Can "War-A-Week" Take the Bull by the Horns at GBP?

by John Chavez

It's a move that makes perfect sense.

This past week, Golden Boy Promotions and long-time boxing match-maker, Don "War-a-Week" Chargin once again joined forces as the Hall-of-Fame promoter would be announced as a special advisor effective immediately to Oscar De la Hoya's promotional company.

Over the past several years, GBP has been criticized heavily in the media and by boxing fans stating that while they've done very well financially for their roster of fighters, they have yet to cultivate and build the necessary talent for the future prosperity of the company. The match-making has been largely hit-and-miss by De la Hoya's firm being that overly close ties to certain boxing managers has led to less than competitive bouts especially in the prospect building process.

Don Chargin states, "It's a fine balance that you must find as a match-maker/promoter. The fans are the ones paying for the fights so your focus should be giving them competitive fights while continuing to build your stable of talent. It's not always easy to do so as a fighter's manager will push for mostly easy fights for their clients while the fans will consistently clamor for fights that might be a little too rough, too soon for the fighter. Getting a guy easy wins does nothing for a fighter's career nor does it do much to convince the real fans that you have a potential superstar on your hands. It's not an easy task and Golden Boy has been doing a pretty good job of it at times, I just hope to be able to help them along in the process."

Boxing fans can be a fickle bunch at times making it virtually impossible to please each and every last one of them.

CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, Richard Schaefer has been doing a solid job of bringing in lucrative television deals, sponsorships, and site partnerships for his firm but it seems as though "The Boxing Banker" has been stretched a little thin especially when it comes to the fighter development side of his company.

Chargin states, "After having worked with Aileen Eaton at the Olympic Auditorium all those years, I thought I'd never see another person with the type of business acumen that she had in boxing. She was a person that was simply way ahead of her time. If there's anybody that can be considered on-par with her throughout my years in boxing, it's Richard's ability in the business room. His vision and viewpoint is very different than most others in boxing promoting and that's why Golden Boy has been able to reach such an elevated level of success in such a short time-frame."

The Boxing Truth has largely been critical of Golden Boy Promotions in the past stating that while they might be great at securing financially beneficial contracts for themselves and their fighters, it is the fans who have paid the price over the past several years with the manager-style match-making, less than scintillating performances by the likes of Bernard Hopkins on boxing's biggest stage, and other failed prospects and business ventures namely Affliction (MMA). However, if there's anytime that'd make sense to make a change in one's product, now would be the time.

With Shelly Finkel leaving the boxing business and Don Chargin guiding the company, Golden Boy Promotions could possibly be on pace to have a stand out year and possibly set the precedent for that one focus that I feel has been lacking within the company... the fans.

While our expectations are realistic knowing that we'll most likely never see boxing on network television, knowing that Pay-Per-View is a necessary evil in our sport's current business model, and understanding that fighter's can tend to be an unrealistic bunch to work with, we our optimistic that positive progress can be made atop one of boxing's most powerful promotional entities.

Look for some interesting pieces here in the coming weeks as The Boxing Truth will be conducting some in-depth interviews with Chargin as it relates to his position at Golden Boy Promotions and his vision for the company in the future.

If only Lorraine Chargin were around to see it all unfold, it would make it that much more perfect.


PS. She actually is still around. She tapped me on the shoulder this morning and told me that I should get a much-needed haircut.





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