Floyd Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya is being billed as the fight to save boxing. This is ridiculous. Boxing is dead. It will never again be anything more than a niche sport in the United States. In certain countries, especially Spanish speaking ones, certain fighters will be popular (apparently Manny Pacquiao can't walk down the streets of the Philippines) but it will never again be a big time sport in the U.S.
First of all, it doesn't appeal to women, but it never did.
Second of all, the young male audience that used to love boxing now spends its pay-per-view dollars on wrestling and UFC (which apparently gets incredible buyrates).
And no worthwhile boxing is ever on free TV. Every once in a while HBO has a good fight but mostly it's a good fighter against a chump.
And here's the main problem with boxing, it's a group of individuals, instead of an organized unit with a governing body to protect, nourish and grow the sport. UFC and WWE both have that.
For instance, this fight is so big, it could have drawn a huge audience on a Saturday night on NBC or Fox. But that means instead of a $35 million purse, maybe the fighters would have had to split $15 million. But there was no incentive for them to do it, because all boxers are essentially individual contractors.
Imagine how big this fight would be if it were on free TV. Everyone would watch. It would get better ratings than every show this year except for the Super Bowl and the American Idol finale.
But instead it's relegated to PPV for $55 and only a few crazies (Nails, Michael) will convince their friends to get together and chip in to buy the thing. Most of the money will come from bars which will have to shell out big bucks and maybe even charge admission to cover the cost.
All of this for a fight that probably won't be all that entertaining. Mayweather is good but mostly he runs around the ring trying not to get hit. He'll probably dance for 6 rounds, then catch a frustrated De La Hoya with a few good shots and win a very boring decision.
Friday, May 04, 2007
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2 comments:
I am really looking forward to tomorrow nights showdown between De La Hoya and Mayweather.
Mayweather is a fast, defensive fighter who throws 1 or 2 punches in a row and is nowhere to be found when his opponents try to counter. His ring generalship (I love that expression) may make it very difficult for De La Hoya to mount an offense and it may turn out to be a boxing lesson where Mayweather wins 9 to 10 rounds in a unanimous decision.
De La Hoya is the bigger, stronger, taller fighter who can hurt Mayweather with lethal combinations and potentially knock him out. There is a history of small fighters trying to move up in weight class and then getting knocked out because their opponents are much stronger than what they are accustomed to.
Does speed win or does power win?
De La Hoya tried it against Hopkins and got knocked out. De La Hoya also lost twice to Sugar Shane Moseley which shows that speed can dominate as well (I think De La Hoya won the 2nd fight in a close decision).
Who wins?
I am hoping for De La Hoya to knock the pretty out of Mayweather but I think Mayweather ends up winning a unanimous decision.
"Running around trying not to get hit" has a name...it's called good defense.
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