Should the Mayweather-Marquez Card Be Sold at a Discount?
August 20th, 2009
By Chris Williams: With only a month to go before the September 19th catch weight clash between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez, the interest in the fight looks to be very low among boxing fans, even though an effort was made to spruce up the card by adding Zab Judah, Chris John, Michael Katisidis and Vicente Escobedo to the undercard. Those fighters likely won’t do much to get attention from boxing fans in this economy, because none of those boxers are huge stars.
I could see a lot of boxing fans wanting to purchase the fight if it were sold at that price or possibly lower. I don’t know that the fight will sell well at the current price, no matter how many HBO Marquez-Mayweather 24/7 previews they show.
The problem here is that Mayweather is coming off a two year retirement and he’s fighting a smaller opponent than him who isn’t well known to casual fans. Mayweather may be a popular fighter, but I can’t say he’s popular enough to lure boxing fans into paying big money to see him fight a small guy like Marquez. I could see it if this was Miguel Cotto, but for some reason Mayweather wasn’t interested in fighting a legitimate welterweight opponent.
Short of selling the tickets and pay per view at a huge discount, Mayweather may need to consider getting out there on a barnstorming tour of the U.S. to try and get more attention for the fight. That’s probably not going to happen though.
The Marquez-Mayweather bout is already hampered because some wise person made the decision to have the fight take place on the same night as the UFC 103 event. Given a choice between watching an all action event like the UFC 103 with a lot of evenly match fights or the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight, which matches two counter punchers and an undercard that is less than exciting, my guess is that Mayweather-Marquez event will be further hurt.
You knows are bad when you see the Cotto-Pacquiao bout, which doesn’t take place until November 14th, is getting more press than the Marquez-Mayweather bout. That tells you that someone misjudged how popular the Marquez-Mayweather fight was going to end up being. The lack of attention in this fight is startling and I really can’t see that changing no matter how much of an effort that HBO or the fighters put into building it up through artificial means like the 24/7 series.
At the end of the day, you still have Mayweather fighting an opponent who is two divisions smaller than him and not all that popular. Heck, Mayweather might as well chosen a journeyman to fight because the excitement for the event would likely be about the same. This is why they need to consider drastically reducing the cost of this fight and make it more appealing to see.
The undercard does nothing for me and I see nothing but mismatches with Chris John vs. Rocky Juarez, Michael Katsidis vs. Vincente Escobedo and Zab Judah vs. Antonio Diaz. I wouldn’t mind seeing those fights on Friday Night Fights (FNF), but I wouldn’t pay dime to see any of them on pay-per-view, at least not against each other.
I wouldn’t mind seeing John face Juan Manuel Marquez, since John got one of the most controversial wins I’ve ever seen in boxing when he defeated Marquez in a fight that took place in Indonesia. However, that’s not happening. John will be facing Juarez, a B level fighter that John dominated last time out in a fight that ended up a 12 round draw in Juarez’s home town of Houston, Texas.
At the end of the day, I think the Mayweather-Marquez card will do poorly and end up a big disappointment in terms of final pay-per-view box office number, unless they do something now to make the event more appealing by drastically reducing the price. For me, this is a $10 to 19 event, no more than that.
Tags: John vs. Juarez, John-Juarez, Katsidis vs. Escobedo, Katsidis-Escobedo, Mayweather vs. Marquez ,Chris John, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Juan Manuel Marquez, Michael Katsidis34 Responses to “Should the Mayweather-Marquez Card Be Sold at a Discount?”
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I can’t wait to see the fight. Mayweather talks a lot of S*** and I can’t wait to see him get his a** beat. Marquez is in it to win it and then the fight has been rescheduled to the SEPT. 19 [MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!] OH YEAH PLEASE BELIEVE HE IS GONNA MAKE IT HAPPEN. VIVA MEXICO!!! VIVA!!!
I totally agree with this article – they should sell the tickets at discounted price if somebody still wants to take it. I’m a casual boxing fan and I would like to see Floyd figthing Pacquiao or a legitimate Welterweight. Reading all the comments, I also agree that there was no demand for this fight at all. I’m not keen to pay for this show even if they bring PPV down to US$20 but I’m looking forward for that Pacquiao-Cotto fight and I’m willing to pay the PPV cost just see Pacquiao fight. If I’m not thousands of miles away from Las Vegas, I might even want to see Pacquiao fight live.
mayweather vs marquez is gonin to be a hundred times better then the ufc event that day
Another article written by an armchair sports fan. The sort of fan who’d pay for Tyson Holyfield four rounder because they are both “names”. Given your knowledge (or lack of) on boxing, you should be watching WWE instead.
