Star inactivity sapping life out of boxing
Boxing interest would grow exponentially if magnates like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather fought more often, says US expert Kevin Iole.
In his first year as a professional boxer, Manny Pacquiao fought 10 times. In Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s second year as a pro, he also fought 10 times.
By the end of 1997, Pacquiao’s third year, he had already fought 23 times, or 38.9 percent of his total. By the end of 1998, Mayweather, in his third year, had fought 19 times, or 45.2 percent of his career total.
That is a sad reminder of what might be in boxing. The top stars simply don’t fight enough anymore. Mayweather, who is No. 1 in the new Yahoo! Sports boxing rankings, has fought 10 fights combined since 2005. Pacquiao, who is No. 2 in the poll, has fought only nine times since 2008. And Sergio Martinez, Yahoo! Sports’ third-ranked fighter, also has only had nine fights since 2008.
The reason they’re so inactive, of course, is money. The fighters command massive purses now and promoters can’t afford to pay them the kind of money they demand in order to fight more than once or twice a year. Mayweather hasn’t fought as much as twice in a year since 2007 and neither Pacquiao nor Martinez has fought as many as three times in the same calendar year since 2008.
The great Sugar Ray Robinson fought 10 times or more in a year eight times. He had a high of 20 fights in 1941, but even as his career waned, he fought 10 times in 1964 and 14 times in 1965.
How much better off would the sport be if either Mayweather or Pacquiao fought 10 times in 2012? If the fighters would agree to take less – a few million per fight for a handful of less-than-major bouts per year against slightly lesser opponents – the interest and excitement in the sport would rise dramatically.
The biggest stars attract the most attention. The extraordinary attention paid to talks over the last two-plus years about a potential superfight between Mayweather and Pacquiao is proof of that. It seems as if there have been as many words written since late 2009 on a fight that hasn’t happened and that may never happen than there has been on the bouts that have occurred.
Find a way to get the top 10 or 15 guys to fight four to six times annually instead of one to three times and you’ll be credited as the person who revived the sport.
There is nothing wrong with boxing that a little activity from its biggest stars can’t fix.
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@ P (reply to Mon 30 Jan 3:06AM) , yes I work full time Mon to Fri 9 to 5 and no I would not take a pay cut because I am not paid a lot, I am not overpaid, I just about get by. I know of course that is my fault no-one elses BUT your comparison is a ridiculous one.
Even if they took a 50% cut Pac Man and Mayweather would still earn somewhere in the region of 25 thousand dollars a day!!! every day!!! - surely that kind of money is enough for anyone?
Certainly if I was a boxer and earnt the equivalent of 50 thousand+ dollars A DAY (!) , knowing full well a lot of that has been paid for by genuine boxing fans (tickets, pay perview sales, merchandising etc) would I take a pay cut to a measly 25 thousand dollars A DAY to say thanks to the fans and give them twice as many fights - @#$% right I would.
I know it is human nature but it is true that Pac Man and Mayweather are both very very greedy people.
I think its also a lot to do with the heavyweight division being dead. It has been poor for the last decade at least. I mean, ask the average person on the street who is not a boxing fan to tell you who the heavyweight champ is. I am pretty certain my God fearing grannny could name the likes of Tyson, Lewis, Frazier, etc but would not have even heard of the ones now.
Heavyweight division has always stirred the most excitement and interest from the general public.
FMJ v Cotto May 5th. Mayweather just got his licence to fight him on that day.
@andy it's not PPV that's the problem exactly. It' HBO and Showtime. Those two networks have been buying boxers for such ridiculous amounts that other networks can no longer afford to show boxing. They but boxing matches then use the proceeds to fund their original TV series like Boardwalk Empire, Dexter and Game of Thrones. But their networks are so small with only around 30 million subscribers it leaves boxing in a very unexposed niche position on a niche network. How can boxing make it to mainstream when it's networks which consider 400k viewers for one show to be a goo thing?
