IT’S moments like this when boxing fans must know that the folks at HBO and the Garden don’t take you seriously.
Don King certainly doesn’t.
Seriously now. Who would pay $44.95 to watch tonight’s card on Pay Per View, or $75-$800 for a ticket? Billed as the “Battle for Supremacy,” the featured event tonight is between two boxers who are such good friends they don’t want to fight one another.
What would Rocky Marciano say about that?
Truth is, Chris Byrd and Jameel McCline would step into the ring if they could find a lawyer cunning enough to get around boxing’s rules.
“It’s a situation where we have to fight each other – he’s my mandatory,” said Byrd. “There’s no way out. We agreed we would try to avoid it as much as possible, but when he became my mandatory, we knew it would happen.”
Well, let’s hope Byrd and McCline don’t hit each other too hard as they battle for supremacy of a heavyweight division that is more suspect than supreme.
The “feature” event, we think, is John Ruiz (40-5-1, 28 KOs) vs. Andrew Golota (38-4-1, 31 KOs). Ruiz’ WBA heavyweight title will be on the line. Byrd’s IBF heavyweight belt will be up for grabs as the four try to position themselves for a fight in which they may actually have to, well, fight.
Hasim Rahman (39-5-1, 32 KOs) takes on Kali Meehan (29-2, 23 KOs) with a last chance for Rahman to prove if he’s more former champ or chump. It’s Meehan’s best chance to gain some notoriety outside of Australia.
Evander Holyfield (38-7-2, 25 KOs) takes on Larry Donald (41-3-2, 24 KOs) on the undercard. That fight is not televised, which might good for Real Deal fans who want to remember the man who upset Mike Tyson and battled Riddick Bowe.
At 42, he’s hanging onto a dream of becoming the undisputed heavyweight champ for a fifth time. Holyfield is the link to the heavyweight division’s better years when he and Tyson and Bowe and then Lennox Lewis didn’t concern themselves with making friends in the business.
“My first reaction was, ‘Is there no other fight out there for me?’ Then I realized I can’t turn this down,” McCline says. “I’m treating it like any other fight. Nothing has changed. In the end, business is business. We understand that.”
Byrd (37-2-1, 20 KOs) weighed in at 214 pounds, giving away a good dinner for four at Old Homestead to McCline (31-3-3, 19 KOs), who nearly crushed the scales at 270.
McCline might have been visiting some of the city’s better restaurants, because he blew off a couple of media appearances this week. King fined him $15,000, which undoubtedly will go to some worthwhile charity that only King has heard of.
By yesterday, McCline at least had gotten into the spirit of promoting the fight against his friend.
“As far as the whole friendship thing, I really think he is like family, but I’m tired of talking about it,” said McCline. “This is bleeping bleep. He has what I want, and I am going to get it.”
Byrd has one belt. Ruiz has another. And Vitaly Klitschko has the third. He might be the best of the bunch but doesn’t have much drawing power. That leaves us with tonight’s Battle for Supremacy featuring fighters who don’t want to battle.
“I am not looking at this fight like we’re friends,” said Byrd. “I look at it like it’s competition. I know on my side, I’ll be cool afterward. It’s just boxing.”
Just boxing. And it’s just your money.