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Boxing’s “=
so
called” death, greatly exaggerated.
By Mike Cassell Octobe=
r 5th, 2009
I read a very sobering headline the other day online. It exclaim=
ed “Professional
Boxing is dying a natural death.” It was from the LA =
Times,
but what was so intriguing is that this particular article was writte=
n on
October 5th, 1913. This exclamation has been echoed in
every decade, in every major city for the past hundred years. The big
difference today, is the speed in which media reacts, or in the case =
of
boxing, doesn’t react. Major media outlets remove boxing =
from
their endangered species list a few times a year to cover the so call=
ed
“big” fights, or the fights that have some meat to
them. Was the heavyweight division any different in 1980’s than=
it
is now? Absolutely not, In fact some could argue that it was much wor=
se,
but it had one thing then that it doesn’t have now. It had a tr=
ain
wreck named Mike Tyson. He was reality television before reality
television existed.
Mike Tyson was a negative that the major media outlets devoured =
and
spit out on a regular basis. A story that started out so good, about a
young inner city kid who finds acceptance and love in upstate New York
from a grandfatherly old trainer in Cus D’amato, was nice, but =
was
never that big a deal. The “meat” came as the media
honed in on who Tyson really was. He was an out of control rollercoas=
ter
that made millions of dollars for these outlets, but did little for t=
he
positive popularity of the sport. Gawkers, not fans began to purchase
boxing tickets, the same way a lot of gawkers purchase NASCAR tickets=
or
slow down to view a car accident. They wanted to see a wreck, and good
old Mike Tyson gave them one salacious antic and sound bite after
another. This is the “so called” last time boxing =
was
popular. Every time boxing needed a media shot in the arm, it threw M=
ike
Tyson into the mix. The old one step forward two steps back approach.=
The
sport of boxing continued to feed the media, until Mike Tyson
wasn’t enough. They decided they wanted to eat the whole thing,
including the sport of boxing itself.
By the turn of the century, the national media focused on one th=
ing,
the negative, then they began to look at everything because the &#=
8220;meat”
they were craving for wasn’t prevalent enough, and then finally
they just turned away to focus on the blood sport that is MMA. Boxing=
had
long settled for the old adage that bad publicity is still publicity.=
But
just like anything, the focus on what the sweet science actually w=
as about,
was gone. To be covered, you needed to be a cartoon character. You ha=
d to
have a sound bite a minute. History is being made one great fig=
ht
after another, but the only focus seems to be on the negative or the
outrageous. Boxing, the most disorganized organized sport in the worl=
d,
became organized enough to showcase some of the most exciting live
entertainment in sports history from 2000 to 2009, but the media <=
i>(MEAT-TIA)
was still gouging on the bloated carcass of Mike Tyson.
PROOF OF LIFE:
You know the old saying. If you want to get to the truth, follow=
the
money. If you do, you better back up a really big truck. The May
2007 De La Hoya-Mayweather fight remains the standard-bearer of the P=
PV
event category, drawing in $136 million in revenue – whi=
ch
HBO points out more than doubled the opening-night box office revenue
from the biggest movie premiere ever, 2008's The Dark Knight.
De La Hoya Mayweather went into 2.4 million households, beating =
the
previous title holder, you guessed Mike Tyson Evander Holyfield II (T=
he
ear biting fight) 1.9 million. Oh yeah, and it wasn’t a heavywe=
ight
fight. Oscar De La Hoya earned upwards of 52 million dollars for ONE
FIGHT. Show me one football player, baseball player, hockey or golf
player that makes that in a night. You can’t. The best MMA figh=
ters
make between 250,000 and 600,000. It is not even close when you look =
at
revenue generation per capita. Boxing is more popular, and gets=
the
least amount of coverage. It used to be taboo to cover boxing excessi=
vely,
because it is a violent sport. But MMA has been able to make a truly
boring sport hip, and they also can call it an “ART”. Gre=
at
marketing, but again, follow the money. It is easy to see that boxing
generates more a year than any combat sport including MMA, but MMA ca=
n be
“sold” easier because of all the Martial Arts it is tied =
to.
MMA is like the KARATE KID on steroids. It was a great movie that
had its moments, but did it ever deserve Oscar consideration? =
Floyd Mayweather Jr. recently fought Juan Manuel Marquez, a popu=
lar
name in Mexico, but a virtual unknown in the United States, and they
almost tripled the revenue for a UFC PPV bout that was scheduled the =
same
night. It’s OK to get mad at boxing for its bad judging, its
sometimes conniving promoters and blown up PPV prices. But it’s=
not
OK to ignore something, just because you cannot control it. Yes boxing
can be that screaming kid in the supermarket who gets louder and
louder, while you just wait for his parents to correct him, but =
it
is still as good as it ever was and is seemingly getting better. 2009=
is
closing out with a bang, as superstar Manny Pacquiao will face heavy
hitter Miguel Cotto, and Showtime premiers the World Boxing Classic w=
ith
four World Champions and two undefeated rising stars. The great stori=
es
are out there, they just need to be told. The great fighters are out
there, they just need to be seen. The only medicine boxing really
need’s, is real national positive media coverage.
Yes it is harder to find the “positive” stories. It
takes work and investigation and, well…reporting. There are some
really tough and exciting fighters behind those stories. You have your
credentials, now go out and earn your paycheck, and stop blaming the =
exit
of fighters like Mike Tyson for the death of the sport. Boxing was ar=
ound
for thousands of years before he ever threw a punch, and it will be
around long after he is dead and buried.
&n=
bsp;<=
/span>
________________________________ <=
/span>
Mike Cassell is a boxing writer and broadcaster out of
Philadelphia. .
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