In the end, if the tournament concludes as scheduled in 18-14 months, one of the fighters is going to be crowned the best in the super middleweight division.  And for the sport of boxing to have one champion, you are asking for an impossible task, especially when five promoters get in the mix,

The SHOWTIME network, desperate for good fights and ratings, is feeling the heat because rival HBO Sports has the better fights and the premiere fighters. There was even talk, recently, that the network, a subsidiary of CBS Networks was losing money and considering televising less fights or getting out of boxing.

Besides, the welterweight division, in particular, is the premiere one in the sport and HBO seems to be doing fine with offering the best fights to the public without a devised tournament format to determine who is indeed number one.

“It began as an intriguing concept, and through a tremendous amount of hard work on everyone’s part, we are going to pull off one of the most exciting events in boxing history,” said Ken Hershman, Senior Vice President and General Manager of SHOWTIME Sports.

Perhaps to Hershman this may be exciting. His network needs something like this to draw interest, Boxing fans don’t need added confusion, more so more than a year to determine who the best is in a division that can’t rival the welterweights and lightweights.  The sport\ has enough alphabet champions and sanctioning organizations and this concept makes it more confusing.

You don’t draw more fans to the mix with more confusion, and despite what they were saying Monday, when was the last time boxing had one unified world champion in any of the divisions?   The round-robin tournament is scheduled to commence in October with venues to be determined.

Now take a look at the field and the first round match ups all scheduled for 12-rounds:

Carl Frotch (WBC Super Middleweight champion, 25-0, 20KO’s) of England) opposing Andre Dirrell (18-0, 13KO’s) of Flint Michigan, this for the WBC title, and probably the interest here because Dirrell gets a title shot and is one of the promising and exciting fighters that deserves exposure. Dirrell, 26 years old is a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist.

Jermaine Taylor (28-3-1, 17KO’s) the former middleweight champion from Little Rock Arkansas who has seen his career dwindle with recent tough defeats. So for Taylor, perhaps this tournament can put him back on the map. He opposes Arthur Abraham (30-0, 24Ko’s) of Germany who recently vacated his IBF middleweight championship to move up in class at 168.

And the interest for Taylor, and perhaps if you are a fan of this concept comes if Taylor should get by Abraham, because if he wins a possible return bout with Frotch is on the horizon in the tournament.  Back in April, Taylor faded late in his fight he was winning against Frotch and lost by TKO in round 12 and lost his chance at dethroning the 168-pomnd champion.

Mikkel Kessler (41-1, 31KO’s of Denmark, WBA super middleweight champion) opposes Andre Ward (19-0, 12 KO’s) of Oakland California for the WBA title. The 25-year-old Ward is the Olympic gold medalist and number one contender

So there it is. This is a tournament that is supposed to make a boxing fan content, and for the promoters involved, perhaps, a quicker way towards getting their fighters closer to championship prominence.  Listen to Lou DiBella, of DiBella Entertainment the former HBO executive who was itching at the chance for his fighter, Taylor to get another shot at Frotch.

“Everyone in this tournament starts with a clean state,” he said. “And believe me Jermaine Taylor is going to take advantage of that clean slate.  A loss to a champion gets you to another champion,” he commented also referring to how quickly this was put together and it is not easy getting five promoters at the same table to sign an agreement.

The flaws are some fighters are not in the mix of this, boxing is known for circumstances beyond control such as injuries to a fighter and weight issues. And the time process to crown a champion may be too long.  Fans don’t need to wait a year or more to determine who is the best because a network, SHOWTIME, needs to draw more interest with their boxing production.

Why isn’t top rated super middleweight, or middleweight contender Giovanni Lorenzo, the Domincian Republic native involved?  He has been calling for an opportunity to fight Abraham before the champion vacated his title. And Abraham will no doubt have his first round fight in Germany where he is unstoppable. The Garden would be a great venue for Lorenzo to highlight a card down the line with his Latino heritage.

Main Events, promoter of Lorenzo wound not get involved in the tournament which put their fighter out of the picture. Golden Boy Promotions of Oscar De La Hoya, Bob Arum of Top Rank and Don King, the other prominent promoters in the sport don’t need to get involved with a rival network they hardly do business with.

But for promoter Gary Shaw, who works hand- in- hand with SHOWTIME and for his fighter Dirrell, this is a perfect opportunity. “It’s the best of the best,” said Dirrell “Champion vs, champion.  I will bring a new element to the division and people will see what I am about,” he said.

