“Sorry to bug ya? what did you think of the fight last weekend? I never heard of those guys, but I can’t wait to see them again.”
Prior to 2007, the aforementioned was a conversation that rarely took place on a Monday morning. While I made the most of the entertainment boxing has provided in recent years, many of the sport’s best moments in recent years went largely unnoticed by anyone outside of the fraternity.
This year? As sure as I am that at least one office rat would whine every morning that they can’t function without first getting their coffee fix, I also knew to anticipate the general co-worker strolling into my office nearly every Monday morning asking me about a major fight occurring the preceding Saturday.
Boxing gave sports fans plenty to talk about, particularly in the last 12 or so weeks. For a change, most of the talk was positive. In fact, it seemed boxing was the one sport unaffected by a major scandal of sorts (and no, yet another Mike Tyson arrest and brief prison stint does not qualify as a boxing scandal).
Perhaps last week’s release of the Mitchell Report did little more than outline the obvious state of the game that is Major League Juiceball. But for a week, and even as my finger tips bang out this week’s column, the scandal remains the talk of the town for all matters baseball. It was the hot topic anytime Barry Bonds’ ? owner of baseball’s single-season and all-time home run records(*) ? named was mentioned.
It will remain the headline story once pitchers and catchers report for spring training. And again when the first exhibition games begin. And again when the regular season begins. And most likely throughout the season, when Bud Selig’s alleged “Call to action” will most likely result in a considerable across-the-board statistical drop-off, where the only stat to see an increase will be the number of formerly juiced players on the injury list, with old wounds mysteriously taking longer than “normal” to heal.
Our friends over in the wonderful world of Mixed Martial Arts also came under fire ? or shall we say, under the needle. Once rumored to be the combat sport of the future, the one that would serve as the final nail in the coffin for boxing, UFC enjoyed a brilliant stretch in 2006, posting PPV numbers that did in fact put our sport to shame. In 2007, MMA brought shame only unto itself, with one major participant after another testing positive for steroids seemingly every week at one point this year.
The only thing juiced up in boxing (besides James Toney, or so said the California State Athletic Commission this past May) was its ratings and attendance. Big fights selling out arenas on a regular basis. HBO PPV posting record numbers in PPV sales and revenue. And for a change, the sports best fighter ? Floyd Mayweather ? also doubling as its most bankable star, with his two PPV appearances this year racking up over 3.2 million buys, adding up to more than $175 million in revenue, as well as another $32 million in gate receipts.
That’s just one fighter. Miguel Cotto drew well over 38,000 in his combined two Madison Square Garden appearances, generating over 600,000 PPV sales in the process. Manny Pacquiao’s rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera drew 350,000 PPV buys, and also posted an incredible 175,000 buys earlier in the year against Jorge Solis. Incredible, as independent PPV’s rarely boast such numbers.
Even Showtime made its way to the black in the PPV ma
