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MAYWEATHER-MCGREGOR MAY GIVE "REAL" BOXING FANS A "REAL" LESSON

By Paul Magno | July 18, 2017
MAYWEATHER-MCGREGOR MAY GIVE

What if every boxing “purist” boycotted the upcoming Mayweather-McGregor fight—and it didn’t matter one single bit? 

Is there any clearer way to point out how boxing fans have marginalized themselves to the point of insignificance than by actually showing them how little they matter in the big picture?

Ever since the Floyd-Conor mega-event was announced, we’ve seen the online Universo Pugilistico packed with grandstanding “real” boxing fans fighting to be the most outraged by the bout. 

“How can, arguably, the best boxer of this era step into the ring with a boxing novice making his boxing debut? Oh….what about the sanctity of the sport???”

Oh my. Woe is me. I’m feeling a bit faint.

Forget that this has happened before—many times before, actually. The outrage this time is because Floyd Mayweather has his name attached to it and because, unlike when a prime world champion Julio Cesar Chavez fought 0-1 truck mechanic Ramon Aramburu in 1989, this will be a financially successful event.

The snobbery of the “real” boxing fan—on full display here for Mayweather-McGregor—is the very reason boxing finds itself having a harder and harder time reaching mainstream sports fans. Way too many boxing fans have formed this silly, myopic idea that the sport is THEIRS and that outsiders not only do not belong, but do not deserve the honor of being in this private club. The word “casuals” is tossed around with disdain and disgust, a mocking term used to describe those who watch the sport without the fanatical devotion of the “hardcore” set and lack the knowledge of boxing historical minutiae. 

Well, here’s a wake-up call for boxing’s “real” fans—without the “casuals,” nothing makes any real money anymore. 

Boxing fandom has allowed itself (and pushed itself) to be so marginalized that boxing events—if left to live or die on the power generated from the devout—would, for the most part, lose money. In other words, there aren’t enough “die-hards” around anymore to power the machine. 

Boxing wasn’t always like that. There was a time when the fans could and DID power the machine of the industry and, consequently, it was much, much easier to make the big fights the sport needed. At one point in time, it didn’t take several years of build-up and a handful of lead-in fights to create the financial reward needed to make the truly big fights. 

Blame a lot of this on the sport’s promoters and their lazy, greedy grab at easy money via premium cable channels. While keeping consistent revenue coming in, the premium cable model also put everything behind a paywall that, predictably, cut the sport off from all but the most die-hard of fans. One full generation of fandom later, boxing has become an afterthought in the mainstream, a virtual “where are they now” among sports fans. 

And boxing’s “real” fans have helped bury the sport by developing this odd elitist attitude when it comes to anything that reaches out to new fans and/or explores new venues for promotion. 

Rather than grasp at an opportunity to reach out to “casuals” and possibly convert some via this Mayweather-McGregor spectacle, they have taken to pious outrage followed by pretentious proposed boycotts, egged on by ludicrous media wining. 

“Purists" are outraged by Mayweather-McGregor because of a perceived lack of "real" competition in the ring, when three-quarters of all the fights that take place in the sport are intentional squashes. They are willing to piss on something that the business could utilize to its advantage, just because of some fake standard that they never, ever uphold, anyway. This snobbery is making boxing miss out on some real opportunities to reach new fans and investors.

When one sees 20,000 fans crammed into an arena--for a press conference—it’s clear that fans CAN be motivated to buy into prizefighting once again. Boxing is part of the American culture in a way that other sports just aren’t. Fans want to buy back into the sport and they want to consume. Boxing has just done a piss poor job of reaching them in a way that appeals to them—and has failed to figure out a way to keep them, when they do come aboard to support the occasional event.

Mayweather-McGregor could give us the perfect chance to reach out to casual-curious fans and introduce them to the better aspects of the sport, rather than treat them as if they were repulsive mouth breathers, unfit to watch our “pure” sport. Even as a writer, one should see this as an opportunity. “Yeah, come in to read about this fight-- and let me show you about THIS one, and THIS one, and let me tell you about how awesome these other guys are. Instead, the “real” fans are pouting like babies and pretending to boycott.

The unfortunate reality, however, is that the boycotts and the aggressive pouting mean nothing anymore. Mayweather-McGregor will likely generate somewhere between 2.5 million and 3 million buys. Boxing’s biggest and most die-hard fans have removed themselves from the equation—and it’s their own fault.

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