[Jack 1000]

Here is my current take on the current boxing experiance:

As I have written many times,

Boxing is not dead, it's the way that it is marketed that is killing it. There are issues with mainstream fighters DEMANDING such extraordinary amounts of money from promoters and TV networks that they can't even put together a decent PPV undercard anymore. There are exceptions, but you will often see 2-3 undercard fights on a $55-$60 PPV that don't even pass for ESPN material most of the time, while guys like Mayweather, Delahoya, or Jones in past years could command and demand 20, 30, 40, 50 million dollars for one fight. Tyson got a reported $25 MILLION for fucking Peter McNeeley and that was in August 1995! That was the beginning of the trend. The trend that big stars could demand outrageous purses for PPV subpar opponents. It hasn't really been the same since.

Any money left over from the fighter promoter and networks greedy hands has to go to advertising revenue. The guys left on the undercard are often fighting for peanuts because there's nothing left. The greatest boxing in the world from Pryor-Arguello I, Chacon-Limon IV, Corrales-Castillo I, the Barrera-Morales trilliogy, the Ward-Gatti fights will always be 1000 times more exciting than any MMA contests. Show me any MMA contest that matched up to these 10-15 rounds of action depending on the fight, compared to only 3-5 rounds of MMA. I submit you can't do it. There is a greater likelihood of an MMA fight to be over in seconds, more so than a traditional boxing match. But because these younger kids have never seen these classic fights, they don't know anything about these matches. Boxing at $50-$60 for PPV is now marketed to the rich and powerful.

In contrast MMA, with their "less is more" philosophy works better among younger crowds because the fighters often want to fight each other and the promoters don't put everything into a main event and have a well-balanced card. You also have commercial networks and standard cable doing for MMA what they were doing for boxing 20-50 years ago. That is creating a commercial interest in quality promoted cards and going to smaller towns and venues so that the younger generation can get excited about MMA. Boxing can absolutely be like it was as recent as 15 years ago. But it is going to involve the powers that be risking less money on a PPV, by going to commercial and standard cable with popular fighters who are inclined to brawl. Race and ethnicity are not relevant if you have a mainstream fighter on mainstream TV with great public access who engages in entertaining brawls.

There is still great boxing out there for all to enjoy, but it's seem by only a handful of people because they are forced to have Showtime, HBO AND pay $50-$60 to watch a PPV card where all the money on the PPV goes into one fight. As long as the competitive fights are made accessible to as many people as possible, everything's cool. Boxing's not dead. it's just being marketed by people who got too greedy for their own good. I believe that soon, the MMA will see the same fate as well. How much longer are MMA guys gonna fight for say fifty to one-hundred thousand dollar purses, when they see the multi-millions that conventional boxers are getting?

Jack