The WBC has committed to make this three-stage situation happen and will honor all the fights and grant championships. “The sport needs a shot of adrenaline,” said DiBella. “This kind of event is what’s going to save boxing,” he added.

Maybe for SHOWTIME this offers some hope. The sports of boxing, though does not need more confusion and five promoters to make us wonder more: Who is the real champion?

GATTI THE WARRIOR: Arturo Gatti may not have been the best champion on record winning world championships in two weight classes at 130 and 140 pounds, but he was a warrior and a delight to fans.  Sadly, the 37-year old was found dead in Brazil Saturday and so another tragic ending to a great fighter,

Last week the boxing world was stunned to hear that another great champion, Alexis Arguello took his own life with an alleged self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest at his home in Nicaragua.  It seems this has become a common occurrence, great champions who gave us thrills in the ring and suddenly a tragic ending.

Gatti was a warrior who sold out the Atlantic City Convention Center each time he fought there. He is best remembered for the three epic fights against Micky Ward, two years back in 2002 and 2003, the last two held at the Convention Center.  Gatti won two of the three fights all on 10-round decisions.

And despite his reported out of the ring wild behavior, sometimes that has to be bypassed because of the great things he did in the ring. Gatti liked to have a good time and was always receptive to his fans and of course to the media who watched him throw punches at ringside.

So the sport has lost another legend. Gatti (40-9, 31 knockouts) gave us thrills and loved the sport and retired two years ago, July 14, 2007 with a loss to Alfonso Gomez by TKO in the seventh round, also in Atlantic City. That fight wasn’t his best and he knew it was time to leave the game.

There are no words to describe why fighters such as Arguello, and now Gatti have left us so soon. Perhaps it is a reflection for the society we are in. Because fighters know how to survive in the ring and when they leave the game survival becomes their biggest fight.

Rest in peace to another great champion and like Arguello we will toll the 10-count at ringside at the next fight.

E-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

He had been handled easily during the first pair of sets both owned by the 21 year-old No.3 ranked Serb who apparently used some post-match Roddick comments regarding his injuries to break the best server in the sport an unheard of four times for a 6-2, 6-3 lead. Prior, he had only been broken three times all tournament.

“That’s not nice, anyhow, to say in front of this crowd that I have 16 injuries and that I’m faking,” a furious Djokovic later acknowledged to Michael Barkan drawing boos once the match was over.

But here was the five years older popular No.8 ranked American refusing to go down easily getting an early break and cruising 6-3 capturing the third set to get back in the match giving the New York bipartisan crowd hopes of a big comeback.

With the former 2003 U.S. Open champion finally in a groove with his serve, he began dictating play taking it to his opponent reversing what had been dished out the first two sets. At three apiece on serve, Roddick took the first three points on Djokovic’s serve setting up triple break point. However, the feisty 2008 Australian Open winner wouldn’t give in right away ratcheting up his serve to fight off all three including the second with a perfectly placed inside out forehand crosscourt near the line.

But before he could find his way out of trouble, a determined Roddick pushed on outhitting him to setup a fourth break point. Certainly, this would be the one which would not only get him that one elusive break he needed but be enough to get him even and take the fourth set. Or so everyone watching thought including USA Network/CBS tennis commentator John McEnroe. When he played a perfect point working a now easily flustered Djokovic side to side before nailing a rocket backhand up the line out of his reach for a winner, Roddick finally had that break and was only a couple of service holds away from giving everyone what they came to see. A fifth and final set.

The perfect way for USA’s 25 years of outstanding Open coverage to bow out for good. When he backed it up with four consecutive aces to go up 5-3, there seemed to be little doubt where such a high stakes match was headed. Following a Djokovic hold, Roddick easily took the first couple of points to go up 30-Love. Two more points from destiny and a pro-Andy crowd rocking like it once had for him when he cameback from a couple of sets and match point down versus David Nalbandian before winning the whole thing. Only instead of the inevitable Hollywood finish we were looking for, those two big points never came.

What followed was shocking. After an errant forehand, Roddick double faulted twice to suddenly give Djokovic three straight and his first break point since the second set. It was the only look the big Serb needed as he got an out wide serve back and then after Roddick approached, Djokovic came up with a perfect topspin backhand lob which was out of reach landing a foot inside the baseline.

“You know what? I honestly don’t feel like they were super-tight doubles,” Roddick said. “I had been playing pretty high-risk, high-reward tennis to get back and I probably wasn’t about to stop.”

