By Chris Williams: In a recent fake looking press conference, Dana White, the president of the UFC, slammed Floyd Mayweather Jr., as well as boxing by saying that they’re [boxing] is showing a fight [Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez] that people don’t want to see.
White correctly points out that the fight that boxing should be showing is the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout instead. White goes on to point out that Mayweather doesn’t give people their monies worth by running around the ring in circles, not fighting and lying on the ropes.
White counters that if fans tune into his UFC 103 event, which just so happens to be taking place on the same night as the Mayweather-Marquez card on September 19th, fans will get to see “Not one, but five great fights for 10 dollars less than the Mayweather fight.”
White says that people are going to be paying $50 to $60 dollars to see Mayweather “basically doing a Dancing with the Stars” and not fighting. Let’s hope that White is wrong on that view, because Mayweather is supposed to be going out and trying to look good for a change by being more offensive minded against the smaller Marquez.
The undercard of the Mayweather-Marquez fight, which includes fights between Chris John and Rocky Juarez, Michael Katsidis and Vicente Escobedo, isn’t enough to pay $49.95 in my view. I’m not all that interested in seeing any of those fighters, because John and Juarez already fought not too long ago in one of the most boring fights that I can remember seeing in quite some time.
It ended up a 12 round draw and it should have been a lopsided win by John. However, even if the Houston, Texas judges had got the score right, the bout was still painfully boring to watch. I’d rather watch cartoons on cable than to sit through that boring fight again.
And Katsidis hasn’t looked cogent since his 12 round war with Czar Amonsot two years ago in 2007. Katsidis has looked like a shell of a fighter since that fight. I don’t want to see him now, because he’s not the same fighter as far as I can tell. Vicente Escobedo is someone that I would prefer seeing on ESPN, not on pay-per-view, and I don’t see him as a championship caliber fighter.
So basically, this card comes down to the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight, and I’m in agreement with White, it’s not worth the price. But that doesn’t mean I want to watch UFC 103, if it means that I have to pay a bundle for that. Even it its $10 cheaper at $40, that’s $30 too much for me. Both cards aren’t worth it in my view.
But White is dead on correct about Mayweather not being entertaining because of his running around and not fighting. I agree completely. Mayweather is frustrating to watch, and not someone that you feel like you get your monies worth when he fights. A big part of that is because Mayweather’s choice of opponents.
Instead of facing the best welterweights in the past three years, boxing fans have had to see Mayweather against Zab Judah, Carlos Baldomir, Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton. De La Hoya and Hatton might have been big money fights, and big attractions for the casual boxing fans, but neither of them were competitive fights even going into the bouts.
They were safe fights for Mayweather to take. Boxing fans would have been better served had Mayweather manned up and fought Miguel Cotto, Paul Williams, Shane Mosley or Antonio Margarito instead. It would have been sensational had Mayweather fought all four of those opponents in the past three years instead of the likes of Judah, Baldomir, De La Hoya and Hatton.
Of course, Mayweather might be drinking his food through a straw and slurring his words by now, but at least boxing fans would have gotten their monies worth by seeing competitive fights instead of a bunch of boring mismatches.
I think in a way that White actually cares about boxing and doesn’t like to see what’s happening to the sport. It’s too bad the boxing promoters don’t see things the same way.
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