In this corner of the Universo Pugilistico, it's all about my sack-- my bulging, bulbous, aching sack-- and the gooey, salty truth contained within. So...sit back, close your eyes, pull back your hair, and get ready for this week's money shot of wisdom. This week we have comments/questions regarding Tank Davis, Tank/Floyd/PBC beef, the UFC, and Pay-Per-Everything
Tank, Floyd, Etc...
Hey Paul,
Comment - First, I want to say that last Saturday night’s card was stacked and pretty entertaining as far as PPV cards go. Secondly, Tank Davis is a problem! Each of his fights I see a little something different. Most of us fans are impressed by his power, but his ring IQ is soooooo underrated. And he's fought so many styles. He always seem to be calm and relaxed no matter how much heat is being thrown at him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to counter or attack. Pit Bull gave him a pretty good scrap, and Shakur based on his boxing skills may pose a few moments, but I really don't see anyone competing with him in or around his weight.
Question - Behind the scene there appears to be something going on between PBC (Al Haymon), Floyd, Leonard and Tank that has not come out yet. Recently there has been a lot of trash talk, accusations, restructuring, and flat out trolling.
What is your take?
– Reggie Cannon
Hey Reggie.
I completely agree with your comments. As I wrote on Monday, Tank is special. He brings that savvy boxing instinct and improving ring IQ and than throws in a true killer instinct behind it. Anyone diminishing his accomplishments is either an idiot or someone riding a weirdo anti-Tank agenda. I don’t see anyone at 135 beating him and only maybe two people even giving him some complications.
As for your question…I think a lot of the beef we see on social media and see percolating in the business arena is as a consequence of Floyd Mayweather’s ego. That’s just my completely uniformed, not-so-educated guess. There may also be some necessary restructuring within all of their business interests. In the long run, I don’t think anything really changes for any of them.
A Counter to My UFC Claim
Hi Paul,
Glad to see you still out there continuing to pump out good work and keeping people accountable.
Regarding your Notes published on the 17th, I don't disagree with the majority of what you wrote. I think many of your apprehensions about the potential Saudi takeover of boxing could lead to a number of issues.
One thing I think you are incorrect about however is this line: "one where the same names are shuffled around again and again and incoming new talent is of diminished quality because, beneath the UFC, the talent is coming from strip mall dojos and from whatever could be stolen from very secondary MMA companies." (emphasis added)
I think this point is demonstrably false. While I'm definitely a boxing guy first, I follow the UFC moderately closely and am close to people who follow it extremely closely. The talent level in the UFC has never been higher and this is seen most vividly in the new talent. Many of the people outside of the top 10, including several people with a limited number of professional fights, would run circles around champions from just 10-15 years ago. This is because the sport has evolved so much in a short period of time.
One example of this is the new training program located near the Penn State campus. Penn State wrestling, which has won 11 team national championships since 2011, and is the host of some of the best national team members, now has connections to that MMA training facility built right next door. Since wrestling is probably the best starting background for someone entering MMA, and there's a large influx of former top-level wrestlers entering the sport (in the early days of the UFC, it was wrestlers from D2&3 guys dominating the Octagon), I don't think it can be fairly said that in the UFC the "incoming talent is of diminished quality."
Thanks again for your work and keep on rockin'.
– Jeremiah Davis
Hey Jeremiah.
I’m not a UFC/MMA guy. I was just going by the unanimous laments of every UFC/MMA guy I know that the product is diminished in recent years and that real breakthrough stars have been much harder to come by. I could be wrong. But the “UFC model” as it’s manifested through the proposed Saudi boxing league would definitely lead to a diminished quality of the product. There’d be little-to-no “minor leagues” for development and no real chance for any of the young stars to face a fringe Top 10 or Top 15 guy to improve his game on the way up. I’m not aware of any real developmental proving ground for UFC fighters, where they can face some UFC-level guys in actual combat as they grow and develop, honing their skills against high-end fighters before hitting the top tier. Maybe I’m just not aware of that, though. Boxing, however, does have that developmental structure in place. It wouldn’t have much of that under the Saudi proposal.
Pay-Per-Everything (Revisited)
Hi, Paul, as always wishing you and your family the best!!! Totally agree with your article regarding PPV, in my case, even though I consider myself to be a hardcore boxing fan, I have learned to pay only for the biggest fights on PPV. I am totally fine with watching the highlights or any youtube video of any other fight posted the next day. So far, this year I have only paid for two pay-per-views. The next one will be the Crawford fight in August, the whole card interests me. As far as subscription, I am fine with the ESPN Plus price, and subscribe to DAZN based on the fights. For example, I will subscribe to DAZN, June 15, 2024 and cancel the next day. That will allow me to watch Matias vs Paro, Bam Bam vs Estrada and Jarron Ennis for the price of one month. Probably won't subscribe till the end of the year if something interests me. By the way, the three fights that had me hyped during the first half of this year was Beterbiev vs Bivol, that was ESPN Plus, Amanda Serrano vs Taylor, on Netflix and Virgil Ortiz Vs Tzyu, just my luck that all of these fights were either postponed or cancelled. That’s boxing!! Take care.
– Benjamin from Puerto Rico.
Hey Benjamin.
Consumers will be consumers. We will pick and choose what’s of value to us based on price and quality of content. Boxing fans are savvy in that regard, as you’ve just shown. Unfortunately, if the die-hards are choosing to pass on many-- of not most-- shows, that means that the not-so-die-hards and curious casuals are probably not buying into much of anything. How do we build a fan base for the future if all of our best fights and fighters are behind paywalls? This sport is paying its bills by selling off its furniture and there will come day where nothing is left but an empty house. We need to build for the future, but I don’t see anyone really trying. I just see a lot of people grabbing at pennies at the expense of future dimes.
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