By David Figueroa-Martinez: This past Saturday, we were privileged to watch one of the most talented boxers to ever step into the ring in Floyd Mayweather (44-0, 26 KO’s) with his 12 round unanimous decision win over Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
I’m a boxing purist, and really enjoy watching a technician pick apart his opponent. It’s just fascinating to watch Mayweather throw a punch, then slip or move away from his opponent’s punch as if he was in the Matrix. At age 36, it’s even more remarkable, but I do understand that this to other can be boring.
With Dan Rafael’s recent assessment that the Showtime PPV numbers seem to be far lower than expected, what’s exactly changed for the PPV king? When I initially looked at it, I questioned the opponent. Robert Guerrero, isn’t exceptionally exciting in or out of the ring, and is an unknown to fringe boxing fans.
After thinking about it, I believe it’s the Manny Pacquiao factor. Even as Manny seemed to decline, he was still an imposing figure. An imposing figure who’s shadow seemed to always loom over every fight Floyd took. I think the possibility of that dream match-up intensified the the PPV interest, resulting in bigger sales than the match-ups would have received otherwise.
Many will say that Floyd needed a win over Manny to cement his career, which is probably right. Most importantly though, Floyd needed Manny to generate that cross over buzz that only having an arch nemesis can create. The minute that Pacquiao decided to take a nap in the middle of his match with Juan Manuel Marquez, the anticipation died down, and the wallets of all those fringe fans went along with it.
Comments are closed.