Mayweather Is Boxing’s Only Crossover Star

[DIOS DOMINICANO]

I dont think any of this is true at all. You have to look at the sport of boxing as a WORLD WIDE THING.

Cotto (Puerto Rico), Freitas(??? i forget), Pacquiao (phillapines), Pavlik (ohio), Calzaghe (wales), Bute (Canada), Hatton (UK), Are ALL mainstream sports idols in their native countires/states.
You should see the NEWS in the UK!!!! Its on youtube btw. Every week there is something on Hatton. Hatton meeting the queen, Hatton getting this reward, hatton meeting Bheckam, Hatton meeting mayweather. etc etc etc.

In this STATES, this is true, but i dont think its true outside the states

Do you think that the country knows who Lucian Bute or Kelly pavlik are??


Kelly Pavlik is NOT a mainstream star. NOT.

[DIOS DOMINICANO]

Am I the only one that found this hilarious. He names countries around the world and than names one state, ohio.

His post was comical on many levels.

[boxingfan4life]

What exactly has Floyd crossed over into? Crossover star implies he has translated his fame in boxing into fame in something else.

I guess you don't know he was on Dancing With the Stars

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Yeah so Manny isnt a star in the US.

And over 1.2 million people bought Floyds last fight, so Id say your numbers are way off.

It was actually over 2.1 million buys

[boxingfan4life]

Mayweather is huge in the hip hop industry and has been for years, due to his style (clothes, money). Most fans of hip hop know Floyd Mayweather. I've seen him on covers of dozens of rap magazines. This was even before he even fought De La Hoya. The De La Hoya fight and Dancing with The Stars, one of the most popular shows in the country, has made him a household name and you can't say that about anyone else in boxing other than De La Hoya.

Good points.

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Do you think that the country knows who Lucian Bute or Kelly pavlik are??


Kelly Pavlik is NOT a mainstream star. NOT.

Agreed. There is a reason Top Rank keeps Cotto away from Las Vegas, he can't sell there. The same reason Pacquiao doesnt headline an MSG show, he can't sell there. Pavlik cant sell on the West Coast and is not even close to being a guy to sell out a place like MSG.

[DIOS DOMINICANO]

Agreed. There is a reason Top Rank keeps Cotto away from Las Vegas, he can't sell there. The same reason Pacquiao doesnt headline an MSG show, he can't sell there. Pavlik cant sell on the West Coast and is not even close to being a guy to sell out a place like MSG.

Pop,

Some of these guys are here forget that this board consists of the top 5% of boxing fans. We do not represent the general boxing public, and we CERTAINLY don't represent the mainstream.

Just because we create 100 threads about Kelly Pavlik, or we can talk about Jin Mosley's relationship with Shane or any other tiny detail of the sport does NOT mean that the MAINSTREAM knows this.

Guys, don't confuse this board with the mainstream:

Floyd was just on an ABC show. He was on MTV Cribs. He was in USA Today. He was on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He was ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA. Those are mainstream. Not BoxingScene.

[oovavu]

I don't think hes the best representative of of the sport, but he sure is the biggest at the moment, what we really need is a few big names up there to build the boxing fanbase up again, having more and more big fights that grab the media attention is imo the only way to do that.

[DIOS DOMINICANO]

I don't think hes the best representative of of the sport, but he sure is the biggest at the moment, what we really need is a few big names up there to build the boxing fanbase up again, having more and more big fights that grab the media attention is imo the only way to do that.

For different reasons, Mike Tyson wasn't the best representation of the sport either.

It is almost always a good thing for your sport when "the face" of the sport is also its best practitioner.

Tiger and Golf...golf grows.
Earnhardt and NASCAR... stock car racing grows
Magic/Bird and NBA... NBA grows
Peytonmanning/Bears SuperBowl...ratings go up
49ers/Cowboys dynasties.... NFL grows
McGwire/Sosa brought back baseball ( "best" HR-wise)

Floyd Myweather, jr - even with all of his flaws - is good for the sport

[grayfist]

You know I'm not sure that "Dancing with the Stars" has caused Floyd's "star" to rise very much. I'm gauging his popularity not by mentions on DWTS, but on mentions by Entertainment Tonight. Floyd barely got a mention, and even when he was dumped off the show it didn't make the gossip news. So far he hasn't even touched on the mainstream. Conversely Oscar De La Hoya's recent ****** controversy did make Entertainment Tonight, so it's a bust that De La Hoya is still the only crossover star in North America.

In fact Floyd wouldn't even rank as a mainstream sports personality in the US because of the way that boxing has been downgraded. It's off the front pages. It isn't mentioned in Sports Illustrated. Oh in the boxing world he's near the top, but in sports in general he's not even on the radar, trumped (unjustifiably) by NASCAR drivers and second string baseball pitchers...

On the other hand Hatton in the UK is being groomed as a "personality" but he isn't there yet, so I would say he's on a par with Floyd right now. The big difference is that Boxing is still a front page sport in the UK. If you look on the BBC sports pages you will see a link to boxing. If you look on ESPN the link is hidden on page 2 under "Other Sports".

The only true active crossover star in boxing at the moment is Manny Pacqiuao, and that is beyond question. Pac is literally huge in the Phillipines, everyone knows him, he is universally loved in a manner that Mayweather can only dream of.

This isn't knocking Floyd in any way though. Hatton is never going to gain the level of popularity of Pacquiao either. Pacquiao is in the unique position of representing the hopes and dreams of all philipino people, whereas in fat America (and fat Britain) the hopes and dreams of the majority tend not to include taking punches to the head.

Good post....