Dissecting the Super Six: Part 1

Dissecting the Super Six: Part 1

Mark E. Ortega

Leave-it-in-the-ring.com

July 1, 2011

With the Super Six World Boxing Classic headed down the final straightaway, Leave it in the Ring lead writer Mark Ortega makes a comprehensive appraisal of the groundbreaking tournament’s unfolding and considers what the future holds following its culmination. Included are insightful takes courtesy of Ken Hershman, vice president of Showtime Sports (the network responsible for producing the round robin), and Goossen-Tutor’s own Dan Goossen, who promotes Super Six finalist Andre Ward.

In part one, Ortega explores the provenance of the Super Six and all the elements necessary for the execution of such a historic event.

Just shy of two years ago, an announcement was made that would rock the foundations of not only the 168-pound weight class, but of the boxing world. Showtime, the long time runner-up in terms of premium televised boxing coverage in the United States, had announced a six man, abbreviated round robin tournament that would make great strides in determining a true champion for a weight division that had been lacking in prestige.

Of the super middleweight division’s twenty-seven years in existence, only one Ring Magazine world champion had ever been crowned. In March 2006, Joe Calzaghe lifted the title with his one-sided drubbing of then undefeated Jeff Lacy, then left the belt up for grabs following his retirement in 2008.

If one of Showtime's major goals was to crown an undisputed king at 168, the roster of original tournament entrants revealed the pains taken to ensure this. Featured were former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, eager to relive his glory days; WBC titlist Carl Froch, an emerging talent from across the pond with a crowd pleasing style; WBA beltholder Mikkel Kessler, a hands-on favorite who had posed a formidable challenge for Calzaghe in the former’s lone loss; weight jumping, hard hitting, middleweight titlist Arthur Abraham, who boasted an unblemished record; and last but not least, the fighters Andre (Ward and Dirrell)— two young, former American Olympic teammates who had yet to be tested by the best.

Jermain Taylor—though he bowed out early— can be credited with lending the tournament relevance to casual fans that had been force fed heavy, televised doses of the fighter from early on in his career to the peak of his success. The 2000 Olympian carried a chip on his shoulder having endured a string of more recent losses to names that couldn’t quite be classified as walkovers. Twice, Taylor lost to Kelly Pavlik (once brutally), riveting bouts in which victory just barely eluded him and perhaps shouldn’t have. He was mere seconds away from picking up a belt when he tangled with Froch in the Englishman’s American debut; despite Taylor’s point lead, Froch showed him the lights late in round twelve. In the eyes of HBO, Taylor was washed up. But to Showtime, Taylor was a name fighter to build around (or rather, use to prop up other fighters) when this Super Six idea began getting legs.

That HBO had little to no interest in the fighters sought by Showtime was important. And Taylor had quickly fallen out of favor with the network after being built up by them for so many years.

Mikkel Kessler saw his stock dip with the cable giant following the loss to Calzaghe, despite the fight earning a good rating. Prior to this meeting, Kessler’s bout against Librado Andrade was meant to be a showcase, a springboard priming him as a viable opponent for the reigning titleholder, whom HBO was heavily championing.

Arthur Abraham was a long-reigning middleweight kingpin who apparently lacked the color or star power to be used by HBO in any capacity other than as a feeder for marquee names such as Kelly Pavlik, but negotiations for the pair’s meeting were never made. Furthermore, the perceived deficiency in mass appeal proved false as Abraham’s star rose a couple notches following his appearance in Showtime's Fight Camp 360, a documentary series following the tourney. More on that later.