They should change this PPV tittle to a battle of a washout. lol!
Buy 1 take 4…that should sell the tickets!
ufc better than mayweather marquez? please! floyd and marquez are hall of fame material the problem is not the fight but so called experts that cant see the fight for what it is. pay atention! one of the best fighter pfp in three divisions champ marquez in his hardest test to date in moving up in wieght after beating the two best lightwieghts yes the best not the fourth best but the best chalenging non other than one of the best tactical fighters around in the undefeted and a great 4 divition champion mayweather, if that is not good enouth for you then what is?
Whatever the readers say, it will good for general boxing fans with buy one take one ticket on sale. A free dinner included in the ticket will be a weekend alternative for dating couples.
If they will bring down the PPV buy rate say $20 instead of usual $50, surely it will general sales.
Good luck to Mayweather circus.
LMFAO THIS CARD IS MUST SEE TV BOY ME AND THE PALS ON THE RANCH R MOST DEFINITLY WACTHCING MAYWEATHER VS MARQUEZ WHY THR HATE HES UNDEFEATED AND PURE TALTENT ***TOO MANY HATERS
Well, considering that Mayweather – Gatti did about 365 000, Mayweather – Judah about 375 000 and Mayweather – Baldomir 300 000 (if I remember my numbers right), Mayweather need a big name oponent to do big time numbers (he is a great “bad guy” to create some conflict and hype if he is fighting a popular fan favourite). DLH was in a leauge of his own and Hatton have alot of suporters.Plus for that fight PBF was comming of his win over Hoya and was probably at an all time high in popularity and recognition.
That was then.
Now I would expect this fight to do closer to the pre Hoya numbers than to the Hatton fight.
Regarding UFC 103, it´s a decent card but lacking a really good main event. Personaly I will have to do a bit of dubble duty and watch both (UFC is free on tv here in Sweden and I´ll figure out how I will watch the boxing card).
I like this theory of yours… keep it up!
About 2-3 years ago, fights that would have been shown on HBO or Showtime started being PPV fights. If promotors want to continue this, the PPV price definately needs to change in light of the overall economy. Perhaps $19.95 is a good suggestion.
Chris Williams is a bias tool.
Dude…Even at $19.95PPV I will not buy. This fight STINKS! Better yet show it for free and get advertisements.
I want JMM to win this fight. He will smack floyds mouth back into his throat with a straight jab…at the end of 12 boring rounds of course.
WHO CARES ABOUT THIS FIGHT ME AND EVERYONE WANT TO SEE PACMAN VS COTTO!
chris you have outdone yourself with your stupidity.the undercard is good, many of the fighters on it have been the main event themselves. the reason it isnt getting much press is that it was announced in may, that was along time ago, how long can they talk about it, and theres no stupid catchweight issue, diamond belt or wbo getting involved, when 24/7 comes on and then the fight we well c how well it does.the arena will be full and the ppv numbers will be decent
Fact #1 Mayweather is boring to watch
Fact #2 Marquez is much smaller
Fact #3 Mayweather is a coward who ducks fighters who can beat him. People are starting to see this
Fact #4 Casual boxing fans far outnumber hardcore boxing fans
Fact #5 Making the casual boxing fan want to watch your fight is where the big PPV money is.
all this equals to nobody but the most hardcore boxing fan wanting to see this show.
Pac Man should make Mayweather accept a 60/40 split because Pacquiao is the PPV star
mayweather jr. fight pacquiao, surely tickets will be sold out quickly..its because every boxing fans want to watch pacquiao..
HAVE YOU SEEN ROCKYS FIGHTS, I HAVE NEVER SEEN ROCKY COME OUT CLEAN FROM ANY FIGHT, AND THATS BECAUSE HE LEAVES IT ALL IN THE RING, ALWAYS GIVES 100%, AND DESPITE SOME OF HIS DISADVANTAGES,(HEIGHT, REACH, ETC) HE CAUSES DAMAGE AND HAS BEEN ROBBED FROM BIG FIGHTS (BARRERA VS JUAREZ 1) YOU MUST HAVE BEEN WATCHING A DIFFERENT JUAREZ
rocky juarez- this dude is boring to watch!
