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by David P. Greisman - Is it worth it?
This is the question asked first by boxing promoters, then later by boxing fans.
Is it worth it, as a promoter, to put a fight on pay-per-view? Is it worth it, as a fan, to buy it?
Increasingly often for promoters, the answer is “yes.” Increasingly often for fans, the answer is “yes” beforehand, “no” afterward, then “yes” again later.
That is why the boxing match this past Saturday between Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora was on pay-per-view.
HBO wouldn’t pay for it to be on a “World Championship Boxing” broadcast, choosing against subsidizing the fighters’ paychecks with a sizeable license fee. There were other fights its subscribers would rather see, other fights the network would rather spend its money on.
But fans would pay for it – a fraction of the number that would tune in on HBO, yet enough of them that the promoters and fighters would profit.
It did not matter that Mosley was coming off a decisive loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., a night in which Mosley had one big moment as the result of two big punches – but that moment was the only round that Mosley won.
It did not matter that Mora was more than two years removed from his only win of true consequence, a decision victory over the late Vernon Forrest. Three months after that, Forrest had beaten Mora more decisively than Mora had beat him. Mora fell out of the spotlight and off the map for a year and a half.
It did not matter that the match paired an aging fighter with an awkward boxer, that the pairing of such styles produced a debacle in which Mosley spent much of the night pursuing because Mora spent much of the night not punching. [Click Here To Read More]
This is the question asked first by boxing promoters, then later by boxing fans.
Is it worth it, as a promoter, to put a fight on pay-per-view? Is it worth it, as a fan, to buy it?
Increasingly often for promoters, the answer is “yes.” Increasingly often for fans, the answer is “yes” beforehand, “no” afterward, then “yes” again later.
That is why the boxing match this past Saturday between Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora was on pay-per-view.
HBO wouldn’t pay for it to be on a “World Championship Boxing” broadcast, choosing against subsidizing the fighters’ paychecks with a sizeable license fee. There were other fights its subscribers would rather see, other fights the network would rather spend its money on.
But fans would pay for it – a fraction of the number that would tune in on HBO, yet enough of them that the promoters and fighters would profit.
It did not matter that Mosley was coming off a decisive loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., a night in which Mosley had one big moment as the result of two big punches – but that moment was the only round that Mosley won.
It did not matter that Mora was more than two years removed from his only win of true consequence, a decision victory over the late Vernon Forrest. Three months after that, Forrest had beaten Mora more decisively than Mora had beat him. Mora fell out of the spotlight and off the map for a year and a half.
It did not matter that the match paired an aging fighter with an awkward boxer, that the pairing of such styles produced a debacle in which Mosley spent much of the night pursuing because Mora spent much of the night not punching. [Click Here To Read More]
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