Dissecting the Super Six: Part 3

Dissecting the Super Six: Part 3

Mark E. Ortega

Leave-it-in-the-ring.com

July 3, 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.

Here in part three, Ortega explores the possibility of Showtime staging a similarly structured tournament in the future, as well as which weight classes prove attractive for such a venture.

As the end draws near and certain questions are being asked (is the Super Six format friendly to future tournaments? Is Showtime ready for seconds?), it is natural to ponder the prospect of a Super Six sequel.

“I couldn't be happier with the way it played out; I loved doing it, I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had a weight division that could deliver this level of fights for this long of a period and promoters who were willing to participate,” enthused Showtime Sports’ Ken Hershman.

Promoter Dan Goossen sides with the network executive.

“I like the concept of the Super Six, more so than the tournament format they used for the bantamweight tournament. The difference is you've got a wider array of talent in the six-man tournament as compared to the four-man tournament and you accomplish something in the Super Six scheme more so than in the [Showtime elimination] bantamweight scheme and that is you have more opportunities for the elite fighters that take the risk in the tournament that come out on the losing end of it.”

Which now begs the question of which weight division would be best suited for another go around…

Super Bantamweights. One 122-pound fighter sitting on potential stardom is undefeated Rico Ramos of East Los Angeles. The Goossen-promoted Ramos stood one knockout away from stripping the belt of WBA champion Akifumi Shimoda—which he accomplished in explosive fashion on HBO airwaves this past July 9^th. When probed if Ramos would be considered as a potential tournament player, Goossen seemed hesitant.

“Obviously, you want to have some sort of loyalty to where you are getting your opportunities, and HBO has been kind enough to give Rico a shot on their network so we would like to keep him there if possible,” explained Goossen.

A shame—the Super Six format offers prime breeding ground for the success of a budding prospect like Ramos; case in point, stablemate Andre Ward. Furthermore, Ramos’ personality is one that would shine given a platform such, as Showtime’s own Fight Camp 360.

Consider Arthur Abraham. This writer thinks it safe to infer that Abraham’s sober demeanor did little to intrigue the public, at least initially. It was the Armenian fighter’s surprisingly gaudy shtick (e.g., naming his dog “Mike Tyson”), however, that cemented his celebrity on the boxing reality series.

Back to the super bantamweights. The division’s key prospects fulfill the same kind of holes as the first run of fighters.

Toshiaki Nishioka, while in his mid-30s, is widely regarded as the super bantamweights’ best. The Japanese champion has enjoyed a quality run but possibly seeks more challenging opposition.

Mexico’s Fernando Montiel (or perhaps Top Rank) turned down the format at 118 pounds, but at this point of his career, participation would make more sense. As well, titlist Jorge Arce could quite possibly lose his belt in his next fight and see a dearth of checks to follow. Signing up for a Super Six World Boxing Classic would secure the fighter three possible paydays straight off.

Former champ, Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, is an exciting but little known Thai fighter who would make for some thrilling scraps. Unfortunately, the super bantamweights boast few quality American fighters.

Junior middleweights. In comparison, this weight class features a largely American—and affordable—crop of fighters. Cornelius Bundrage and Austin Trout, despite being titlists, just can't find their way onto television. Bundrage holds the IBF strap, having recently defended it off-television on a Don King HBO card. Said fight was untelevised in favor of Bermane Stiverne-Ray Austin. Trout, who hails from New Mexico, traveled south of the border to win the WBA light middleweight belt from Rigoberto Alvarez (brother of the highly-touted “Canelo”), then successfully defended it against David Lopez before returning stateside. Currently, Trout is dealing with the fallout of a positive marijuana test following this last bout, so how long the title remains his is a big question mark.

American Olympian Vanes Martirosyan, while undefeated, belongs to the Top Rank stable; his participation would be a long shot. Pawel Wolak is a possibility. Sergiy Dzinziruk is viable.

There also exists the possibility that no other weight class will see all the necessary elements fall into place, a perfect storm if you will, in the manner of the super middleweight division. Hershman further articulates.

“Yeah, you could do the Super Six with lesser known guys and get some good quality fights out of it, hopefully break one of the fighters out as a star, a pound for pound fighter. That may be the route we take. 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.

“You go seven or eight fighters deep before you get into a different level of fighter and that was really attractive to us and that's what motivated this entire tournament,” says Hershman. “The goal was to put together a string of tough fights one after the other after the other and doing it as a one-off would be very difficult. We think this tournament takes everything to a different level. It would never be easy to do again, we knew that, but I think it is doable. It was the right collection of characters and people, promoters and the right time to do that. We'll explore the other weight divisions and see what's next.”

For those who have followed the tournament’s tumultuous, yet exciting, two year run with Showtime, a repeat performance would certainly inspire plenty of enthusiasm—and repeat viewership. In the meantime, the final chapter of the groundbreaking Super Six World Boxing Classic, to be held on October 29 in New Jersey’s Atlantic City, awaits.