By Manuel Perez: With the welterweight showdown between WBA champion Miguel Cotto (32-0, 26 KOs) and challenger Antonio Margarito (36-5, 26 KOs) only a week and half away, both the ticket sales and fans interest don’t appear to be there. The fight, which will be held at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, seems to be a poor location for the bout, being away from the East Coast, the area where Cotto’s huge Puerto Rican fan base is located, and California, perhaps where Margarito’s biggest fans come from.
Even with the fight being held in either of those two locations, however, it would be a fight that would still lack interest among the more casual of boxing fans, for few of them have ever heard of either of these two fighters. Though both of them have been around for a little while, for whatever reason neither of them are all that well known outside of the main boxing circles. If you doubt what I say, I suggest you speak to several people at your work or at school, and ask them if they’ve ever heard of Cotto or Margarito. I’d be willing to bet 9 times out of 10, few people have heard of either. Now, if you were to ask the same people if they’d ever heard of Oscar De La Hoya or Floyd Mayweather, most of them would probably say they had, especially with De La Hoya, a crossover star.
With this missing, as well as radio, television and other media marketing of the fight, few people outside of the inner core of die hard boxing fans, know the that the fight even exists. With only 10 days to go before the bout, that unfortunately isn’t likely to change before then. Even if they there was a late surge to try and market the fight in the media, it wouldn’t get anywhere near the kinds of numbers that it could have been if it had been promoted from the start, beginning well over a month ago.
Another problem is the relative newness of Cotto and Margarito as far as being top fighters. Cotto, 27, has only been a champion for a short while having won the WBA title in December 2006. He’s defended it four times, beaten two popular fighters Zab Judah and Shane Mosely, but he’s lacked a truly huge name like Oscar De La Hoya or Floyd Mayweather, to get the kind of attention that he needs to increase his popularity.
As for Margarito, he won the WBO title back in 2002, but was only able to defend it three times before losing it to Daniel Santos in September 2004. Margarito would later win the WBO title back with a win over Sebastian Andres Lujan in 2005, but like before, Margarito would lose the title after only three defenses, getting beaten by up and coming Paul Williams. Losing fights is one sure fire way of preventing a fighter from gaining much attention, and although Margarito is very talented, and perhaps even more interesting to watch than fighters like De La Hoya or Mayweather, his occasional losses are a stumbling block to getting more fans.
Neither Cotto or Margarito speak very good English, a factor that prevents them from being interviewed on television without an interpreter by their side. This, too, is a problem for gaining more fans, because unless a fighter can speak English well, they limit themselves in how many fans they can attract. Fans want to be able to hear and understand what fighters are saying, especially ones that they like. Cotto, more than Margarito, seems to be making a lot of progress in learning English, but he still has a long ways to go before he can speak well enough to converse in a normal conversion for most people to understand him.
Last problem that seems to be holding back interest in this fight is that both of these fighters are somewhat quiet and reserved, and don’t seem to seek the limelight. Margarito appears to be the more outgoing of the two, but even with him, he doesn’t appear to have the outgoing personality or the charisma to attract a huge following of fans of those that understand what he’s saying.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I think the last PacMan PPV results plus Cotto-Margarito’s poor ticket showing reflects the economy and the fact that hard core and casual boxing fans are feeling it in their pockets. To keep the fan base going, boxing promoters and boxers SERIOUSLY NEED TO WAKE UP and ease off PPV’s.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Good call ZKO, ease off the PPV!
July 17th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I couldn’t have said it better myself ZKO. Just because dancing with the stars Floyd and goldenboy can stir up the people doesn’t mean the best fights like Cotto and Margarito are going to bring in everyday fans. This isn’t 1933. Boxing is just not mainstream. It’s also not 1955 or 1989. It’s not even close to 1995 and it’s all because the big money American culture doesn’t have too many guys out there and it’s a bitter thing for mainstream coverage to deal with.
The real boxing fans like us want great fighters wherever they’re from regardless of what language they speak. Casual fans of sports in general with the odd fight here and there, they aren’t buying or even biting. This is a good article, it shows how dismal the hopes of marketing superfights like these can be and how little they’re even trying really. How hard should it be though to market it when two great fighters in possibly their peak of physical strength and athletic maturity who love to mix it up and bang away are going to get it on.
Are people really more interested in two english speaking champions like Roy Jones Junior and Joe Calzaghe who are both near retired with one barely a blip on casual fans’ radar? Yeah, they are. Sad but true.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:14 am
If Cotto beats Margarito, I hope uncle Bob A has the guts to put Cotto in their with Paul Williams. That’s the fight many are waiting to see. Personally, I don’t think Cotto will beat Margarito, then perhaps the rematch between Margarito and Williams will happen.