I have no doubt Golden Boy Promotions will do its best to provide entertaining boxing cards each month when the Barclays Center opens this fall in Brooklyn. But it didn’t take long to see why signing the West Coast-based promoter to an exclusive deal was not in the best interests of the sport or the arena.
A proposed heavyweight title fight between champion Wladimir Klitschko and American challenger Cris Arreola is likely a no go in Brooklyn because K2, the Klitschkos’ company, would be forced to do a co-promotion with Golden Boy.
“We’re not going to do that,” said Bernd Boente, Klitschko’s manager. “I don’t want to do a co-promotion with an American who has nothing to do with the Klitschkos.”
Klitschko defends his title Saturday in Germany against former cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck. The fight, to be shown on EPIX, is a near sellout, which is the norm whenever Wladimir or his brother Vitali, the WBC heavyweight champion, fight in Germany.
But the two brothers have been out-of-sight out-of-mind in America, not having fought in the States since 2003. A title fight at Barclays would have helped reacquaint them with the American boxing public.
“I hope this year, I will fight back in the States again,” Wladimir said. “I’ve been missing those exciting moments in my training camps in the Poconos or in Florida. And I’m definitely looking forward to fighting back in the States.”
When the Klitschkos do fight in the States it does not look like it will be at the Barclays.
“I can’t understand why an arena is doing an exclusive deal with an American promoter,” Boente said from Germany. “What do they bring to the table? A Klitschko fight is a worldwide event. It would be covered by 150 countries. It would be huge with the Russian-speaking community [in Brooklyn]. I just don’t understand what they are doing.”
The Barclays Center made the deal with Golden Boy to guarantee boxing in the arena at least one a month for three years. But the downside is the top promotion companies such as Golden Boy, K2 and Top Rank are not always eager to work together to share revenue or produce the best fights. Boxing at the Barclays won’t thrive on fighters just from the Golden Boy stable. Most are based on the West Coast or in Mexico. They will need to work with local promoters such as DiBella Entertainment and Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing to attract local interest.
***
Four-time New York Golden Gloves Champion Will “Power” Rosinsky (14-1, 8 KOs) meets Zane “The Train” Marks (17-6, 10 KOs) in the co-feature of Tuesday night’s Broadway Boxing card at B.B. King Blues Club and Grill. Headlining the card will be undefeated welterweight prospect Alex Perez (15-0, 9 KOs) taking on former NABF junior welterweight champion Francisco “El Gato” Figueroa (20-3-1, 13 KOs), who makes his return to the ring after a lengthy absence.
Rosinsky is coming off the first loss of his career — a close 10-round decision to Edwin Rodriguez.
“I have put the last fight behind me and am ready to go,” Rosinsky said. “I can’t sit and dwell on things. Instead I am just focusing on getting a fight with one of the other top guys in the sport so I can prove myselfI’m so excited to be fighting back at home in New York City and at the same place that I made my pro debut.It is always a pleasure to fight in New York. We have the best fans in the world!”
george.willis@nypost.com