Super middleweight tourny designed to crown champ

By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—Ken Hershman knows his plan is ambitious, a six-man super middleweight round-robin tournament designed to crown a single champion. He also understands that if he pulls it off, it could go a long way toward reviving the sport of boxing.

The tournament, featuring two current champions, two former middleweight champions and two up-and-coming U.S. Olympians, was announced Monday at Madison Square Garden. It will begin this fall and conclude with a seeded semifinals and championship in early 2011.

“The beauty of this is that at the end, there’ll be one winner,” said Hershman, the senior vice president in charge of boxing at Showtime. “He’ll be the best in his weight division.”

Hershman began putting the concept together in May, first pitching the idea directly to the fighters: WBC champion Carl Froch, WBA titleholder Mikkel Kessler, former middleweight champs Arthur Abraham and Jermain Taylor, and former Olympians Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell.

Then Hershman went to their five promoters and, in a sport where it’s difficult enough to get two sides to agree on a fight, managed to get all five to sign a contract.

“It was an interesting process and not one I relish repeating,” Hershman said. “But they all believe firmly they can win the tournament and … that eliminated all the nonsense.”

Eliminating the nonsense is precisely what boxing fans want.

The primary complaint for years has been that there are too many champions in too many weight divisions, and that the best don’t want to fight each other. Greed has often taken precedence over interesting and exciting fights, alienating those fans that are left.

As mixed martial arts booms in popularity, boxing languishes behind.

“Boxing is still successful,” promoter Dan Goossen said, refusing to believe the sport is in jeopardy. “But what we haven’t done is grow the business.”

Fellow promoter Lou DiBella believes the “World Boxing Classic” will help.

“This is what’s going to get us back together, what’s going to get us back on the map,” he said. “There’s not going to be a bad fight in this tournament, the best are fighting the best.”

Unlike a traditional single elimination tournament, each fighter will be guaranteed three bouts and earn points based on their decisions. A victory will be worth two, including a bonus point for a knockout, and a draw will earn one point. The four boxers with the most points will advance to the semifinals.

While dates and locations have not been confirmed, the first group of bouts is set. Dirrell will fight Froch for his WBC title, while Kessler defends his WBA title against Ward and Taylor fights Abraham.

“It happened so fast,” Taylor said. “I was wondering what I was going to do next, and I got a phone call saying this tournament was coming. I couldn’t wait to sign.”

Some talented fighters didn’t get that chance.

Among those who aren’t involved are IBF champ Lucian Bute, who is scheduled to fight Librado Andrade this fall, WBO champion Karoly Balzsay and top contender Allan Green.

Hershman would not reveal what contingencies are in place should a fighter get hurt, fail a drug test or drop out for some other reason, but he acknowledged that Bute or another top super middleweight could conceivably end up in the tournament.

“If you have eight, at some point it becomes so unwieldy and long, and you run the risk of collapsing on top of itself,” Hershman said. “We expected we would go to six and one would say no, but everybody said yes, and we were done.”

The fighters give the tournament a global flair, while their resumes give it credibility.

Kessler (41-1, 38 KOs) might be considered the favorite. The hard-hitting Dane’s only loss came in 2007, when he waged a slugfest with unbeaten champion Joe Calzaghe.

Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) made headlines earlier this year when he rallied to knock out Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs) with 14 seconds left to defend his title. Abraham (30-0, 24 KOs) was born in Armenia and now fights out of Germany, and will be moving up from middleweight after vacating his 160-pound title over the weekend.

While the tournament isn’t designed to pit Europe versus America, that’s how many fans will view it. Taylor was a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, Dirrell (18-0, 13 KOs) won the bronze medal in 2004, and Ward (19-0, 12 KOs) won gold for the U.S. in Athens.

“It has nothing to do with Europe and America,” Froch insisted. “It’s the best fighters in the world. It just happens to be where we come from.”

AP Sources: Showtime close to boxing tourney deal

By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—Showtime is putting the final touches on a six-man super middleweight round-robin tournament that will include two current champions and three former U.S. Olympians.

Two people with knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press on Thursday that the details, possibly including sites and dates, are being worked out this week. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were ongoing.

The tournament is expected to include WBA champion Mikkel Kessler and WBC champion Carl Froch along with IBF middleweight titleholder Arthur Abraham. The three Europeans will be joined by former U.S. Olympians Jermain Taylor, Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell.

Showtime issued a statement saying all six fighters would be in New York on Monday for a “groundbreaking boxing announcement,” but declined to elaborate. They have a combined record of 161-4-1 with 117 knockouts.

Abraham, Froch, Dirrell and Ward have never been beaten.

Showtime has made a big investment in the 168-pound division, attempting to build name recognition for many of the participants. Froch knocked out Taylor in the 12th round in April, Ward beat Edison Miranda in May, and Abraham beat Mahir Oral last month.

Unlike elimination tournaments, the format would reward fighters with points based on the decision. A victory would earn two points, with a bonus point for a knockout, and a draw would be worth one point. The four fighters with the most points at the end of the round-robin would advance to seeded semifinals.

“I’ve got a lot to say on every subject, (but) give me a few days to give you something to talk about,” said Dan Goossen, who promotes Ward, when asked about the tournament.

The first scheduled fights would pit Dirrell, a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, against Froch for the WBC title, with Abraham moving up in weight to fight Taylor.

The tournament could be precisely what boxing needs after a summer in which several big fights were postponed, the heavyweight division remained a mess and mixed martial arts kept cutting into the sport’s stagnant fan base.

Showtime’s plan, which had been rumored for weeks, could provide numerous intriguing fights over the next two years in both the United States and Europe.

“If you can pull this off, it’s genius,” Gary Shaw, who promotes Dirrell, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “It’s what boxing needs in every weight class. This is the best trying to fight the best.”

Shaw put together a 168-pound tournament of his own two years ago on Showtime. But that tournament, with a finale between Jean Paul Mendy and Anthony Hanshaw, did not have the star power that Showtime is attempting to put together this time.

There have been other attempts to create boxing tournaments, with mixed results.

In the 1980s, Don King put together a heavyweight tournament that included Michael Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. It lasted nearly two years and resulted in Mike Tyson defeating Tony Tucker by unanimous decision to become the undisputed champion.

The tournament had ran into problems when Spinks dropped out for a more lucrative fight.

There are plenty of legitimate 168-pounders who could fill in if someone drops out of Showtime’s planned tournament, although it’s not clear what contingencies are in place for such things as failed drug tests or injuries that might shelve a fighter.

Among those who aren’t involved are IBF champ Lucian Bute, who is scheduled to fight Librado Andrade in a mandatory this fall, WBO champion Karoly Balzsay and top contender Allan Green.

“If anyone would get through a tournament like this, you’d have a superstar,” Shaw said, “a new superstar. And that’s important and good for boxing, and maybe they’ll do this at 140, 154 (pounds). There are a lot of great fighters.”