"I think that if boxing is smart, they have to make the fight to keep boxing relevant. There is just nothing on the horizon. It's not like it was when I was a younger guy and you knew who all of the champions were and they had a great middleweight division and a lot of great heavyweights. There are no stars on the horizon. Boxing has done a really poor job of building tomorrow's stars...So I think for boxing to stay relevant and to keep people somewhat emotionally engaged to the product, the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight has gotta be made...I haven't bought a pay-per-view boxing fight that hasn't involved Pacquiao or Mayweather in I don't know when. That's me; and I'm a boxing fan. I like boxing, but nothing intrigues me or moves me to invest my money into a non-Pacquiao or non-Mayweather fight. I don't know who is left out there to give either one of them a run for their money," stated stated world-renowned wrestling announcer and the voice of WWE Jim Ross, better known as J.R., as he shared his thoughts on the highly-anticipated mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, what it will mean for boxing if the fight doesn't happen and much more. Check it out!
PC: You recently blogged about the proposed Mayweather and Pacquiao fight. You said if that fight doesn't get made, you don't know what other big pay-per-view fight is out there for boxing. Does that fight have to happen to keep boxing relevant?
JR: I think that if boxing is smart, they have to make the fight to keep boxing relevant. There is just nothing on the horizon. It's not like it was when I was a younger guy and you knew who all of the champions were and they had a great middleweight division and a lot of great heavyweights. There are no stars on the horizon. Boxing has done a really poor job of building tomorrow's stars. Whether or not that's because there are not weekly fight cards that you can watch and see guys grow...you see a series on Showtime or HBO from time to time, but that's about it. I know the fight that they had in Yankee Stadium [Cotto vs. Foreman] was more about the stadium and fighting outdoors, which was a throwback to the old days with Louis-Schmeling and some of the older fights that took place outdoors. But I think that fight was more of a gimmicky thing than it was two huge stars meeting at Yankee Stadium. It was more about fighting at Yankee Stadium than about the guys that were involved in the fight. And no disrespect meant to them, they're just not household names.
So I think for boxing to stay relevant and to keep people somewhat emotionally engaged to the product, the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight has gotta be made. That would keep boxing close to front-of-mind awareness. If that fight isn't made, the question then becomes to anybody, "Okay, what is the next big fight? What is the next big fight that I gotta see?" That's a challenging question to answer, so I think that fight has to be made. I haven't bought a pay-per-view boxing fight that hasn't involved Pacquiao or Mayweather in I don't know when. That's me; and I'm a boxing fan. I like boxing, but nothing intrigues me or moves me to invest my money into a non-Pacquiao or non-Mayweather fight. I don't know who is left out there to give either one of them a run for their money. I guess the older they get or the more inactive they become, they can make themselves more vulnerable to some of the young studs coming up, but those young studs are unknown. We don't have any idea who they are.
I think another thing to help boxing is to have a better rapport with the networks so that amateur boxing is better covered. It's rarely covered now. I don't know who the great amateur boxers are now. I know that the Golden Gloves has great name identity and great equity, but they haven't given us a chance to meet any of the stars to give us the opportunity to jump on any wagons. So I think the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight has to be made or boxing is going to find themselves with the once a year Vegas fight scenario. Or it may go by the wayside of some of our entertainers, who are now playing small rooms in our casinos off the big path. I don't know where it's headed, but if I was an investor, either emotionally investing or financially investing, and I had to pick one or the other to hang my hat on, and the choice was boxing or MMA, I would go with MMA without question right now. That's where it's headed. They have a great feeding ground; they're not a whole lot different than the NFL. NFL'S got college football to keep providing them players and in MMA, they got college wrestling to continue to provide them a few great prospects every year. All the UFC has to do is continue to stay active and maintain contact with some of these kids that have the attitude and desire. Once they leave college, they can opt to go make money in the Octagon.
PC: It's refreshing to know that you are so educated in the fight game. I heard you were, but speaking to you directly, you definitely passed the test.
