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My mind says 540K
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Where art thou, Hova?
This weekend’s bout between the de-recognized WBC middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto – and more on that a bit later – and Saul Alvarez from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, while classified as a “big fight,” has really had a decidedly noticeable lack of buzz as we head into the thick of fight week. This event is a co-promotion between Golden Boy Promotions and Roc Nation Sports.
Perhaps this fight would gain more traction if Jay Z, the face of Roc Nation, would start to participate in the promotion. Because while Oscar De La Hoya has made all the requisite media rounds in the past few week or so, other than dropping by the Wild Card Boxing Club a couple of weeks ago to take a few photos with Cotto and Freddie Roach and making a $100,000 wager with De La Hoya, “Hova” hasn’t lifted a finger.
Mr. Shawn Carter, who has over 3,000,000 followers on Twitter (@S_C_), hasn’t even so much as tweeted about the fight as of Wednesday afternoon. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by everyone involved in this weekend’s promotion, including HBO, which has grown increasingly frustrated by the way this neophyte company has handled its end of this operation. Say what you will about Floyd Mayweather Jr. but at least he has utilized Twitter and Instagram as well as any modern fighter to promote his bouts and even enlisted Justin Bieber and Lil’ Wayne to spread the word.
In today’s world, if you aren’t utilizing social media, you simply aren’t promoting correctly.
Sources tell you that anytime Jay Z is asked to participate in a Roc Nation Sports card – whether it’s giving reporters a few generic quotes on a fight or just showing up to a press conference or weigh-in – it’s summarily nixed for whatever reason. Say what you will about 50 Cent and his SMS Promotions, which went the way of Josephine Abercrombie and America Presents rather quickly; at least 50 would do the obligatory interviews leading up to events and show up to the fights (hell, one time he even zip-lined into the ring as he performed a fighter’s entrance song).
But this really begs the question: Just how involved is Jay Z in this boxing venture and how much does he really care? Is this just a tax write-off or just a high-priced vanity project? Do fighters who are recruited under his banner understand that, other than meeting him once in his fancy office and getting to take a selfie with him, this might be the extent of his involvement in their careers?
(In the spirit of fairness, however, it should be mentioned that Tidal – TidalHiFi on Twitter – the music streaming service owned by Jay Z, is doing its part to promote Cotto-Canelo to some extent.)
De La Hoya, who truly was a transcendent boxer, is the type who still resonates with the public and before he left for Las Vegas, his Monday was spent going from one media outlet to another pushing this event around Los Angeles. His one-man media tour lasted most of the day. Last week, while he was in New Jersey for the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame induction, De La Hoya took care of more media obligations in New York. But for as relevant as the “Golden Boy” has remained, Jay Z’s Q-rating is even higher and he’s the type of individual who would be very easy to pitch for an appearance on radio and television shows. He has the cache not many others have in boxing. The reality might be that he’s not in boxing; he’s just lending his name and image.
No offense to COO David Itskowitch and President and Chief of Branding Strategy Michael Yormark – who basically run the day-to-day operations of Roc Nation’s boxing program – but nobody really knows who they are outside of those in the industry. Quite frankly, nobody in the general public cares about what they have to say.
In Cotto and “Canelo,” you have two boxers who are certainly marquee attractions but their fan-bases are largely Latin and neither speaks English as his first tongue, which makes it a bit problematic in booking them for many radio and television shows across the country (and the track record has shown that the biggest pay-per-view shows on which they have participated saw them as B-sides to Mayweather).
With that, Oscar is doing his best to pick up the slack, as is Freddie Roach (who’s always makes for good copy).
As for “Jigga”?
Well, he does know the fight is this week, right?
Last edited by El Gitano; 11-20-2015, 01:31 PM.Comment
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Both guys make weight, the fight is on!Comment
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Not with a 20m purse between both fighters haha
I think around 600k, and thatd be pretty good
The May-Pac fight really damaged boxing for a lot of casuals. This is a matchup between two fighters that Mayweather soundly beat, and 1 which Pacquiao destroyed.
I hope it does more though, and i'm wrong.Comment
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I reckon it'll be in the 1.2million range.
Over a million will be a good success.Comment
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I will say, even with my 1.2mil prediction, it could have been much better if RocNation got their big guns to help promote.
The likes of Jay-Z and Rihanna posting about it or being involved in the weigh-in would have attracted a lot of extra media attention.Comment
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You gotta stop blaming that fight dude. If this fight doesn't sell its because those involved haven't sold it. We hear more about Floyd and Mexico v PR than canelo and cotto.
Too much mentioning Floyd v Manny in this promotion for this fight. Too much odh talking about Floyd. Too much espn referencing Floyd v Manny as well.
I think people will watch if they feel a connection to the fighters. The main selling point seems to be Mexico v PR. You think that's the best way to sell this fight.Comment
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