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This is in Australia but the more places boxing is popular the better for the sport
Anthony Mundine vs Danny Green II was not a good fight by any standard; two superannuated pugs huffing and puffing for 40 excruciating minutes, no longer able to blow the house down.
Yet the bout was the top story on all the major news websites the next day, and the fallout, both sporting and legal, continues to make headlines.
The pay-per-view may have outsold Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao, the 2015 clash between the two best fighters in a generation and the highest grossing fight of all time worldwide.
Twenty-seven thousand people turned up on the night at the Adelaide Oval and hundreds of thousands more watched for free thanks to a handful of foolhardy souls who risked legal action by streaming the fight on Facebook.
This was all despite the tediousness of the main event, its interminable undercard and the fact that even before the opening bell the whole thing was widely considered to be some sort of reverse retirement fund fraud.
It’s particularly astounding that so many people are still willing to pay the exorbitant price of $60 for a boxing match, which does not include any mobile support and requires a Foxtel subscription.
But the numbers, both paid and unpaid, are stranger still when you consider that boxing has no organisation, no fan outreach and virtually no media coverage outside major fights.
Throw in years of overhyped mismatches, dodgy decisions, and footy players bashing no-hopers (or in the case of this card, all three), and it’s a wonder anyone tunes in at all.
Boxing is no longer considered a mainstream sport, and it’s certainly not treated like one by the media, but it can still engage mainstream interest. How is that possible?
Simply put, heaps of people find the violence of combat sports to be the most compelling thing in the sporting world.
Some find that distasteful, but it’s not going to change any time soon. Fortunately for the objectors, boxing is so disorganised, mismanaged and corrupt that it will never get any cheaper or easier to watch.
Optimism and the fight game don’t mix, but I do hope that next time Australia is paying attention to boxing it’s not for Anthony Mundine vs Danny Green III.
https://medium.com/@axmcc/boxing-is-...525#.chhjh39yt
Anthony Mundine vs Danny Green II was not a good fight by any standard; two superannuated pugs huffing and puffing for 40 excruciating minutes, no longer able to blow the house down.
Yet the bout was the top story on all the major news websites the next day, and the fallout, both sporting and legal, continues to make headlines.
The pay-per-view may have outsold Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao, the 2015 clash between the two best fighters in a generation and the highest grossing fight of all time worldwide.
Twenty-seven thousand people turned up on the night at the Adelaide Oval and hundreds of thousands more watched for free thanks to a handful of foolhardy souls who risked legal action by streaming the fight on Facebook.
This was all despite the tediousness of the main event, its interminable undercard and the fact that even before the opening bell the whole thing was widely considered to be some sort of reverse retirement fund fraud.
It’s particularly astounding that so many people are still willing to pay the exorbitant price of $60 for a boxing match, which does not include any mobile support and requires a Foxtel subscription.
But the numbers, both paid and unpaid, are stranger still when you consider that boxing has no organisation, no fan outreach and virtually no media coverage outside major fights.
Throw in years of overhyped mismatches, dodgy decisions, and footy players bashing no-hopers (or in the case of this card, all three), and it’s a wonder anyone tunes in at all.
Boxing is no longer considered a mainstream sport, and it’s certainly not treated like one by the media, but it can still engage mainstream interest. How is that possible?
Simply put, heaps of people find the violence of combat sports to be the most compelling thing in the sporting world.
Some find that distasteful, but it’s not going to change any time soon. Fortunately for the objectors, boxing is so disorganised, mismanaged and corrupt that it will never get any cheaper or easier to watch.
Optimism and the fight game don’t mix, but I do hope that next time Australia is paying attention to boxing it’s not for Anthony Mundine vs Danny Green III.
https://medium.com/@axmcc/boxing-is-...525#.chhjh39yt
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