In browsing the business section of the San Francisco Chronicle this morning I noticed a headline that said, “Ebay slashes Google Ads, Escalating Rift.”
For many of you that might follow the various business publications or have a financial interest in publicly traded companies, you might be privy to the fact that Google has grown into not only an internet tycoon but also a formidable competitor to the top corporations across the globe. The original mission statement for Google that still stands to this day is as follows:
“Don’t Be Evil.”
In researching the background to this slogan I found this excerpt.
“Don’t Be Evil” is said to recognize that large corporations can often maximize short-term profits with actions that destroy long-term brand image and competitive position. By instilling a Don’t Be Evil culture, the corporation establishes a baseline for decision making that can enhance the trust and image of the corporation that outweighs short-term gains from violating the Don’t Be Evil principles.
What does all this have to do with boxing or Golden Boy Promotions you might ask? Has “The Boxing Bookie” gone mad? Has he lost sense of reality and finally fell off the deep end?
Maybe I have gone over the cliff of sanity but I see a somewhat perfect correlation with the image of Google and that of Golden Boy Promotions.
As Google has grown to immense proportions in recent times with not only the development of stellar web applications in addition to their widely used search engine, they have seemingly grown into the realm of “evilness”. They are perceived at having their hand in almost everyone’s cookie jar and are taking more than just a crumb out of it. Through their innovation and motivation to be at the fore-front of technology, they are taking the big slice of everyone’s pie, the big piece of their chicken, and not only the “T” but the bone as well.
Now let’s take a look at Golden Boy Promotions.
This company formed by world-recognized superstar Oscar De la Hoya is relatively new to the world of boxing promotions. Unlike their arch rival Top Rank as well as other promotional companies, they have not been around for decades upon decades. Similarly to Google, in the early stages of their formation, Oscar’s company was seen as a positive player within the industry especially due to his experience within the ring and his perceived potentially fair treatment to whoever he might sign onboard. He vowed to change the world of boxing and focus on the fair and open communication with his fighters. Basically he vowed to not be “evil”.
Fast-forward to today in which almost all media outlets have seemed to have grown a certain level of distaste for Oscar’s promotional outfit. The question I ask is a simple… why?
The criticisms that I’ve heard of Golden Boy Promotions are as follows:
“They’ve never groomed a fighter on their own and made him into a star.”
“They don’t know how to put on great shows like other promoters.”
“There’s a conflict of interest when fighters are financially involved with one another.”
“They rely solely on HBO and Las Vegas casinos in order to keep them financially viable.”
“They don’t really know how to promote boxing, other than Oscar De la Hoya their fights are never sold-out.”
Then there’s the always amusing… “I just hate Golden Boy!”
Like I’ve said in the past, we as boxing fans have choices to make and I must say that it seems to me that Golden Boy Promotions, like Google, has reached a point of industry dominance that has turned a once beloved corporation into a company that is perceived as “evil”. While I don’t think Oscar’s company has necessarily run their corporation in the same manner as Google due to their huge discrepancies in what they pay their “stars” and what they pay their lower-tier fighters, it would be completely biased to not point out some positive aspects from this young promotional outfit. Here are the counter-points to the “hate” they consistently receive.
(“They’ve never groomed a fighter on their own and made him into a star.”)
Does it really matter if they’ve taken a 0-0 fighter and made him into a true superstar? I have no clue what they have in the pipeline in regards to future fighters and prospects. They could very well be grooming some young, up and coming fighters on off-tv cards somewhere in timbuktu. I think people tend to forget that most if not all fighters today have jumped around from one promotional company to another as their career progresses. It’s a rarity to see a fighter stick with one company from start to finish. Just ask Manny Pacquiao about that one.
(“They don’t know how to put on great shows like other promoters.”)
Great Shows? I thought that the triple header for the Marco Antonio Barrera-Juan Manuel Marquez fight was very entertaining. My only complaint was the scoring by the judges especially on the undercard bouts which was attributed to the influence of Golden Boy which only fueled the hatred of many.
I also thought the Mosley-Collazo/Lazcano-Harris double-header was a well matched card. Once again, there was something for people to complain about due to very low attendance within the arena.
Then of course we have the bout between Oscar and Floyd in which many of those in attendance in addition to those watching at home left feeling rather unsatisfied due to the lack of violence. I put the blame on Floyd Mayweather for that one as we’ve been quite satisfied with a number of mega-fights that Oscar has been involved in.
(“There’s a conflict of interest when fighters are financially involved with one another.”)
Boxing has always been involved with conflicts of interest whether it be a promoter setting up fighters to lose, get robbed, or just show up for paydays. I understand this argument that it’s a bit odd but there’s nothing that I’ve seen from Golden Boy Promotions that has made me question whether their fighters have not fought to their best abilities. For those of you that think Oscar took a dive against Bernard Hopkins, I say, “Get in the ring.”
(“They rely solely on HBO and Las Vegas casinos in order to keep them financially viable.”)
That’s their business. If they want to work relatively exclusively with HBO and the Las Vegas casinos that’s up to them. I don’t necessarily agree with always staging fights in Sin City but if it works for them, why would I cry about it? As a fan watching at home, they could stage Hopkins-Wright on the moon and I’d be tuning in.
(“They don’t really know how to promote boxing, other than Oscar De la Hoya, their fights are never sold-out.”)
As a fan of the sport, that’s not my problem. That’s their problem. As far as I know, Golden Boy Promotions isn’t a publicly traded company so if you don’t have a financial interest in how they’re doing, why would you care if they sell out their venues or not? I don’t own any stock in Krispy Kreme Donuts so if Ricardo Lois wants to regularly buy two dozen jelly-filled cream puffs each morning, it has no effect on me. On the other hand, if I did own shares, I’d always be driving by my local shop to verify that they continue to sell mass quantities of these heart attacks in a box.
(Then there’s the always amusing… “I just hate Golden Boy!”)
Hate is a nasty thing. From my experience in the world, you can’t truly hate anything unless it comes down to personal issues. I don’t hate George Bush. I don’t hate Paris Hilton. I don’t personally know either of them and I don’t feel as though they have directly affected my life in anyway. Regardless of what they or Golden Boy Promotions does I still have to go to work, pay bills, scrub the toilet, and maintain my health. From what I’ve seen in the world and learned in my life, you are only truly “hated” if you’re important. Think about that. Nobody hates Donald Duck. Well maybe Daffy does…
(As I compile this crazy mess of random blurbs, thoughts, and analogies, I feel myself losing the initial train of thought that inspired me to create this disturbing piece of randomness.)
Golden Boy Promotions and Google are two companies relatively in their infancy and over time both will be despised on the level that Microsoft is and Don King was in the 1980s. It is a cycle that occurs among homo-sapiens on a regular basis in which the tycoons of the industries are vehemently hated due to their success. I guess the question is whether both companies can continue their rise to the top although many people across the world that have no personal or financial connection with them want to see them fall. I guess only time will tell…
PS. Any thoughts, questions, opinions, or if you just want to curse me out and tell me how stupid I am e-mail me at [email protected].
