>"There has been a lot of talk lately about Al Haymon being on
>the verge of “taking over boxing.” Under the Al Haymon model,
>it has been said, Haymon would control everything within his
>universe (including all sources of revenue) the way Zuffa LLC
>(UFC’s parent corporation) does."
>
>clearly, the professional boxing business model needs to be
>restructured, or completely overhauled
>
>if Haymon is the guy to act in a comissioner's capacity, and
>all these possible infractions get the government involved
>
>and lead boxing to actually being run like a professional
>sports league
>
>what's the problem?

Fair point. Haymon has both the intellect and business savvy
to completely overhaul the sport and restructure its revenue models, but the question is - is it ever a good thing to have one man centralize that much power, particularly when they originate/operate from a point of prioritized profitability (for self).

My opinion is that a commissioner should be as neutral of a presence as possible. Finance & profitability should not be the hallmarks of a commissioner who needs to focus on fair play, consistent testing deadlines and state commissioner adherence to clear standards, proper adjudication of matches to weed out incompetent/comprised judges/officials, etc...

Haymon should be able to maximize business efforts as much as possible within rules - it's just that we have no rules now so it's the wild west situation of whoever has the most guns win. Haymon has the most guns, without question.

The Old Guard is eroding. Top Rank's lifeline with Arum as king is coming to a close, along with Pacquiao's career. Mayweather is retiring soon. Schaefer & Oscar are at odds entrenched in billion dollar law-suits - and Oscar really isn't the mind/engine of GBP - Richard is...and Richard & Haymon are more alike in ambition: they both want to seize monopolized control over promotional/business avenues, and they've done a great job of doing that.

I don't think it's appropriate to paint Haymon as the Darth Vader of the sport (though that sentiment is out there to those in the know). In my dealings with him he's been honest, cordial, gracious in conversation, and a very interesting/bright man whom I'd love to have the opportunity to learn from. I think his secrecy and veiled presence lends to speculation that mostly assumes negative ideas about Haymon, many of which are pure conjecture and boxing fantasy lore.




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