Boxing Stories That Never Get Mentioned

By Scoop Malinowski

Some of my favorite and forgotten boxing insider stories that never get talked about by the boxing media…

Floyd Mayweather and Al Haymon intended to duck Manny Pacquiao forever, because they couldn’t rig the fight in their favor. George Peterson, the co manager of Paul Williams (with Haymon) revealed to me in late 2010 that Mayweather vs Pacquiao was never going to happen because “some fights aren’t meant to be.” However Floyd and Haymon needed to conceal their fears of Pacquiao so they pretended to negotiate, fabricated slanderous accusations and excuses to duck Pacquiao for six years, while using the Pacquiao name to boost Mayweather’s value.  After HBO dumped Mayweather in 2013 (after the Miguel Cotto fight) – because the network realized Floyd and Haymon’s secret plan was to duck Pacquiao forever, Haymon manipulated Showtime to give Mayweather a six fight, $150m guaranteed contract. When Floyd’s Showtime “fights” began to produce unimpressive numbers after four bouts, the head of CBS Showtime Les Moonves intervened and forced Mayweather and Haymon by ultimatum to fight Pacquiao in 2015 as bout five of the contract. Floyd’s final Showtime deal fight was vs. Andre Berto. Showtime opted to not extend a new contract to Mayweather.

Roy Jones must have been intimidated and concerned about the threat of his mandatory challenger Antonio Tarver because the IBF Light Heavyweight champion wrote a letter to the IBF demanding the sanctioning body force Tarver to fight and win a second Eliminator in 2000 against Eric Harding, which he lost by decision.  Tarver had to wait over three more years to finally fight Jones in November 2003, losing a close decision.  Jones and HBO tried to duck the Tarver rematch (HBO initially offered a Jones and Tarver doubleheader vs separate opponents) but Tarver’s motor mouth and insults of Jones and HBO protecting Jones in the media forced the rematch in May 2004, which Tarver won by a second round knockout.

Ken Norton finally earned the WBC Heavyweight title in 1978 after he won an Eliminator vs Jimmy Young and new champion Leon Spinks refused an order to defend vs Norton in favor of a rematch with Muhammad Ali. Norton, as new champion, could have fought the non-threatening contender Ossie Ocasio for his first title defense but instead opted to fight the much more dangerous no. 1 contender Larry Holmes. Norton would lose his title to Holmes by a thrilling, close decision.

Shane Mosley defeated Oscar De La Hoya in June, 2000, to become WBC Welterweight champion, earning $15m compared to Oscar’s $35m.  A year later Mosley said he wanted a 50-50 split rematch with De La Hoya or a unification bout with Vernon Forrest for substantially less money. Mosley would end up losing to Forrest in January 2002 and also the immediate rematch in July.  Mosley earned $2.8m and Forrest earned $3.42m so the brave decision to unify vs Forrest instead of rematching De La Hoya probably cost Mosley over $15m.

Deontay Wilder won the WBC Heavyweight title by decision in 2015 from Bermane Stiverne, Don King’s last heavyweight champion. For that fight Wilder earned $1m and Stiverne earned $910,000. If you suspected King and Stiverne sold the title to Wilder, you may be correct. Wilder’s first title defense was against a Don King fighter named Eric Molina. At the Wilder vs Molina press conference, King spoke at the podium and made an astonishing revelation, saying “Stiverne transferred the title to Wilder.” To imply that the Wilder vs Stiverne fight was a business transaction was an unforgettable choice of words. In 2017, Stiverne, who had been reinstalled as WBC mandatory challenger for Wilder despite failing a drug test in 2016 and winning just one fight in the duration vs journeyman Derric Rossy, was knocked out in the first round of the rematch.