JR: Being a broadcaster all of these years, 36 years now and I done a little NFL for the Falcons and I did the XFL for NBC, you get that storytelling in your blood. And to me, the UFC...whether it is the UFC or WEC, it is great storytelling material. I wish I had come along at an earlier time in my life where I would have had a shot to get involved in the game. I don't think I'm too old to do it, but it's a face-friendly and television-friendly world that we live in. But there is no doubt in my mind that I would have probably really enjoyed, and probably still would, truth be known, to do MMA play-by-play or storytelling.
Because to be honest with you, Percy, and this will probably piss off some of the MMA purists that will want to get sick when I say this, but if you look at the old days of pro wrestling, when it was less sizzle and more steak, wrestlers were using holds and strategies; even though the matches were orchestrated, unless you knew, you didn't know. They were that good at what they did. A lot of them were such good athletes and had such great...it's like when Danny Hodge was wrestling somebody in a match. Unless you were just an overt skeptic, it looked like that match was as legit as anything you will ever see because Hodge wrestled. God only knows how much money he would be making right now if he was in his early 20's. He was in 2 Olympic Games and winning the United States Golden Gloves boxing championship with no experience. He would be a cash cow in the UFC right now, without question. I think that looking back to the early days of the 70's, and even the 80's and early 90's, and there were exceptions, no doubt about it, but in that era, where there were so many territories and so many proficient, skilled wrestlers, and a lot of them with great amateur backgrounds, the UFC, as far as understanding jeopardy and emotion and the drama, all of the intangible elements, the emotion of a fight and of physical engagement really hasn't changed from what many of us did back in the day. Now, people that watch only today's product, where they see a lot more entertainment content and not as much athletic content, would say, "I don't know what he's talking about. Here is this old guy that is probably borderline having dementia." But if they go back and do some YouTube searches or they are some old school fans and they look at what was going on in the 70's and 80's, they will see what I'm talking about.
It wasn't the high flying stuff; it was mat wrestling. It reminds me of a lot of the things I am seeing now as it relates to the emotion of the contest. Not a kimura or rear naked choke, but the basic psychological approach of two guys about to have physical engagement that have an issue with one another. Their issue may not be as personal as Rampage and Evans, but they want to win, they want to make more money, they want to move up the ladder, and some of them are fighting for survival. Some of them are fighting their last fight on their contract. You don't think that Cro Cop didn't want to win against Pat Barry in the last fight on his contract? Obviously he did. He is 35 years old. He's gotta look at the reality that he has a few more fights left in him and where could he go to maximize those opportunities. That's a pretty simple answer, the UFC, because their heavyweight division is loaded and that fits right in his mold. I think you get guys like Rich Franklin, who was kind of off the radar a little bit, and now he's done the dirty deed of knocking out the legendary Chuck Liddell and now he's a folk hero to some because he survived a broken arm and knocked out one of the toughest guys in the world with his "weak" hand. Everybody's got an agenda, which they should. Winning should always be the agenda, but by winning, you facilitate other things, whether it's money, title shots; and let's not kid ourselves, fighting in the UFC, we know it's about pride, integrity, toughness and your athleticism, but there would be a hell of a lot less guys doing it if they were doing it for free. It's about the money and that's the great motivator. There is nothing wrong with that. I ain't complaining about it.
PC: Well, your story telling abilities and your ability to hype a fight made me make my parents buy many wrestling pay-per-views back in the day and I would love to see you have the opportunity to commentate in MMA. I know you have the passion for it and I've never been a fan of taking fighters away from camps and training to commentate, so the WEC, in my opinion, would be a great look for you.
JR: I think, Percy, and I may be wrong about this, but it's what I've been told, but I hear there are a lot of displaced wrestling fans that are watching MMA nowadays and if I didn't offend you when you were young and you remember some of the things I said and some of the strategies I laid out, or if I made pro wrestling feel real to you, one could only ask themselves how can I make MMA, which is real, feel to you? I would love that opportunity one day. We may never have that answer, but that's something to ponder.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]