By Anthony George – Don King once told me that the five magic words every promotor wants to hear is ‘When is the next one?’ How a boxing promotion achieves that goal of anticipation, that craving for more,varies. The most obvious is a breathtaking main event, something Hall of Fame Boxing Promoter and Top Rank Boxing failed to deliver when Teofimo Lopez and Jermaine Ortiz laced ‘em up a week ago. Indeed, Friday Night at The Hulu Theater in New York City had to provide some redemption for the paying customers.

After all, there is so much for New Yorkers to do. Not to mention the stiff competition on the plethora of streaming services. 

Ultimately, there was enough to chew on for this Top Rank card to get plenty of paying customers at MSG and eyeballs to the sets and devices.

O’ Shaquie Foster vs. Abraham Nova presented as a nice, even, sexy matchup. Bruce Carrington is a star in the making. Tiger Johnson is on the rise. Ofacio Falcon is an intriguing local story. And pugilists Isaah Flaherty and Guido Vianello, if nothing else, can never be accused of being boring. 

While there was a promise on paper, would it transform into enough entertainment to produce such a necessary curiosity? When is the next one?

For the most part, the opponents showed up on the ESPN + portion of the telecast. Charles Stanford, Antonio Todd, Julien Baptiste, and Edward Ceballos all showed up, if not to win, but to make it as hard as possible for their A-side foe. For that, they should be applauded. In this day and age, where it has become a sport to disparage the modern boxer, giving some credit to those whom most scribes probably do not even know is essential. Also, Ceballos deserved better than the shutout loss he received against Bronx prospect Ofacio Falcon.

Paulo Cesar Galdino, Tiger Johnson’s opponent, did not provide much resistance. However, he probably filled precisely the role the matchmakers cast him for.  

Brandon Montella and Joe Gadigan, trainers of Isaah Flaherty and Julien Baptiste, respectively, provided different entertainment for the viewers.  During this fight, ESPN + decided to show a split screen of these trainers throughout the fight. The result was a battle of F-Bombs, which Montella clearly won. I wonder if they knew they would be on camera throughout the rounds and kicked up the demonstrative performance because of that dynamic. Or is that Brandon all the time? Either way, it worked. 

As for Guido Vianello. Well, it was still better than listening to a Gino Vanelli album. 

I kid Gino Vanelli fans. 

As for the main portion on the ESPN side of the telecast, boxing fans had to patiently wait for The Goon Show, which is Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe in some monstrosity of an NBA exhibition game to end. Now, do not get me wrong, I love the NBA. Even subscribe to League Pass. However, to have to sit through something like that before we can view our primetime boxing is beyond insulting.

When the boxing action finally began, so did the anticipation of the opponents coming to eat rather than to appease the A side. The hopes of that dynamic were soon squelched as both Bruce Carrington and Andres Cortes made quick work of their opponents. This is not to suggest these co-features were absent of thrills and some competition. 

Bernard Torres was a rugged, experienced southpaw who could lead and counter. He had two significant problems, however. The first is Bruce, and the second is Carrington. The man they call Shu Shu stood poised and calculated as he presented the illusion of his opponent being in the fight early on. That all ended with a short, crunching right hand to end the battle spectacularly in the 4th round.

Andres Cortes had an equally easy time against the highly rated-Bryan Chevalier. After you gotpassed the striking resemblance to Don Flamenco, you quickly realized that Bryan did not have the power, cuteness, or boxing skills to last long against Cortes. He is determined, strong, and on the rise.

Indeed, both victors in the co-features on the ESPN main card did enough to ask the question, when is the next one? 

All that was left to deliver was the highly anticipated main event. It should have been clear to most that the talent gap between O’ Shaquie Foster and Abraham Nova was significantly slimmer than the other matches on the bout sheet. You know, the way it should be. However, that dynamic does not necessarily mean a solid action fight.  The first-round action, or lack thereof, made you think that perhaps Top Rank has offered us up another stinker of a main event. 

The fight soon heated up after that. Manifesting into a solid 12-rounder. Part chess match. Part grit. A war of attrition. Foster won most of the second half of the fight. Although Nova had an excellent 10th round. A timely knockdown in the 12th sealed the victory for the champion Foster. Still, the final scorecards determined the contest to be a split decision. While Nova was the crowd favorite in New York City, the night would have ended with a Grand Moff Tarkin- a foul stench, for all of you non-geeks- had Nova been granted the decision.

Well, no use focusing on the what-ifs. The right guy won, and Top Rank Boxing succeeded in producing solid entertainment for the fans. Creating many ‘when is the next one’ questions. 

Here are my top three inquiries:

Bruce Carrington: When is the next Shu Shu Showdown, and, more importantly, against whom? My wish is either the Otabek Kholmatov vs. Raymond Ford winner or Mauricio Lara. Reality suggests something much different. Nevertheless, we will all be there.

O’ Shaquie Foster: He is nothing but good for boxing. Good enough to produce good action fights, not dominant enough to win going away, and seemingly willing to take on anyone. Who will the brass at Top Rank be comfortable to match Foster against next? The best fight for the fans would be against the guy who looked dominant in the co-feature, Andres Cortes. But that is unlikely. But probably not because Foster would not go for it. We shall see. 

Tiger Johnson: After two lackluster decision victories. Tiger was served up as the perfect template to showcase his skills. I like Johnson, but the jury is still out on him. And at 140, he will either sink or swim or will continue to feast on soft touches. The latter will never get Tiger Johnson on the main card on ESPN. It will be interesting to see what the next move is for him. 

After Friday night’s action we have plenty of anticipation for 2024. 

When is the next one? 

Photo Courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank

Twitter X @AGeorge929