Just like that, it was five all. Back on serve. Both players would hold one final time to force the fourth set to a tiebreaker. It would be well played. When it looked like he might be done already trailing by a minibreak, Roddick came up with the goods smacking another backhand winner to get it back on serve 4-5.

Here came the two biggest serves of the night. It was on his racket. Exactly where he preferred it to be. The first serve landed deep in the box and couldn’t be handled by Djokovic clocked at 142. Five-all. One more serve for a chance to setup set point. If he could get this one, just maybe not being able to serve it out moments earlier wouldn’t comeback to haunt him.

Here was the point of the match which Djokovic returned to get into and there was Roddick striking the ball as hard as he could trying his best to get it by his opponent hitting every shot well. Inside out forehands. Backhands better than he’d ever struck for most of his career. But on each one, Djokovic hustled and reached out for getting them back. Finally, he decided to change it up going for a slice backhand drop. Only problem was this one didn’t make it over the net handing the guy on the other side the one big break he needed.

“A bad shot,” Roddick admitted after falling 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5).

One big Djokovic serve later, his forehand reply sailed five feet long allowing last year’s runner-up to escape and emphatically point to his chest pounding it almost in anger over the Davis Cup atmosphere and definitely over those comments referencing his health which were really said tongue in cheek by one of the good sports in the game despite what’s at the end of the day a still disappointing career with only one grand slam. The one in which he hugged that trophy after blasting Juan Carlos Ferrero off the court following that comeback versus Nalbandian, who a round earlier that year knocked out Roger Federer. The same guy who hasn’t lost since here in Flushing Meadows.

“It was completely meant in jest,” a disappointed Roddick lamented following one of his toughest defeats when you really felt he had a chance to go all the way much like that special run.

“I should know better. But listen, I joke all the time. I don’t think anyone in their right mind takes me serious.”

To show what kind of character guy he is, he still sought out Djokovic in private clearing up the confusion.

“He made a joke and it was a misunderstanding, so I don’t blame it on him,” Djokovic later indicated an hour later after that postmatch circus which drew the ire. “Maybe I exaggerated and reacted bad in that moment. I apologize.”

What he won’t have to apologize for was summoning up what he needed to finish off a game Roddick who looked poised to do what Tommy Robredo did a round earlier taking it the distance. With already having worked awfully hard to win in four sets over future Croat star Marin Cilic and then overcoming the elements to outlast Robredo, no way Djokovic wanted any part of another extra set. Perhaps he got some help from an unlikely source but he wasn’t saying afterwards.

Instead, he’ll advance to a rematch of last year’s final in which he blew leads in the first two sets tossing away set points before losing in straights to four-time defending champion Federer. He can take solace knowing he exacted revenge ousting the 12-time grand slam winner down under in this same round also in straights even if the Swiss Maestro wasn’t 100 percent battling mono. What tennis player is totally healthy by the end of a challenging two week major?

With the women’s semis scheduled for later today, Djokovic knows he could get another break due to the weather forecast which calls for rain all day tomorrow on Super Saturday. The Open organizers have already started making arrangements with networks to shift the women’s final to Sunday and the men’s to Monday.

That certainly couldn’t hurt his chances. Especially with a very focused Federer waiting looking to pay him back and prove he still has what it takes to win for a fifth straight time and take the final major of what’s been labeled a disappointing season. This despite runner-up in Roland Garros again, losing his Wimbledon crown in epic fashion and a now record 18 straight semifinal appearances in slams.

As for Roddick, he referenced Djokovic’s sarcasm which as recently as last year included dead on impersonations which those same New Yorkers which jeered him loved.

“I figure if you’re going to joke and imitate other people and do the whole deal, then you should take it. Listen, if someone makes fun of me I’m most likely going to laugh,” Roddick pointed out. “I’m sorry he took it that way. … I don’t think I was over the line. It wasn’t my intention, and, you know, I’m sorry he felt that way. Maybe I did him a favor tonight.”

Probably. And in the process, hurt himself though in the end, it was the vaunted serve and that huge point late in the breaker which send him packing.

It might not be the end result he wanted with having sought busy Davis Cup captain and CBS/ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe’s advice along with coming in with the hottest fiancee anyone’s ever seen in breathtaking SI swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker. So, it’s not all bad for Roddick.

Far from it. But we bet he wished he had those couple of serves over.