Check out Potshot Boxing’s (PSB) recap of what occurred on HBO’s Fight Game with Jim Lampley that aired on September 16, 2014!!
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So, Jim Lampley started off his show by educating the boxing world of how boxing is changing in a positive way from the promotional landscape scheme of things. Lampley would explain to the boxing world of how a “Purse Bid” is created.
A “Purse Bid” is when a mandate title organization meets with no deal in place from the entrepreneurs who finance the fights. When this happens, promoters who are interested in the mandate fight will meet up in a room where they have an opportunity to bid for the interested fight. The promoter who bids the highest will win the right to stage the fight.
An example of a Purse Bid fight was the vacant WBO featherweight championship fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Gary Russell, Jr. Gary Russell, Jr. is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Vasyl Lomachenko is promoted by Top Rank Promotions. Golden Boy Promotions won the right to stage the fight so Vasyl Lomachenko, who has fought on HBO for all of his upstart career so far, had to fight on Showtime for the first time in his career because Golden Boy Promotions almost exclusively air their fights on Showtime.
Lampley would go on to give us another example of a Purse Bid fight and that will be the upcoming November 8, 2014 WBA(Super)/IBF/WBO unification light heavyweight title fight between Bernard Hopkins and Sergey Kovalev. Because of one of Hopkins’ light heavyweight belts, he needed to make a unification light heavyweight title fight by an August 1, 2014 deadline.
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If Hopkins did not make that deadline, he would have been forced to fight a lesser mandatory challenger to keep his light heavyweight title, and we all know that would not have been good for boxing. Hopkins was looking to fight WBC light heavyweight champ Adonis Stevenson, but that fight was not available for him to pursue so here we go with another “Purse Bid.”
Bernard Hopkins decided to fight WBO light heavyweight champ Sergey Kovalev in a light heavyweight unification title fight in November. This time, however, HBO has the right to the stage the fight so Hopkins, who has been fighting on Showtime for a while now, will have to fight Kovalev on HBO.
The show would continue with Lampley interviewing Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya. Arum and De La Hoya talked about the possibility of coming together and letting the best fighters fight the best fighters no matter who promotes them. This could be huge for boxing if the best start fighting the best. This is simply what the boxing world wants after all..
Lampley would go on to talk about Floyd Mayweather’s performance against Maidana and revealed The Fight Game’s Top 5 Pound For Pound List. The Fight Game’s P4P List starts at number 1 Floyd Mayweather, 2 Andre Ward, 3 Manny Pacquiao, 4 Gennady Golovkin, and 5 Sergey Kovalev.
Now, I have to say this, 4 out of the 5 fighters that made The Fight Game’s P4P List fight on HBO. I definitely disagree with this top 5. I do not think that Golovkin or Kovalev belong in the top 5 of best fighters in the world. I am just saying. Anyway, moving on.
The cool part about this Fight Game episode is Lampley introducing to the boxing world to some glasses in which you can see all the action from where he is sitting and commentating fights. That was eye-opening and revolutionary.
WBO Lightweight Champ Terence Crawford would get interviewed by Michelle Beadle. Now Michelle is best known for hosting the ESPN show “SportsNation” along side Max Kellerman and Marcellus Wiley.
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Crawford was asked about his last fight, the crowd in his hometown, and the pressures of being around his hometown. Crawford was also asked are there any fighters that he compares himself to and he answered that he has his own style and he really do not see himself as somebody else. Good stuff!
After the Terence Crawford interview was over with, Jim Lampley and Michelle Beadle would talk about Floyd Mayweather, Jr.’s comments that he made about Ray Rice which created a lot of controversy not only in the boxing realm, but around the country. Did you know that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was arrested 7 times for domestic violence involving 5 different women. Wow! I did not know that. That is eye-opening!
The conversation would go further as Michelle would talk about how some people were trying to get others not to buy Mayweather’s last fight on September 13, 2014; but rather do something else with their money or donate the money to domestic abuse homes.
The Fight Game with Jim Lampley would end with Lampley revealing “The Gatti List.” The Gatti List is named after the Late Great All-Action Fighter Arturo “Thunder” Gatti, and it is based on the 5 fighters who will always give you your money’s worth when it comes to all out action in the boxing ring. The Gatti List was as follows: Omar Figueroa, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Juan Manuel Marquez, Marcos Maidana, and Lampley would throw in Heavyweight Great Evander Holyfield. Holyfield has officially retired from boxing.
Before the show completely ended, Jim Lampley had some harsh, but true comments to say about the Pound for Pound King Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Again, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is by far the best fighter of this generation, but when he finally retires in 2015 boxing will go on as usual. The beauty of boxing is that there will always be someone up and coming ready to take Pound for Pound throne.
I will not go into the full detail of Lampley’s comments, but you can tell that Lampley does not like Floyd Mayweather, Jr. the person. Overall, it was a great show and cannot wait until the next installment of HBO’s The Fight Game with Jim Lampley.
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