Boxing Is Dead My Foot

[klunderbunker]

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/9694996/floyd-mayweather-canelo-alvarez-top-grossing-ppv-fight

2.2 million buys, or more than double what Wrestlemania did this year, good for $150 million. This would also crush every number for UFC that I can find, which seems to top out at 1.6 million buys for UFC 100.

Boxing may be a mess, but people will still pay for it in droves.

 

[Da Prophet]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is known to draw a crowd.

 

[braveh]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is known to draw a crowd.

I watched that countdown show on youtube. What a great build-up they put together. Did that air on CBS as well?

And if you want to connect this to wrestling. How can you trash WWE for the PG-era? How more PG and TMZ can you get than Mayweather? The guy hangs out with Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne

 

[George Steele's Barber]

When Floyd Mayweather hears that John Cena is a draw he says, "that's cute".

 

[Rayne]

When Floyd Mayweather hears that John Cena is a draw he says, "that's cute".

And much like John Cena, I totally don't understand Mayweather's appeal, but I definitely recognize it.

Unfortunately for boxing, Mayweather's their only draw, now that Manny Pacquiao is on his way out. (Couple more paydays in his future, but that's it.) No one west of Greenwich Mean Time gives a shit about the Klitschko brothers, and there's no promising star being built up for a crowd.

Like professional wrestling, boxing is in a long-term decline. Mayweather can put on one fight that can outdraw the UFC's cards, but the UFC can put on 30+ cards per year, usually including four major PPV's. (The UFC definitely does the whole "SummerSlam big, Night of Champions not" thing, but they hide it better by numbering their PPV's sequentially.) The smart move the UFC has made thus far is in never turning things into a freak show to pump up a flagging fight (and they've had LOTS of those.) The sport has never really recovered Mike Tyson started chewing ears and threatening to eat babies with Don King nodding his approval.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Mayweather isn't called Money for nothing, he draws a crowd no question. Boxings not dead but its a far cry from what it used to be. At one time there were tons of big draws in boxing now its just Mayweather and Manny to an extent (his last losses hurt him badly).

 

[Барбоса]

Yeah Mayweather can draw but he is being so dominant that once he retires undefeated, there is no one to take his place as the big draw. Sure, there are some good boxers out there but a lot of them are of a similar age to Money and of the younger ones, is someone like Andre Ward, a fantastic fighter, really going to be able to draw in a similar vein to Mayweather? I don't think so.

The Klitschkos have been similarly damaging to the heavyweight division. Too dominant. Sure, a lot of it is not their fault as the division itself is full of no-hopers and because of that anyone who might be a potential star in the future gets promoted up the ranks too quickly leaving them to be eaten alive by the Ukrainian jab machines. What the heavyweight division really needed was for someone like David Haye, overrated as he is/was, to beat one of Klitschkos. That would have ruffled some feathers and actually given us a feud that lasted more than one fight.

 

[Papa Pillman]

If your sport basically builds its entire year on one singular major event and its the only one that features your top relevant marketable stars(of which Floyd is the only one left in boxing), what do you expect the outcome to be?

If there was only one UFC PPV per year and it featured all of MMA's most popular marketable relevant stars, it would pull 2 million plus buys too. Its even likely the same for Pro Wrestling if WWE only put on WrestleMania with all of its main event talent, and any other top show was headlined by lower midcarders.

Floyd may be a star and a draw, but the sport is dead(or more accurately on permanent life support).

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

And he is a wrestling fan.



Put'em together...again.

 

[jmt225]

Boxing ratings on HBO and Showtime have been great the past couple of years, and the buys for the non-Mayweather/Pacquiao pay-per-view fights (Sergio vs. JCC Jr., Margarito vs. Cotto, etc.) have also been very good.

And Mayweather's still going to be around for 2 or 3 more years. When he's gone, somebody will step up. Gennady Golovkin, Danny Garcia, Canelo Alvarez (who despite the loss will continue to be a huge draw; guy is only 23-years-old and is every bit the reason that fight drew what it did as Mayweather is), Adrian Broner, Andre Ward, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Zou Shiming, Vasyl Lomachenko, etc... all these guys have the potential to be major draws and dominant champions for many, many years to come.

Boxing is fine, just fine. In 2007/2008/2009 there was some serious concerns about the future of the sport and about the next big stars, but they're here now. And come 3 more years from now, they'll be more. And it'll grow and grow, especially when these young guys with "potential" see the kind of paychecks Mayweather is getting. You don't think that's going to motivate more people to get into this sport and stick with it?

 

[Dirk]

Mayweather vs Cena in a shoot fight...

