Watching college boys on the gridiron may be satisfying to some, but it ain?t boxing, and not by a long shot?
Saturday?s fight at in Omaha, Nebraska, between Terence Crawford and Ray Beltran has been declared a ratings flop. Although 11,000 Nebraskans crammed into the CenturyLink Center to watch their hometown hero successfully defend his WBO light welterweight title, less than a million tuned into HBO Boxing After Dark to watch the terrific young champion in action.
Amid much handwringing, which looks more operatic than pugilistic, fingers are pointing every which way, but mostly at HBO.
Traditionally Boxing After Dark starts at a late hour. That?s why it?s called Boxing After Dark. But when that late hour is made later, considerably later in this case by forcing viewers to watch the mismatch between Manny Pacquiao and Chris Algieri, in some cases a second time, the fight of the night, which was also the fight of the weekend, didn?t end until 1:00 AM Eastern Time.
Those in need of their beauty rest must have woken up ugly Sunday morning.
HBO is also being taken to task for scheduling the fight at the same time as college football. It wasn?t just any college football, however. It was the Iron Ball between Alabama and Auburn, to which 13 million sports fans tuned in.
I don?t know about you, but I need to be drugged and hogtied before watching any college ball, classic or otherwise.
Perhaps I?m the exception rather than the rule, but what percentage of those devotees of college football are devoted fight fans as well? It has to be a small fraction. Watching college boys on the gridiron may be satisfying to some, but it ain?t boxing, and not by a long shot.
Talk about apples and oranges.
Pacquiao may have slaughtered Algieri and Alabama may have beaten Auburn (thank you Google), but the truth is that boxing, aside from Mayweather and Pacquiao, doesn?t draw eyeballs.
Crawford is a darn good fighter on his way to becoming a darn great fighter. He?s also got a great back-story. With enough time, with enough promotional acumen the likes of which brought us Pacquiao-Algieri and Mayweather-Maidana II, perhaps he can be packaged and sold as a genuine marquee attraction.
Crawford?s not there yet. He may never get there. Only time will tell. But as of now he?s Boxing After Dark worthy, and what goes down in Bryant-Denny Stadium has little or nothing to do with it.