Froch, Ward, and Dirrell, on the other hand, had enjoyed more fruitful dealings with Showtime in recent years. Early on in their respective careers, both Ward and Dirrell fought showcase bouts aired on HBO, but neither was memorable— at least by the network’s standards. In Dirrell’s case, his fight against Curtis Stevens culminated in victory, albeit a lackluster one, and in the eyes of network bigwigs, pulling out the win doesn’t so much matter as long as you look good doing it. And if you can’t win, at least look lively. This may explain why ample opportunities are afforded guys like Edison Miranda and Ricardo Mayorga while Dirrell and Ward don’t get their fair due. Ward, for his part, appeared on a forgetful card headed by the atrocious Acelino Freitas-Zahir Raheem against an opponent from Minnesota with a padded record.

Necessary, too, that the Super Six featured no fighter that was represented by one of the two major promoters in the United States. That Golden Boy Promotions or Top Rank would delve into such uncharted waters was highly improbable. Sitting one tier below the power pair were the American promoters that eventually got in bed with Showtime. Goossen-Tutor Promotions [Ward], Lou DiBella [Taylor], and Gary Shaw [Dirrell] all had achieved success at the elite level but weren’t quite in a place where they could dictate to the networks which fights should be aired—and not the other way around. Except in the case of Shaw and ShoBox (ShawBox), of course.

The international promoters all expressed heavy interest in permeating the American market, especially with Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch having achieved a fair measure of success and/or notoriety on the other side of the pond. Notably, Universum of Germany, who counts both Kessler and Abraham among their stable of fighters, enjoyed the benefit of having two horses running this race—two horses that were widely considered the favorites.

To Showtime Sports vice president, Ken Hershman, a perfect storm was brewing.

“The beauty as it is originally conceived, we had Jermain Taylor, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, young Olympic medalists in Andre Dirrell and Ward and you had Carl Froch who was a big star in Britain but not over here,” explained Hershman in a phone interview earlier in the month. “It was the right collection of characters and people, promoters and the right time to do that.”

As the tournament concludes later this year, Super Six pundits and critics alike will at once assess its impact on the integrity of the sport.

Was [the Super Six] good for the network? Was it good for the promoters? The fighters? And most importantly, was it good for the fans?

According to Hershman, the answer to all of those questions is a resounding yes.

“All [participating fighters] got three guaranteed paydays, had a chance to advance to get four and five paydays and become one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world,” offered Hershman when asked how this benefited the fighters.

“If you look at the way this has played out for the participants it has been a lot of reward and a fair amount of risk but a pretty good way to keep a steady attention, steady revenues, steady predictable fights in their career in a two year period. I think it's very attractive to them, very attractive to the promoters. It's a steady diet of their fighters getting paydays and getting on television and building their brands. And the exposure the promoters have gotten on the Fight Camp shows is good for their business, good to recruit other fighters to their platform.”

Dan Goossen of Goossen-Tutor Promotions, Ward's promoter of record, is in agreement.

“First and foremost, the concept is a terrific one for the sport. So despite some of the other comments I may have as it relates to tightening up the commitment and all the other facets that come along with it, I believe it's a great vehicle for the future.”

The tournament has definitely seen its fair share of peaks and troughs. As Woody Allen once said, “If you're not failing every now and then, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.”

And innovation is exactly what Showtime needed to battle with the big dogs over at HBO. For years, they have been putting on the much more competitive fights, yet have suffered the stigma of the competitor’s ugly stepsister; in other words, second best. Is it any coincidence that after this tournament gained steam, Showtime managed to secure the rights to a Manny Pacquiao fight [against Shane Mosley, May 2011]? Had the ground floor not been laid by the Super Six, who’s to say that this would have been feasible?

“Sometimes when you are naïve about things you are better off,” Hershman mused when asked if he thought the tournament would play out according to plan.

“And I think we were real naïve about how really difficult it would be to manage a tournament where there'd be bumps along the way. We knew that we would never get to the finish line with all six guys being the same six that started but we built in mechanisms to deal with that and I think we did well. But it was a challenge and it was interesting to me, and I can't say it was fun, but it was really an experience worth having in this business, and ultimately, we did get to the finish line and we're going to have an amazing finals.”