HBO used to have 80 million subscribers,until it dropped to 30 million starting around 2005 ... with it boxing's viewer ratings dropped dramatically too. If they could get some of their better boxers back onto a network with more reach boxing would have great exposure again. Someone like Canelo could easily get 16 million viewers on NBC.
Pay per view is killing boxing,nothing else.
Once again I'm inclined to say the wrong combat sport has their hands in Ioles' pocket
John L Sullivan, Frazier and Ray Leonard only had around 30 fights in their whole careers. Then again Ray Robinson is just the perfect excuse for everything.
I posed the question I said I would to Kevin Iole. Guess what... he never answered. He is even more of a twit on twitter!
Iole is a self-important cretin !! Let somebody bash him 10 times a year.
Boxing has become a business first, a sport second and fans last!! This is no different to our politics. The ONLY time our poliicians put 'the people' first is during the election campaign with sweet words to win the votes. Once they are in power, its always self interest first, then the big corporations and those who pay roll them into power without ever hearing the cries or the demands of 'the pople', until the next election date!! Call me cynical, but I am not far from the truth!!
Boxing has become a business first, a sport second and fans last!!
Unfortunately its always about money; boxers & spectators don't really have much say in the matter. I wish it would go back to the old days of one belt for each weight class; however I am not naive enough to think this will ever happen, certainly not in my lifetime :)
for me pacman is the best boxer in the world,he will beat mayweather on the fifth round belive me...
@19 - I never suggested fighting for free either!!
Phil, I trust you are in employment and like most people work 5 days a week. How would you feel if your boss tell you that you have to work 6 days a week for less money so that your company can make more profit? Would you be happy to do more hours so your Boss can enjoy your hard work? I guess not. So why should any boxer take many fights for LESS money & risk his health, simply to keep the fans and the idiotic US reporter Kevin Lol happy!!
So many governing bodies mean that now there are not many champions, just lots of belt holders.
FMJ and Manny get paid more for doing less, we would all accept that kind of job offer wouldn't we? It's not so fair on the fans who are expected to pay extra PPV money to fund this more pay though.
As for Kevin Iole suggesting we return to the days of 10 fights a year for the top boxers, it's just ridiculous. We all want to see top action and knock outs. But any normal person doesn't want to see brain damaged boxers or even total mismatches.
So Kevin Iole (who won't read this obviously so I might tweet him this question), name 10 boxers who FMJ or Manny or maybe even Wladimir should fight this year, without anyone being brain damaged or mismatched.
How many governing bodies were there in the forties? The problem is there are too many now so being THE world champion no longer exists meaning the champion isn't continually forced to fight challengers hungry for his title.
Instead people give up belts if a fight doesn't suit, get paid a fortune for non-title fights, get paid to stand aside so someone else can take a fight, etc.
Anbody who can do less and get more will so you can't blame the boxers, it needs the industry to freeze out mickey mouse titles and not pay out such big sums on "superfights" so people realise they are just fights not "super" at all.
@ P , I do not think the report is saying fight for free!
Just a pay cut such as maybe instead of Pacquiao and Mayweather demanding 20 million dollars per fight, accept only a measly 10 million dollars per fight instead and give boxing fans twice as many fights from them per year.
Is this US reporter truly suggesting that top fighters like Pacquiao and Mayweather fight more with a reduced fee? Its like saying, Kevin Lole should accept less money for his illogical suggestions. Why should a boxer who is putting his life on the line accept less, simply to please a reporter who has no new material or new ideas to think of?
the tax man is the main culprit fighters would to much hard fought for cash if they fought to often.especially those who can command the really big bucks.and who could blame them.
Why not have a 70/30 split,with the winner getting the 70%.If cocky Mayweather is that confident whats the problem? The will they fight/wont they fight debate is getting boring now,im getting to the point where i dont really give a toss!
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