For Those About to Knock Boxing, We Don’t Salute You
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This article was originally posted on The Ringside Report to read the full article click HERE
“Many pundits of the sport boxing as of late, wish to say that boxing is all but dead. Well, this writer is not buying the hype. On May 5, 2007, “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya put his WBC Junior Middleweight Championship of the World up against, “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather, JR., on the Las Vegas strip. Not only was this fight the most talked about since a fighter named “Iron” Mike Tyson was at his best, it was talked about by non-boxing fans on a daily basis. HBO ran a great documentary in four parts called De La Hoya – Mayweather 24/7, which for the very first time took you into two combatants’ personal and professional lives.
This fight billed as “The World Awaits” from the day it was announced to the day it actually went off, was so intelligently publicized that when it did end with Floyd Mayweather pulling out a split decision, to a few days after when it was officially announced that it was the biggest PPV in boxing history beating out Evander Holyfield Vs Mike Tyson II (The Bite that was felt around the world) with a total PPV buys coming in at 2.15 million at $54.95 a shot and equating to around $120 million in revenue from that venture alone. Throw in the sold out live gate (19 million), sponsorship and the fact that De La Hoya was the Promoter of record for the evening’s event. That is not too shabby in my eyes with him walking away with the highest paid purse in boxing history at a cool 45 million dollars with Mayweather earning close to a cool 20 million for his role as the bad guy in this fight. For that type of money, I will play the bad guy any day of the week next to Alan Ladd’s character (Shane) or Christopher Reeve’s character (Superman) and Oscar De La Hoya’s (Golden Boy) as well.”
I personally believe that boxing is not dead at all. I currently live in the Philippines and when there is a boxing match on TV the whole nation stops to watch. Most people will say that the Philippines is a small portion. but here are some facts. There are over 180 million people living in the United States. Less than 10% care about watching boxing (18 million).
The last Manny Paquiao fight the entire nation watched… How many is that? The Philippines Population is 89 million and an estimated 99.8% of the country watched the fight. I know cause I needed to buy a Coca Cola during a break in the fight and all the stores were closed during that time period. And that doesn’t even begin to give estimates as you also have to factor in all of Mexico during the same fight.
I remember watching Cinderella Man, how he gave hope to all those in the time of need. Manny Paquiao gives hope to all of the Filipinos world wide in just the same way. Boxing is not dead. It is just not as popular state side any more. I guess the need for hope just doesn’t exists anymore, but if you go to any third world or developing country you will see a different idea.
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