Rising from the ashes; is the Peter Abdool initiative workable?

Feb 10, 2010 Sports

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Asks Michael Benjamin

The evidence is so glaring that boxing executives can no longer bury their heads in the sand; boxing is in crisis and needs an urgent shot in the arm to revive the situation.

The mouth watering fights of the seventies and eighties have now dissipated to mediocrity and reduced boxing cards to mere farces.

Keith Bazilio, Malcolm Sonaram, Lloyd Blackmoore and Mike Correia, the hardcore, committed promoters of yesteryear, have suffered such immense losses that they are now battle worn. Some have migrated while others have long gone to the great beyond.

Their exit has paved the way for a new breed of promoters that valiantly aspire to keep the boxers in the ring and the sport alive.

Stanford Solomon aka King Solomon was among the latest of this group that ventured on the scene with a stack of greenbacks and a plethora of ideas. Like his predecessors, he was dealt several vicious combinations and the word on the street is that he has since retired hurt.

After losing millions in his quest to promote local pugilists, Bazilio has also taken a seat on the sidelines, content to pass the baton over to young aspiring promoters.

The executive of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control realized that sitting in the office engaged in administrative work was not yielding the desired dividends and so decided to join the promoters in hosting cards. They have reaped minimal rewards in terms of gate receipts. Naturally, their juices have been drained due to inadequate corporate support, not to mention poor crowd support. The concomitant result has forced them to cut back on the frequency of cards. This has further widened the chasm, worsening the situation.

In the meantime, new kid on the block, Carwyn Holland refuses to throw in the towel and continues to battle the vicissitudes.

A few weeks ago, despite the obvious challenges in garnering adequate sponsorship to offset the expenses required for promoting cards, coupled with the lack of crowd support, he organized a card that featured Gwendolyn ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil against Sharon ‘The Spoiler’ Ward. While Holland’s enthusiasm ought to be commended, it may be timely to issue a caveat. His modus operandi almost caused the cancellation of the O’Neil/Ward bout. This is not the first time that Holland’s exuberance has infuriated the boxers or the fans. This type of behaviour would further compromise his plans and projections for the sport.

Fans have been fed so much mediocrity in the past that they evaluate every card before forking out their hard earned cash. The few that visited the arena in the last promotion ‘could have been counted on your one hand’ to borrow a famous Guyanese term.

Since Holland has not been open enough to reveal his expenditure, corporate assistance nor his profits, if any, this writer is in no position to evaluate the financial success of the card.

However, the action in the ring lacked the kind of firepower that would encourage crowd support. Admittedly, the Rogers/Augustin light/heavyweight clash offered pulsating action and compensated for some of the other dull fights on the card. Irrespective of what transpired at that card, or at previous ones, a very integral component is glaringly absent, lack of crowd support. If one were to, even surreptitiously, examine the situation, there can be only one prognosis, the sport is in crises and in need of brilliant minds to extricate it from this sorry state of affairs.

Maybe it is after an examination of the situation that President of the Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) and the Guyana Boxing Board of Control, Peter Abdool, decided to take a hands-on approach to correct the situation. Whether it was a scientific process or just a common sense approach, he devised a model that appears to be workable.

Mr. Abdool collaborated with the executives of the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) and officials of the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports and brokered a deal that at first glance appears to be the solution to lift the beleaguered sport out of the doldrums.

The plan is simple. At the end of every month, starting from Feb 25 next, the GBBC would arrange a boxing card dubbed Friday Night Boxing. The card would incorporate the services of 8 professional boxers engaged in four fights and a similar number of amateur bouts. The professional boxers would be drawn from the local pool at the initial stages of the arrangement and later on, boxers from the Caribbean and further afield would be drafted into the arrangement. The idea is to build public confidence, encourage the masses to revisit the venue, the concomitant result being a return of the crowds and the reinstatement of boxing as the number one sport on the local front.

Initially, professional boxers will compete for a reduced purse while the amateurs would box for lucrative prizes that don’t include money. The organizers have recently disclosed that members of the corporate community had been approached for, and have consented to donate the required sum to offset the expenses of the card. To sweeten the deal the GBBC boss has incorporated the services of the National Communication Network (NCN) television to ensure that the sponsors, extremely important stakeholders, derive benefits from the initiative.

That channel would be carrying a live broadcast so that those unable to visit the venue could be a part of the action. Furthermore, patrons attending the matches will be charged an affordable fee of $500 while all boxers, regardless of status may enter the venue free of cost.

When Mr. Abdool summoned the media to the NCN studios to unreel his plans he was literally beaming from ear to ear. The CABOFE boss showed that he was not nominated to that position just for his good looks. Having said this, one wonders about the sustainability of the plan.

The logical question is, do we have enough professional boxers to facilitate the programme? We are talking here about twelve cards per year with four professional fights per card amounting to 96 boxers. It would be interesting to peruse the data base of local pugilists to ascertain the quantity of boxers and how many times each would be recycled to facilitate cards worth paying to see. One also wonders what happens if a few of the boxers suffer knockouts in view of the rules that prohibits a boxer experiencing such unforeseen circumstances from fighting within a three months span. Logically, one wonders what alternative measures are put in place to sustain the cards while the injured fighter serves out the mandatory ban. What happens also, if any of the boxers are injured and is deemed medically unfit for competition? These are just some of the pressing concerns which beg clarification.

Another issue that necessitates stringent thinking is whether those boxers targeted are in agreement of the small purses on offer. My personal view is that it makes sense to fight once per month and take home $50,000 than to fight once a year for $300,000. Nevertheless, the final decision rests with the boxers.

Some of the boxers with whom I spoke are not in agreement with the money offered for their participation. One of these fighters told me that he is not prepared to accept such ‘chick feed’ for his labour. I pointed out to this boxer that he has lost all of his last four fights and was not in a position to make demands on the promoter. He remained adamant in his views.

A popular promoter next pointed out that while the Abdool initiative looks good on paper, the practical implementation may not be that simple. This promoter further posited that local promoters are burdened by the heavy monetary criteria demanded by GBBC officials for each promotion. This includes tickets, and fees among others. GBBC has mandated that boxers surrender 1/3 of their purses which is placed in a special fund to facilitate unforeseen injury or other relevant expenses incurred by the boxer. This fund is meant to address those concerns. It would be interesting to know what the balance sheets read and if any boxer benefited from that fund.

This writer has benefited with a substantial donation after suffering an unfortunate accident some three years ago. The officials of the GBBC should keep the boxers and its other affiliates abreast of the movement of monies in this fund.

The promoter with whom I spoke wishes to know whether GBBC executives would relax the stringent monetary criteria the promoters are required to meet before their cards are approved. These queries and more have been asked of this reporter. Unfortunately, I am in no position to answer them.

I believe that there is substance to the plan. What is needed is a thorough evaluation of the situation and more importantly, discussions with the boxers and other stakeholders on the viability of the project. While everything appears hunky dory, and while the plan appears to be the most practical solution to the problems encountered by the boxing fraternity, it will only work after all stakeholders are in agreement with the statutes. Failure to garner unanimous approval would reduce Mr. Abdool’s wonderful idea to the garbage heap. Such a development would be much the pity.

 

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