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by David P. Greisman - Boxing promoters serve multiple masters beyond the preeminent goal of profit.
They must also cater to their fighters, who want to fight and want fame and fortune to come from doing so.
They must collaborate with the television networks, which sometimes want to create stars who will raise ratings and drive lucrative pay-per-view broadcasts, and other times want to ensure that they are getting the best bouts for the prices paid.
And they must appease the fans, who want to see good fights and their favorite fighters and who want to be able to afford the pleasure.
Except promoters don’t always cater to the fans. So while the ideal promotion will gratify these many masters, more often the major boxing promoters will take shortcuts. They need not navigate the needs of so many so long as they can still fulfill the top priority – the bottom line.
That is why the most important fights are placed on pay-per-view, where they will produce bigger paydays but are available to smaller audiences.
That is why less important fights are also placed on pay-per-view, where a niche audience will subsidize a boxer’s contractual minimum but will do little to grow the boxer’s popularity.
That is why promoters will protect their investment, carefully selecting whom their best fighters face, often making matches between two fighters they already have under contract, and, as a consequence, limiting how often the best fighters face each other.
And that is why we should appreciate that Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander are facing each other this Saturday.
Bradley and Alexander are two of the three best fighters in the junior-welterweight division. Each had talked about the other throughout 2010, and there had been talks throughout 2010 about them fighting. [Click Here To Read More]
They must also cater to their fighters, who want to fight and want fame and fortune to come from doing so.
They must collaborate with the television networks, which sometimes want to create stars who will raise ratings and drive lucrative pay-per-view broadcasts, and other times want to ensure that they are getting the best bouts for the prices paid.
And they must appease the fans, who want to see good fights and their favorite fighters and who want to be able to afford the pleasure.
Except promoters don’t always cater to the fans. So while the ideal promotion will gratify these many masters, more often the major boxing promoters will take shortcuts. They need not navigate the needs of so many so long as they can still fulfill the top priority – the bottom line.
That is why the most important fights are placed on pay-per-view, where they will produce bigger paydays but are available to smaller audiences.
That is why less important fights are also placed on pay-per-view, where a niche audience will subsidize a boxer’s contractual minimum but will do little to grow the boxer’s popularity.
That is why promoters will protect their investment, carefully selecting whom their best fighters face, often making matches between two fighters they already have under contract, and, as a consequence, limiting how often the best fighters face each other.
And that is why we should appreciate that Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander are facing each other this Saturday.
Bradley and Alexander are two of the three best fighters in the junior-welterweight division. Each had talked about the other throughout 2010, and there had been talks throughout 2010 about them fighting. [Click Here To Read More]
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