YOU GUYS ARE CRAZY THIS IS AN AWESOME EVENT, I CAN UNDERSTAND WE ALL HATE MAYWEATHER, BUT HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE MARQUEZ WILL, HEART, POWER AND SKILLS, HE ALWAYS PUTS ON A SHOW, WHICH IS ALL THE REASON WE SHOULD WATCH THE FIGHT AND ROOT FOR THE UPSET. AND THE UNDERCARDS COULDNT B BETTER ARE YA KIDDING ME, KATSIDIS VS ESCOBEDO IS GONNA B A WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IM WITH LALA. Fight card is off the hook. There is now way UFC is getting my money on Sept 19th. I cant wait till this fight. I realize that is because i am a big boxing fan; but anyone else on this site is to so i dont know why everyone is doging marquez v maywether
if your a boxing fan i cant see how this card would not excite you?? mayweather…marquez…chris john…katsidis…judah…it will be a brilliant night of competitive boxing!!
I HATE MAYWEATHER AND THATS WHAT HE GETS!
no way pacman will accept a 50/50 split with pbf.
especially, now that floyd’s ppv selling power has been exposed bigtime. both jmm and pbf can’t draw flies; arum is absolutely right on the money.
Bulls Eye Williams! Marquez has never been a true draw even in Mexico. His defensive counterpunching style, whining persona outside the ring after losing and drawing a close match with Pacquiao, and close affiliation with Dela Hoya, who’s never been accepted in hardcore Mexican circles keeps this fight a 2nd rate event. For this fight to have any chance of commercial success, Mayweather needs to turn up the bad boy persona a few clicks and start disrespecting Marquez and all of Mexico for that matter. This is Marquez’ chance to put on the good guy sombrero and unite his fractured fan base. The casual fight fan, whom I am, may buy this if they can have a hero to cheer for and a villain to hate.
i hope floyd mayweather jr. will learn lesson now because he was bragging that he’s the King of Pay Per View, money maker etc. it’s better to keep yourself down to earth and not bragging with your LOUD MOUTH because BOXING FANS will not support you, if you don’t change your attitude no one will buy your ticket FANS are not idiot they are clever than you without them no business in boxing. so please shut your mouth be sensible, respectful to others and most especially be humble.
I completely agree with this article about the pricing of the fight, it should definately be less. Even tho it’s gonna be a good fight that may attract a bit more popularity than just an HBO event i don’t think it has the $50 PPV caliber. I think 19.95 is a fair price. However I would much much rather pay $50 for this fight than watch UFC for free.
Yes it’s true that the fight isn’t getting as much attention as Cotto vs Pacquiao and yes they’re having trouble selling out in comparison to Cotto-Pacquaio because they still have $300 tickets and in the cottoPacman fight they were long gone after the first day. So maybe they should slash some of they ticket prices but to suggest that it’s a $20 event is just obsured and this writer either has something against mayweather or marquez.
I mean Roy jones and jeff lacy was $ 35 and the undercard here is one of the best Recent times, you have to keep in mind though that that’s exactly what it is a undercard not Co main events. And it may not set the standard for other promoters to make legit undercards but at minimal it will force bob arum to make a decent under card for Cotto-Pacman
this is a dream fight for me and marquez is anything but connon fodder expect an upset poeple
this fight is a joke!
The problem with the bout is that there was never any demand for it. People want Floyd to face a welterweight or Pacquiao. Some say that Floyd took this bout first to shake off the ring rust. That’s fine but it says something about the matchup. JMM is expected to be overmatched.
i dont care what people say i think this is a brilliant matchup between two of the best fighters of the era and whoever says mayweather shouldnt fight him because of his size advantage or whatever is a pillock. People protest about the best matchups not happening anymore when in actual fact this year, two of the best matchups i could think of are happening in cotto-pac pbf marquez
What can you say big mouth Mayweather Sr and Jr? This fight id not selling.. much better Mayweather accept the 50/50 purse against pacquiao (Mayweather wanted 60/40 split in favor for him against pacman).. For sure a lot of boxing fans will buy the ticket and PPV..