Boxing is dying: The business got bigger

By Robert Elmore: I understand the frustration from fight fans that mega fights don’t get made or they get delayed for some reason or another. I may not know the ins and out of boxing, but this I know this for sure. It’s a business.

It takes two fighters that a great following; can bring in something to the table financially; and a network that is willing to air the event. How many fights have been turned away by HBO and Showtime because they didn’t believe it could generate any interest or money? They are in this to make money as well. Major networks have a reputation to protect. Sure we have seen some stinkers on TV, but the block buster fights make up for what they might have lost. Promoters take the biggest risk in staging the fight. And believe me. They would soon go with a sure fire thing rather than crash and burn to satisfy a handful of angry fans. Unfair right? But it’s business. This is nothing new to the game of boxing because it’s been going on for years. The only difference now, is the technology we have. We have tweets, email, texts, and the internet to keep us abreast on what’s going on.

First off, how many of us would go into business with someone who brings nothing to the table? Raise your hands. Nobody would. That person may have some good qualities, but it may not be what is needed at that particular time. Boxing is no different. Sometime in the 80’s Aaron Pryor publically challenged Sugar Ray Leonard and was brushed aside. But why? Was Leonard scared or was it the fact that Pryor couldn’t sell tickets outside of Cincinnati? Whereas Leonard could sell out where ever he went. While Pryor may have been a formidable foe for Leonard, there was probably more needed from Pryor.

In 1987, during the heavyweight tournament, Michael Spinks, was stripped of his IBF crown because he took a big pay day fight against Gerry Cooney. Was Spinks afraid of Tucker or did he seize a great opportunity? Obviously he made a good choice. The fight took place in a sold out Atlantic City Convention Center as Spinks knocked out Cooney in five rounds. So does this make Spinks a cherry picker seeing how Larry Holmes defeated Cooney by knockout or was it the fact that Cooney still had what the Spinks camp was looking for?

In 2007, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Joy Sinclair (as he likes to be called) shattered all pay per view record for non heavyweight fights with 2.4 million buys. It also grossed 120 million in total revenue. Oscar’s biggest pay per view event was 1.4 million versus Felix Trinidad grossing 71.4 million in total revenue. So what was it about Floyd that made Oscar choose him? Even Oscar’s fight with the great Bernard Hopkins only did a million buys. I couldn’t even tell you why The Golden Boy chose him, but both parties benefited greatly. De La Hoya pocketed 52 million big ones and Floyd went on to become a pay per view star.

The only difference I see is that one situation took place in the 80’s and one in the 2000’s. Boxing will not die and is not going any where. The business side has changed that’s all. And if those fighters from way back when had the opportunity to take advantage of all the new things that boxing has to offer, mainly pay per view, knowing that they can make 30 to 40 million for a fight, they’d be all over it.

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