In 1976, Bob Arum went to Japan to promote a bout between Muhammad Ali, arguably the most famous athlete of all-time, and professional wrestler Antonio Inoki.
Just the thought of it some 40 years later makes Arum cringe. It is his difficulties he experienced trying to make something of that event which makes him wonder whether boxer Floyd Mayweather?s planned New Year Eve?s bout in Tokyo will even happen.
Floyd Mayweather-Tenshin Nasukawa fight is still a mystery Mayweather announced at a news conference on Monday in Tokyo (Sunday in the U.S.), that he would fight unbeaten kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa ? a legitimate star in the kickboxing world ? on New Year?s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena as part of the Rizin 14 card.
There is much left to the imagination about Mayweather-Nasukawa, because Monday?s news conference didn?t answer even the most basic of questions:
What are the rules?
What type of gloves will be used?
What weight class will the bout be in?
What kind of television deal in the U.S. will there be to generate income?
A 9 p.m. start time in Tokyo on New Year?s Eve would mean a 4 a.m. start time in Los Angeles and a 7 a.m. start time in New York. That fact alone makes it an extraordinary challenge to sell it in the U.S.
View photos Floyd Mayweather and Tenshin Nasukawa shake hands during a press conference on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018 in Japan. (AP) More Mayweather?s massive paydays ? he made in excess of $200 million for bouts with Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor ? have come as the result of a huge pay-per-view buy. The Mayweather-McGregor pay-per-view was $99.95, meaning at 4.4 million pay-per-view buys in the U.S., it generated a gross of $440 million. Ticket revenues were $73 million, meaning only considering U.S. pay-per-view sales and ticket revenues, the gross to the promotion was $513 million.
The time difference between Tokyo and Los Angeles creates a massive problem for pay-per-view sales.
?Look, I hope they make a ton of money, I really do,? Arum said. ?But how do they sell pay-per-view if it is starting at four in the morning on the West Coast? You have the same problem with streaming. There?s a limited marketability because of the time. When we did the [Manny] Pacquiao-[Jeff] Horn fight from Brisbane, [Australia], we did it on Sunday morning local time since it was primetime in the U.S. and worked perfectly.
?So if you don?t get that big pay-per-view sale, you?re going to be dependent upon revenue from Japan, and that?s good, but limited. You?re looking at the gate and Fuji TV. Add all of that up and you might have $10 million from Japan.?
The lowest payday Mayweather has earned in the last five years was a $32 million guarantee to fight Andre Berto in 2015. He also earned additional money from pay-per-view revenues from that card, though they were not huge.
Because so little is known about the Mayweather venture with Rizin, it?s impossible to predict with precision how it will do.
It?s not even certain that the bout isn?t a work, a gimmick of some sort that would essentially be a wrestling match with a predetermined outcome.
Vince McMahon Jr.?s role in Ali and Inoki?s boxer vs. wrestler match Even Arum had little idea what would go on with Ali-Inoki. It all began, he said, when he was called by Ali manager Herbert Muhammad.
?I had done a deal with Ali to do a fight with [Ken] Norton in September,? Arum said. ?Herbert called me and said, ?Bob, I need you to help me. The Japanese are offering a s?tload of money to fight this wrestler. I said, ?How the hell is a boxer going to fight a wrestler?? It didn?t work unless it was scripted in advance.?
Arum reached out to Vince McMahon Jr. of the WWWF, now the WWE, and asked for his help. McMahon agreed to put Ali onto several WWWF broadcasts to help promote the show, and there was a memorable stunt in which Gorilla Monsoon put Ali into an airplane spin.
