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April 27th, 2007 by kw in Boxing News
The Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Mega-Fight has a lot of people buzzing, and many mainstream writers who cover other sports are talking about it. Their articles show us two things; just how big this fight is, and just how out of touch with Boxing they are.
The common theme throughout many of these pieces is that this fight is Boxing’s last chance. That the mainstream audience must return in order to save Boxing from its decline. That once Floyd and Oscar retire there will be no more superstars. They go on to talk about the ills of the sport such as multiple champions, too many weight divisions, terrible decisions etc. etc. Their warnings are quite justified. And far too late. Boxing hasn’t been mainstream in nearly two decades. The casual fans left the sport long ago, mostly because of the reasons mentioned above.
The last time Boxing experienced mainstream success was in the eighties. Great fighters like Hagler, Leonard, Duran, and Hearns appeared regularly on ABC, CBS and NBC. Back in those days there were only two sanctioning bodies and unification matches were more common. Then in 1983 the IBF emerged. Just five years later, the WBO formed. Title fights were quickly becoming a joke and for good reason. There were now four guys in each division walking around claiming they were the Champ. It severely diluted the meaning of being a Champion. The TV ratings began to slump and the networks abandoned the sport in favor of more lucrative programming like Golf. But Boxing survived by moving to cable, and it brought its hardcore fans with it.
USA Network, ESPN, Showtime and HBO all aired Boxing regularly. To this day all but the USA Network continue to show the sport. In fact all three of these channels increased the number of shows they put on in 2006 because the ratings have been climbing. I need to repeat this because if I read ‘Boxing is in decline’ one more time I’m going to shoot myself in the face. Boxing’s rating are going up! The sport is enjoying an incline, not a decline! Because of this, the sport is on TV almost every night of the week.
And what about PPV? When Boxing left ABC, CBS and NBC, there was legitimate concern that building new stars would be difficult. Yet it was done on cable. The entire careers of both De La Hoya and Mayweather took place while Boxing was a niche sport. The two of them are now on the verge of earning in the neighborhood of 25 and 30 million respectively next week. Barrera, Pacquiao, and Morales also spent their careers while Boxing was a niche sport, and all of them earn millions every time they fight on PPV. In 2006, HBO PPV experienced its second most financially successful year ever. Not bad for a sport that hasn’t enjoyed mainstream success in nearly twenty years.
So when you read the mainstream articles about the big fight next week, (and there’s bound to be tons of them) keep in mind that the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight is merely a departure from the norm. And no matter what happens on May 5 (an all-time classic brawl or complete bore fest), on May 6, Boxing will be exactly where it’s been for the past two decades; quietly enjoying success as a niche sport.
The Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Mega-Fight has a lot of people buzzing, and many mainstream writers who cover other sports are talking about it. Their articles show us two things; just how big this fight is, and just how out of touch with Boxing they are.
The common theme throughout many of these pieces is that this fight is Boxing’s last chance. That the mainstream audience must return in order to save Boxing from its decline. That once Floyd and Oscar retire there will be no more superstars. They go on to talk about the ills of the sport such as multiple champions, too many weight divisions, terrible decisions etc. etc. Their warnings are quite justified. And far too late. Boxing hasn’t been mainstream in nearly two decades. The casual fans left the sport long ago, mostly because of the reasons mentioned above.
The last time Boxing experienced mainstream success was in the eighties. Great fighters like Hagler, Leonard, Duran, and Hearns appeared regularly on ABC, CBS and NBC. Back in those days there were only two sanctioning bodies and unification matches were more common. Then in 1983 the IBF emerged. Just five years later, the WBO formed. Title fights were quickly becoming a joke and for good reason. There were now four guys in each division walking around claiming they were the Champ. It severely diluted the meaning of being a Champion. The TV ratings began to slump and the networks abandoned the sport in favor of more lucrative programming like Golf. But Boxing survived by moving to cable, and it brought its hardcore fans with it.
USA Network, ESPN, Showtime and HBO all aired Boxing regularly. To this day all but the USA Network continue to show the sport. In fact all three of these channels increased the number of shows they put on in 2006 because the ratings have been climbing. I need to repeat this because if I read ‘Boxing is in decline’ one more time I’m going to shoot myself in the face. Boxing’s rating are going up! The sport is enjoying an incline, not a decline! Because of this, the sport is on TV almost every night of the week.
And what about PPV? When Boxing left ABC, CBS and NBC, there was legitimate concern that building new stars would be difficult. Yet it was done on cable. The entire careers of both De La Hoya and Mayweather took place while Boxing was a niche sport. The two of them are now on the verge of earning in the neighborhood of 25 and 30 million respectively next week. Barrera, Pacquiao, and Morales also spent their careers while Boxing was a niche sport, and all of them earn millions every time they fight on PPV. In 2006, HBO PPV experienced its second most financially successful year ever. Not bad for a sport that hasn’t enjoyed mainstream success in nearly twenty years.
So when you read the mainstream articles about the big fight next week, (and there’s bound to be tons of them) keep in mind that the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight is merely a departure from the norm. And no matter what happens on May 5 (an all-time classic brawl or complete bore fest), on May 6, Boxing will be exactly where it’s been for the past two decades; quietly enjoying success as a niche sport.
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