a decent prospect, I frankly don’t feel that HBO should be showcasing him once again at this point in his career.
The match-up itself is a solid fight. Keith Thurman needs to fight and beat an opponent the caliber of Carlos Quintana to solidify his status as a rising prospect. And this would be a good main event for Showtime’s “ShoBox” series or ESPN2 Friday Night Fights. However, HBO, with their boxing budget, should not be putting such matches on their air. Thurman’s best win so far in his career came in his last fight against Orlando Lara. Lara was a tough opponent but nowhere near a top 20 fighter. Before that Thurman built his record feasting on very overmatched opposition.
As fight fans we pay for and expect high quality bouts from HBO. We do not pay to see untested fighters in bouts to see exactly where they stand. Unfortunately, this is exactly what we are getting with Thurman-Quintana.
With the same money HBO is spending on Thurman-Quintana, they could showcase a high caliber bout in the lighter weight classes. I would much rather see a bout like pound for pound entrant Roman Gonzalez against hard punching Giovani Segura. Or how about a match already made between Brian Viloria and Hernan Marquez? In my estimation, either of those two bouts which provide much more quality than Thurman-Quintana.
Network TV Back in Boxing
This week it was formally announced that NBC would televise the rematch between Tomasz Adamek and Steve Cunningham on December 22nd. It will be a big night for the sport as it has been a long time since network television has been involved in professional boxing.
First of all, the Adamek-Cunningham rematch has the potential to be a very entertaining bout. As fight fans we all know styles make fights. And as evidenced from their first fight four years ago, both men will be willing to mix it up which could lead for potential fireworks. This will undoubtedly make for good television and hopefully leave a good enough impression on network television executives (not only those on NBC) to want to showcase boxing more in the future.
Secondly, Main Events and NBC could not have picked a better day or time slot to showcase the sport. There are no major sporting events competing against the 4:00 pm eastern time slot, with the college football season in hibernation and the NFL going later that evening. So if the event is properly marketed, and general sports fans are aware of the event, it has the potential to capture very high ratings.
December 22nd will be a very important day for the sport of boxing. The ingredients are all there to make this a very successful night that could lead bigger things for the sport down the road.
