By Daniel Hughes: It is always interesting to hear the opinions of fight fans about what makes a fighter crossover from being very, very good to elite to that of a PPV worthy, which is where the riches come in. We all know the current top PPV stars.
You all have your favorites and if you so choose you show that by parting with your hard earned currency of choice to watch them. You may even be lucky enough to see the fighter you follow in the flesh or be it, even only at a weigh in.
The fans of different ethnicity, walks of life, the fanatics that follow Pacquiao, Puerto Ricans for Cotto to the Mexicans for Canelo all loyal. They all are following a fighters career to see success, exciting action and to carry on supporting them whatever the result, they all come back for more. The British fight fans of course that traveled in record numbers stateside to see Hatton come up short against Pacquiao and previously against Mayweather. The Hatton following unique in terms of traveling support. The fans of those different fighters have made those fighters reach the golden ticket of PPV .In those cases it was a love of their fighter.
Mayweather of course has many admirers, buying his PPV fights to see him carrying on earning record purses let alone racking up wins. In the Mayweather case it’s fair to say it is a different case. The record purses he has earned off the back of creating a real love or hate feel around him. Many do love watching him, many love to hate him and a few like myself see it as being a fighter that knows his true business worth. He plays that to all-time great status that is in no doubt those that think otherwise truly oblivious. Many buy his PPV in the hope he loses, those that do well, he has won in affect. Ali, the vast majority loved but don’t be fooled, a fair few also watched, bought fights and tickets hoping he would fail. Boxing when sport meets show business, draw them in take the money and get them hooked for more. The real story of PPV on an individual fighter basis. The great fights sell themselves, the great PPV kings don’t always need that ingredient they sell you the story, the heat.
Jack Johnson, to me the original king of the PPV. The story of Johnson should be common to any fan worthy of following the history of the sport. The obstacles he had to try and overcome are easy to read about but so much harder to comprehend. The man whose parents were slaves, who would go on to master the art of boxing.
The days he grew up in of course there was no TV, let alone the modern concept of PPV. The PPV was paying for a ticket at the gate to watch and the vast majority hoping to see him lose. The newspapers would often carry photographs of his big toothy grin, he played to the writers prejudices, with many not seeing how easily he drew the masses in. The man knew his worth and with chosen quotes, flashy workouts and an air of invincibility about him, Johnson worked the media to be able to build him further. With the heat and hate, the money. Money rolled in as he rolled opponents over. The press wound up further by how easy he chose to make it look. Ring master at work, when holding in the clinch talking to the scribes at ringside, smiling and turning fights into a show that made those that wanted to look away the most look ever more closely. Those that went away angry only to return the next fight.
Comments are closed.