Tweet
By Cliff Rold - There’s a great fight this Saturday, one sure to garner mainstream press and millions of eyes. It doesn’t cost fifty dollars. It doesn’t even cost the premium channel ten or so per month. This one is free as long as you’re one of the just-about-everyone who has basic cable.
Too bad for boxing; this fight isn’t one of ours.
In the latest move that hails the winner-take/all-American competition that has erupted between the worlds of professional boxing and mixed martial arts, the UFC is giving away one of the two or three best money matches in its sport this Saturday on Spike TV. In boxing terms, this is Manny Pacquaio-Marco Antonio Barerra II going live on ESPN. In business terms, this is the UFC making a move to overwhelm its elder cousin.
If the bout between UFC light heavyweight champion Rampage Jackson and Pride middleweight and light heavyweight champ Dan Henderson is a solid fight (unlike the flub that was Jackson-Chuck Liddell), they’ll be a hell of a big step closer.
In some ways, 2007 has been a year of great rebound for boxing. It’s delivering a stream of red hot fights at a time when anything less would be both dangerous and foolish. Such is the beauty of competition. Unfortunately, no matter how many great fights are made, audience size is a huge component in any sports popularity and Jackson-Henderson can deliver an audience no major fight has seen in years.
Call it the benefit of a business model. UFC has one. Boxing does not. UFC is 21st century sports marketing and savvy; boxing is pre-Keynesian laissez faire capitalism in a world without room for it. It’s a series of independent contracts going to the highest bidder, regardless of whether or not the end result of all those contracts eventually result in lower real bids and less real audience. [details]
Too bad for boxing; this fight isn’t one of ours.
In the latest move that hails the winner-take/all-American competition that has erupted between the worlds of professional boxing and mixed martial arts, the UFC is giving away one of the two or three best money matches in its sport this Saturday on Spike TV. In boxing terms, this is Manny Pacquaio-Marco Antonio Barerra II going live on ESPN. In business terms, this is the UFC making a move to overwhelm its elder cousin.
If the bout between UFC light heavyweight champion Rampage Jackson and Pride middleweight and light heavyweight champ Dan Henderson is a solid fight (unlike the flub that was Jackson-Chuck Liddell), they’ll be a hell of a big step closer.
In some ways, 2007 has been a year of great rebound for boxing. It’s delivering a stream of red hot fights at a time when anything less would be both dangerous and foolish. Such is the beauty of competition. Unfortunately, no matter how many great fights are made, audience size is a huge component in any sports popularity and Jackson-Henderson can deliver an audience no major fight has seen in years.
Call it the benefit of a business model. UFC has one. Boxing does not. UFC is 21st century sports marketing and savvy; boxing is pre-Keynesian laissez faire capitalism in a world without room for it. It’s a series of independent contracts going to the highest bidder, regardless of whether or not the end result of all those contracts eventually result in lower real bids and less real audience. [details]
Comment