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ISSUE 19 | NOV 2014
on top that he won’t give some of the
other great fighters a chance to get
up to that position.
“It’s more a question of who it is
necessary for him to fight. So its
(sic) more about finding the perfect
opponent than finding the toughest
fighter to fight. When you’re looking
to go into the history books you do it
a bit differently. You fight the other
great fighters.
“But for Floyd it’s business. About
making the right financial decisions.
How do you stretch out how many
wins on your record?”
The prism through which boxing is
seen can be partly
explained by the
baffling and murky
world of promotions
and management in
the game. Boxing,
perhaps unfairly,
has a reputation
of corruption and
back-room dealings.
Legendary manager Don King took
the sport and corralled it into a
money-producing juggernaut, but
everything got a little seedier too.
Promoter Lou DiBella claims that
“everybody is suing everybody...
There’s mayhem.. you go on social
media and you read about boxing,
people are spewing hate constantly”.
Then there are the federations.
Among the largest are the World
Boxing Organisation and the
International Boxing Organisation,
but there are plenty in between.
There are enough so that, given
the weight classes, there can be 60
different champions at any given
time. This does very little to open the
sport up to new viewers.
Taken all these opinions and facts,
things don’t look so good for boxing.
Boxing is alive:
The arguments
So how does Al Bernstein get away
with saying that boxing has enjoyed
its best year in 25?
He is not alone in saying the boxing is
making a come back.
“Boxing is in better position now
than 10 years ago when it had its
own recession,” according to light-
heavyweight champion Bernard
Hopkins, a minority partner in Golden
Boy Promotions. “Now, (boxing) has a
pulse after being in intensive care for
a stint,” he says. “We weren’t sure we
would come out of the coma. People
were ready to pull the plug on boxing.
But we’re alive.”
For his reasons, you only have to look
as far as the money. Mayweather
might not have won his money in a
manner that some respected, but he
still won it. A whole lot of it. Boxing
still brings in huge money for the
top performers. Manny Pacquiao’s
team claim that Maywether is walking
away from $100 million every time he
dodges the challenge to fight.
And while ratings might be declining
in the States, boxing’s global reach
ensures that the worldwide audience
has held, and is even gaining. The
Pacquiao - Juan Manuel Marquez
match up was Mexico’s highest rated
program in the last year, for example.
Boxing promoter Todd duBoef is
another who is optimistic. “Boxing is
a much healthier sport than it was
10 or 15 years ago,” duBoef says.
“It has evolved to be positioned
with the major brands out there.
It’s positioned there. Before, it was
a huge property that was huge for
only one night, but it didn’t have
the overall brand appeal. Now, you
can see the brand appeal very, very
relevant on a global basis.”
It is still filling stadia. People around
the world tune in and download.
Boxing is still very much part of our
sporting world. Perhaps the reason
boxing is seen so differently by so
many is that it is changing. The days
of it being an American sport where
the heavyweights were kings are
over. Maybe we are not yet ready
to see this as evolution. As boxing
morphs into a truly global sport,
with champions coming from as far
apart as Ukraine and the Philippines,
structural and administrative changes
need to occur.
Lou DiBella might be right when he
says “I don’t think boxing is ever going
away. I think it’s eternal”.
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“But for Floyd it’s business. About
making the right financial decisions.
How do you stretch out howmany
wins on your record?”