MVP = Most Volatile Promotions
Have you ever felt as if you’ve missed the memo that’s gone around everybody else, and you have been left out?
Recently, Chantelle Cameron, in an interview, talked of her move to Most Valuable Promotions because women’s boxing was beginning to stagnate.
I never had that impression. In fact, I thought it was motoring along quite nicely, although developing at a slower pace perhaps than most wanted to, because it could not match men’s boxing because it had a far smaller pedigree and a lesser history.
But what do I know…
Cameron, along with a host of other British female fighters, has joined Jake Paul’s MVP.
A few weeks ago, in this very column, I spoke of how we should perhaps be talking about Jake Paul as a real boxer. This week, he seems to have swept up most of the women’s boxing elite into a promotional deal which, aside from the two greatest women of all-time candidates, those being Claressa Shields and Katie Taylor, has seen Terri Harper and Shannon Courtney joining his stable.
British boxers joining an American stable has been an interesting approach to gaining world recognition. In some cases, it has worked well. In other cases, as in the case of Josh Taylor, worked less successfully.
One of the issues that Taylor had throughout his career was the lack of credit he was given in Britain, partly because he signed a deal with an American promotional company, thus making it increasingly difficult for him to get airtime in the UK.
It is not that long ago that he arrived back in Edinburgh, having fought for and won the unified titles and found that there was nobody there chanting his name or indeed applauding his return. Given his closeness to Ken Buchanan and the way in which Buchanan was seen as a national hero, it is understandable that ‘The Tartan Tornado’ should have some kind of resentment over this.
Taylor does not.
It is a feature of his retirement recently, that there is no bitterness in his voice about how he’s been seen, only that his career has come to a stuttering end because of the medical issues that had forced him to make that decision.
It is, however, interesting to note Joshua Buatsi signing with Queensberry and saying he did so because he knew they would promote and protect him in the UK.
For Most Valuable Promotions, their card at Madison Square Gardens, which was all-female, set out a stall that Jake Paul and his company are at the forefront of women’s boxing. The exciting part of this rather than the Turki Alalsheikh development in men’s boxing is that what we see is a real dedication to the sport itself. Paul has laced up gloves and got into a boxing ring to be hit.
It should fill us with excitement that women’s boxing is being taken very seriously. He has signed up a stable with Britain’s Chantelle Cameron Eli Scotney, Savannah Marshall, and now Teri Harper and Shannon Courtney joining the likes of Alicia Baumgardner, Amanda Serrano and Holly Holm. It means that there are incredible options for British fighters, but they will all likely be fighting out in America.
But on the plus side, with one of the biggest stumbling blocks with British boxing over many, many years has been the best in one promotional stable would never feature against the best in another promotional stable. Belts were protected rather than put on the line and the fans, got shortchanged.
Now, presumably, that’s not going to happen, although there may be issues with getting the likes of Natasha Jonas, perhaps, or Sandy Ryan, or Cecilia Breakhaus to end up in the ring opposite any of the MVP fighters. Given that Claressa Shields has said that she will not fight for less than $4 million, that also is a further stumbling block. Not only is she without a promoter at the moment, but getting any promoter to stump up that kind of cash…
Shields is, however, a special fighter. And why should she not value herself? She has demonstrated that she can bring in the coinage through the door as well as in television rights, so perhaps $4 million is pocket change to get an even bigger reward from any promoter likely to risk it with Shields.
Could it be a rematch with Savannah Marshall? Can Marshall cope long-term without her trainer, Peter Fury, in her corner if her career is to be based fighting in America? Will Shannon Courtney find her true value? Will Shields hoover up more belts by taking out each of the MVP girls placed in front of her? Time as they say, will tell…