 

[Stinger]

But outside of this Mayweather/Alvarez fight, how many other boxing pay-per-views will put up numbers like this? Martinez/Chavez finished fourth among boxing pay-per-views last year and did 425,000 pay-per-views sold, which would have been good enough for seventh for UFC pay-per-views. And don't forget that Hopkins/Dawson in October 2011 only did a reported 40,000 pay-per-views sold.

Boxing isn't dead, but it really doesn't have any mainstream draws other than Mayweather and Pacquiao. Other than when Wladimir Klitschko fought David Haye, when was the last time a Klitschko fight aired live in the US if it even aired at all?

I will say that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are more popular than any MMA fighter right now, but I still think that MMA as a whole is more popular than boxing in the United States and Canada.

 

[jmt225]

But outside of this Mayweather/Alvarez fight, how many other boxing pay-per-views will put up numbers like this?

What event period will put up numbers like this? Not MMA, not Pro Wrestling, nothing but BOXING. You can't credit one man for that; the sport is beloved and will continue to be beloved for as long as we live.

Martinez/Chavez finished fourth among boxing pay-per-views last year and did 425,000 pay-per-views sold, which would have been good enough for seventh for UFC pay-per-views.

... that's if we choose to believe the UFC's numbers. Nobody really knows what the UFC pay-per-view buyrates are except them.

And don't forget that Hopkins/Dawson in October 2011 only did a reported 40,000 pay-per-views sold.

It was ******ed for them to put that fight on pay-per-view. Everyone knew it was going to draw poorly.

Boxing isn't dead, but it really doesn't have any mainstream draws other than Mayweather and Pacquiao. Other than when Wladimir Klitschko fought David Haye, when was the last time a Klitschko fight aired live in the US if it even aired at all?

The Klitscko's are the biggest draws in Heavyweight Boxing history, and that's a fact. Just because Americans don't give them the respect they deserve doesn't mean they aren't insanely popular and admired around the rest of the World.

I will say that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are more popular than any MMA fighter right now, but I still think that MMA as a whole is more popular than boxing in the United States and Canada.

It's not. UFC's ratings and houses have not been very good since 2012 when they got loaded with injuries and constantly had change their cards due to them (ala around the same time when they gave their fighters insurance, which to me explains why Vince McMahon hasn't done that after all these years).

Regardless, put a big boxing fight on Network television, it kills a UFC on Fox card ratings wise each and every time.

 

[Stinger]

... that's if we choose to believe the UFC's numbers. Nobody really knows what the UFC pay-per-view buyrates are except them.

I got by what Meltzer says. He's a pretty legit source.

It was ******ed for them to put that fight on pay-per-view. Everyone knew it was going to draw poorly.

It still did far worse numbers than any UFC/MMA pay-per-view has done in over a decade. I'm sure that even Bellator's pay-per-view will do better numbers than that fight.

The Klitscko's are the biggest draws in Heavyweight Boxing history, and that's a fact. Just because Americans don't give them the respect they deserve doesn't mean they aren't insanely popular and admired around the rest of the World.

I know they're popular worldwide, but not in the States. I'm only talking about the MMA vs. Boxing debate in the US and Canada. Over in Europe, boxing still trumps MMA.

It's not. UFC's ratings and houses have not been very good since 2012 when they got loaded with injuries and constantly had change their cards due to them (ala around the same time when they gave their fighters insurance, which to me explains why Vince McMahon hasn't done that after all these years).

Regardless, put a big boxing fight on Network television, it kills a UFC on Fox card ratings wise each and every time.

Boxing is already on ESPN and is also on Fox Sports 1. And one thing that really helps boxing buyrates is the fact that very few bars buy boxing pay-per-views when compared to the amount that buy UFC pay-per-views.

I'm just saying that the average mixed martial artist is more popular than the average boxer.

I'm a fan of both sports, and it really annoys me when people try to make an argument that one is better/more popular than the other. Why can't it just be like baseball and football, or basketball and hockey, etc, where you can just be able to sit back and enjoy both sports without a problem? From my experience, it's usually the boxing fanbase that is critical of MMA more so than it is the MMA fanbase being critical of boxing.

Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to UFC 165 tomorrow night, and to seeing David Haye fight Tyson Fury next weekend.

 

[jmt225]

I got by what Meltzer says. He's a pretty legit source.

Meltzer is a legit source, but he still only releases what the UFC says. The UFC is a private owned company; therefore their pay-per-view buyrates aren't available to the public. Sometimes Meltzer and other MMA media sources will speculate when the UFC doesn't release the numbers, but that's as far as it goes.

It still did far worse numbers than any UFC/MMA pay-per-view has done in over a decade. I'm sure that even Bellator's pay-per-view will do better numbers than that fight.

That was an awful night for boxing, no doubt about it.

Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to UFC 165 tomorrow night, and to seeing David Haye fight Tyson Fury next weekend.

Right on.