Hey boxing followers and devoted haters. Right here’s one other week’s price of my bulbous sack, bulging with gooey, salty reality, in your face. Take pleasure in. This week, we’ve feedback/questions relating to boxing’s future, Sebastian Fundora, Pitbull-Valenzuela, and the phrase on Osleys Iglesias.
Boxing’s (Shaky) Future
Suckers are born on a regular basis for certain. At this level within the recreation, I’m starting to really feel like a sucker for nonetheless following boxing. It’s like asking in regards to the whereabouts of that ex girlfriend who cheated on you.
Let’s be sincere Paul, the tip is close to and we’ve nothing to point out for it. I generally discover it attention-grabbing the way you provide you with shit to jot down about. The reality is that there isn’t shit to jot down about. The game has been working on fumes for nearly a decade. Boxing has been working at a loss for fairly someday.
I wager if we employed a forensic accountant to have a look at the books of all boxing associated occasions from the previous decade, I’m certain they’ll be a destructive stability someplace within the extra of a billion {dollars}.
The demand for the large fights merely isn’t there. As a lot as we wish to see Canelo v Benavidez, Crawford v Ennis, Tank v Loma. These fights aren’t crossover fights to fulfill the purses calls for of the fighters and generate income. Personally, I don’t assume we’ll ever see a crossover struggle in our lifetime.
How is that this sport going to outlive with out client calls for that extends past the hardcore followers?
– Na’-il Rahman
Hey Na’-il.
Every part you say is true. Boxing’s enterprise mannequin isn’t sustainable and there’s no effort by any of the promoters to shift to a brand new mannequin.
There are quite a lot of onerous truths that no person needs to deal with and that’s why issues received’t get higher any time quickly. The fan base is shrinking (particularly within the US), there’s nearly no effort to develop the bottom, constructive revenue margin is untenable, and the product is usually weak.
Boxing is lucky to have discovered a number of cash marks during the last decade or so to create bubbles. PBC, DAZN, and now the Saudis have injected tons of cash into the game to attempt to flip boxing right into a for-profit-business. PBC and DAZN saved the game afloat with their investments, however they each have needed to cut back and be extra frugal with their cash. The Saudis simply obtained into the boxing enterprise, however they’ll discover out as nicely that boxing, as it really works proper now, is a cash pit. I don’t care how wealthy you’re, in some unspecified time in the future you get sick of working within the purple.
Saturday’s Saudi present in Los Angeles has reportedly been a little bit of an eye-opener for the Saudis as, even with a reasonably sound card, an Eminem live performance, huge ticket reductions, and a luxurious care giveaway, they’re nonetheless having issues promoting tickets. In keeping with what I’ve heard, they’ve needed to resort to some chicanery in transferring tickets round to create the impression of demand. We might very nicely hear that BMO Stadium was bought out on August 3, however quite a lot of these tickets might have been purchased up by the occasion organizers, themselves.
Boxing exhibits can nonetheless succeed financially, however the success as of late is sort of all the time because of issue past the standard of the particular fights. High quality fights are now not sufficient to promote a card as a result of, sadly, there simply aren’t sufficient followers to understand whether or not a matchup is sweet or not. If anybody questions that, they simply have to have a look at the Crawford-Spence struggle final 12 months, which was universally interesting to hardcore boxing followers and had generated a “don’t pirate this present” buzz. The occasion nonetheless solely topped out at 650K buys. And, whereas 650k is taken into account excellent as of late, the numbers weren’t so spectacular for a long-awaited showdown that many hardcore followers thought to be THE struggle to make in all of boxing.
What this sport wants is an effective financial collapse to facilitate a wholesome rebuild. Sadly, simply as we appear headed in that route, some new cash mark comes alongside to place some cash in pockets and quickly delay the inevitable.
As in your final query. Effectively, they’re simply going to maintain doing what they’ve already been doing– cross the hat to the followers for just about every part, aggressively milking the loyalists till they get sick of it and stroll away. Nice marketing strategy!
3 Questions
Hey Paul,
3 fast questions
1. Why does not Sebastian Fundora get extra credit score for his win over Tim Tszyu? He fought his ass off with a badly damaged nostril from early on of their struggle and prevailed. That lower was dangerous on Tszyu little doubt however Fundora needed to dig deep to get that win.
2. I believe Pitbull Cruz higher watch out towards Jose Valenuela. That child is the scale of Rollo Romero however can struggle. Pitbull appears just a little undersized for that division.
3. What’s your tackle SMW Osleys Iglesias? I believe Benavidez and Morrell should cope with him down the highway he appears to be that good.
– John
Hey John.
I’ll sort out these so as.
1. It’s simply a lot simpler to concentrate on Tszyu due to the blood and the truth that the gash was brought on by an unintentional foul, relatively than Fundora’s damage, which was brought on by a punch. Plus, Tszyu has grow to be a fan favourite and a media darling. So, it’s by no means stunning to see him get the advantage of any doubt.
2. Agreed. I travel on Cruz. Generally, I really feel that he’s underrated and generally I see him as wildly overrated. In Valenzuela, he’s preventing somebody who can field just a little, in addition to punch. I see that Valenzuela is a couple of +330 betting underdog proper now. I’d leap at these odds as a result of I believe “Rayo” has a very good probability of pulling off the upset.
3. Iglesias is an actual expertise. He’s not as fluid or as technically gifted as Morrell, however he’s obtained very heavy fingers and an actual warrior’s mindset. He’ll be harmful for certain.
Obtained a query (or hate mail) for Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack? The perfect of the perfect will get included within the weekly mailbag section proper right here at FightHype. Ship your stuff right here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com.
