By Gerardo Granados: Pro Boxing isn’t just a business it is a way of life. Can the readers tell me why pro boxing was so popular since its beginnings? It was not because of an unbeaten record, individual boxer record earnings, pay per view numbers or television ratings, was it? Was boxing since its origin an attraction without the need of constant hype?
It has been a long week, in the last days I have run into many casual fans. Days ago I also read a pro casual fans article which was interesting to read but it was focused on the business side only. How can real fight fans ever go away? It might be improbable, but if you are able to change society into a massive dumb obedient bunch of non-thinking beings who blindly obey whatever nonsense they see or hear on main stream media, then there is a good chance that pro boxing could be invaded by those zombie alike, who would see boxing very differently than it really is.
There are two kind of casuals, the one who keeps on asking during the fight and won’t allow you to enjoy the damn fight because he simply doesn’t enjoys to watch any fight; he also will argue with you because he heard that Dan, Jose Eduardo or Steve said a different thing you say. And the one also rated as an avid sports fan, the one who doesn’t knows anything about boxing politics or how to score a fight and also doesn’t gives a damn about it; but has a great time and fully enjoys the fight.
To try to make an average sports fan or even not sport fans to be interests in boxing isn’t smart. I like bull fights – Toreo and I don’t expect others to be interested in it the same way that I don’t expect casuals to like the things I like the most of prize fighting.
There is a corporate approach to prize fighting, but Pro boxing isn’t a major sports league, it is different. Most of the professional sports leagues are gigantic corporations, with ties to other huge corporations spread worldwide and their structure is different. Also their management is very different, they have pro athletes who in some cases have unions, special contracts, job stability and also in some countries special legislation that is far more beneficial to the athlete than the one boxers have.
Those leagues are not similar to prize fighting, their sportive goal is different of the one prize fighting has, also pro boxing doesn’t have a draft, seasons, post season, finals or teams affiliated. Many pro sports thrive on casual fans who buy shirts and all kind of sports paraphernalia related to their favorite team; the casuals often get in love with statistic records to determine players “greatness”. In my personal opinion the more casuals invade a league the more decrease in quality the league games often reflect but the more revenues the owners will get.
The casuals can be like a locust plague to boxing, a massive casual invasion would delude even more the exigence on overall boxing quality. Hey for some of those casuals the Keith Thurman vs Danny Garcia fight was as good as the Ray Leonard vs Wilfred Benitez bout was.
If corporate boxing was to base his decision making on the needs and preferences of the casuals then it could really drive away the real fight fans. The only way we would go away it’s because the quality of fighting, fighters and boxing technique to be watered down so much that it no longer would be attractive to watch. Hey have you notice how many of today world titlist and belt holders lack inside game? Have you come acquainted to the term “tactical clinching”?
Boxing survives on real fight fans, be it the purists or the hardcore ones; but the casuals bring the extra money. It has been that way since its beginnings so why fix it if it isn’t broken? Who would be benefited by a massive invasion of casuals; the real boxing fans and boxers or the TV Companies and Promoters?
The corporate music industry has Pop music manufactured celebrities that make big sales and brings huge revenues, but no voice or real talent is needed just good looks. Right now you see casuals happily buying expensive mismatches without even hesitate. It won’t take much time to see how the mere strict corporate view of boxing would delude competition and the match making even more to the level of a local wresting company.
Now a day many referees don’t enforce the rules as they should. We can even hear Television commentators crying out urging the referee to stop the fight every time a boxer gets beat up in a round or two. But hey this is prize fighting, this is how it was since its beginning. So, why is it that now a fight fan mind has become so fragile?
Do you really think that yesterday fiasco was worth the pay per view value? I am not even going to mention the name of one of the involved because I just hope he enjoys retirement in peace. Who can the real fight fans blame for the ridicule increase in pay per view prices? Did two years ago you paid $100 notes for a fake fight of the century?
Older fight fans for sure remember the great boxing cards that Don King and other promoters had for us. How about at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, way back in September 17 of 1994 to have on the undercard Giovanni Parisi vs Freddie Pendleton, WBC minimumweight Ricardo Lopez vs Surachai Saengmorakot, IBF super welter Vincent Pettway vs Gianfranco Rosi, IBF welter Felix Trinidad vs Yori Boy Campas, WBA light welter Frankie Randall vs Juan Martin Coggi, WBC super-feather Gabriel Ruelas vs Jesse James Leija and on the main event WBC light welter Julio Cesar Chavez Sr vs Meldrick Taylor II.
Also at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, in May 1994, we were able to see on the undercard Calvin Grove vs Angel Aldama, Giovani Parisi vs Richie Hess, Meldrick Taylor vs Chad Broussard, WBC Minimumweight Ricardo Lopez vs Kermin Guardia, WBC super-welter Simon Brown vs Terry Norris, WBC super-feather Azumah Nelson vs Jesse James Leija, WBC middleweight Gerald McClellan vs Julian Jackson and on the main event WBC light welter Julio Cesar Chavez Sr vs Frankie Randall II.
On yesterday’s undercard, we had two former belt holders fighting against tailor made not top ten division opponents; then on the main even at a catch weight fight without any title at stake at an expensive pay per view a really bad fight took place.
I have just seen an article on ESPN related to how much Canelo Alvarez vs Gennady Golovkin fight can bring in gate earnings and if they would break Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Manny Pacquiao fight numbers; even worse ESPN “Sports Business Reporter” Darren Rovell (whatever that means) also states how this fight lacks the appeal for the casuals the Mayweather Jr vs Pacquiao had. I must ask to the readers if you care that much about a boxer earnings.
If you want to bring “new boxing fans” then let’s start by having many quality fights to enjoy at a reasonable price and also give a bigger share to the boxers who take all the risks but receive the smaller part of the revenues. I believe that boxing can be a massive attraction as it has been proven in the past without the need to bring “casuals”. But how about the readers, do you think casuals are needed?