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Philippines, 24 Apr 2024 |
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SCALED DOWN WORLD CUP ONLY OPTION By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sun, 27 May 2007  There are strong indications that a scaled down World Cup of boxing between the Philippines and Mexico is the only option because of the unrealistic nature of the original grandiose plan of four world title fights and a budget estimated at $2 million. Despite the obvious interest in the event with the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City and the Cebu City Sports Complex vying for the honor of being the venue and announcements of support from politicians in Cebu, the fact remains that raising approximately P100 million to cover the costs of staging the World Cup is almost impossible unless the government underwrites the cost, which it wont. By comparison the World Pool Championships which was staged at the PICC in Manila last year and together with its qualifying events ran for some two weeks with extensive coverage in the Philippines over NBN and all around Asia and other parts of the world through ESPN Star Sports, the budget was around P70 million including prize money. Because of the worldwide exposure and the presence of players from around the world, the government through the Department of Tourism and other big corporations such as San Miguel Corporation invested substantial amounts because of the exposure. The World Pool Championship was reportedly watched by some 20 million Filipinos and another 200 million around the world. The World Cup of boxing while being a very attractive proposition is only a one night deal with limited sponsorship exposure making it difficult to get corporations to shell out millions. Beyond that the pay-per-view audience would be limited thereby reducing the revenues generated unlike fights in Las Vegas and other key US cities where you could expect PPV numbers of at least 200,000 or as in Manny Pacquiao’s epic trilogy with Erik “El Terrible” Morales which turned in around 350,000 buys per fight. Well-known promoter Sammy Gello-ani told us he has been sounding out prospective sponsors since we learned that the initial response of networks such as ABS-CBN and Solar Sports was that the cost was prohibitive. In the case of Solar Sports which does give the impression that they’ve got big money to back up their acquisitions as evidenced in the Manny Pacquiao-Jorge Solis fight last April 14, their future involvement in Pacquiao’s fights and the huge losses incurred in RPN 9 may hamper their efforts to go after the World Cup from a business perspective. While the February 24 “Moment of Truth” was a spectacular show in terms of its world-class staging for which the esteemed boxing patron Tony Aldeguer and his charming family deserve all the credit, the cost of staging the World Cup is an entirely different proposition from the estimated P10-12 million spent on the “Moment of Truth,” The fights themselves were good and entertaining if not for the blatant heist committed against Z “The Dream” Gorres in his title fight against WBO champion Fernando Montiel. The crowd of over 20,000 who paid their way to watch the fight card which was promoted particularly well both by Aldeguer and Gello-ani and ABS-CBN proved that the Filipinos know how to stage a world-class event and Las Vegas has nothing on us while Filipino fight fans showed their class. They were patient, orderly, disciplined and above all true sportsmen while the arrangements at the venue in terms of security, parking etc were excellent. In the end of course it takes money – big money – to stage an ambitious World Cup project and unless Golden Boy Promotions is able to convince HBO to come over and carry the fights since it would be a worthwhile endeavor the event will surely have to be scaled down to be held here. When we discussed the options with Gello-ani who made a quick visit to Manila last Friday, the possibility of having only one or two title fights loomed. Obviously the star attraction would be undefeated Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista in a mandatory title fight against reigning WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon. While there are those who would like to see a rematch between Gorres and Montiel as a main supporting title fight it would be foolish to pay Montiel around $150,000 with no guarantee that the WBO appointed referee and judges won’t screw us again. Besides, Montiel now knows what Gorres can do and wont be taken by surprise as he was the last time. To spice up the card we actually suggested that three other Filipinos – possibly AJ Banal, Gerry Penalosa and perhaps Donnie Nietes or Bert Batawang be matched against rated Mexicans in non-title fights which would give fight fans 54 excellent rounds of action. This is the only way we honestly believe the World Cup can be held in the Philippines. The great Oscar De La Hoya was, when we last spoke to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer working out the schedule of his Manila visit with vice president and international matchmaker Eric Gomez. Of course, without a shadow of doubt De La Hoya could not merely help promote the World Cup but also meet with prospective sponsors and convince them to invest in the project. With his charming manner the handsome De La Hoya backed by his reputation for integrity plus his genuine care for Filipino boxers shouldn’t find it a hard sell. With all due respect to our friends, the bottom line is let’s get real. Let us not be fooled by the hugely complimentary remarks of the WBO officials including its president “Paco’ Valcarcel and Asian representative Leon Panoncillo because their primary concern is projecting the WBO. That’s fine as long as its not at the expense of the Philippines. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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