In the old days of boxing, what some would say was a better era, you thought of Three Wise Guys rather than Three Wise Men.
But the business is strictly corporate now, just like Las Vegas. But Oscar De La Hoya, Richard Schaefer and Bob Arum could make themselves heroes to fight fans by doing what every other business in America seems to be doing in the financial swamp we find ourselves in.
Some smart people started selling a cheap wine, $3.99 per bottle, called ?Recession Red.? It makes this wino harken back to the days of Two Buck Chuck which turned into Three Buck Chuck.
Those selling tickets to many concerts and shows are offering 2 for 1, free tee-shirts or some other what they call in New Orleans ?lagniappe? (meaning something extra), to move their product in the credit crunch.
This is not the cheery world of May 2007 when Oscar and Floyd Mayweather racked up a record 2.4 million PPV buys for a record gross of $134.4 million.
One need only look at the bleeding from the shockingly low PPV buy rates for Bernard Hopkins-Kelly Pavlik and Joe Calzaghe-Roy Jones to know that.
So what I?m advocating on the day before we carve up those turkeys is that Oscar, Richie and Uncle Bob do is take some short term pain for long term gain.
They don?t have to slash prices the drastic way car dealers have been forced to. Those 2008 models are moving like molasses.
But what if Three Wise Men went to Manny Pacquiao and to business partner HBO and said we need to recognize the financial pain of the typical boxing fan.
They would indeed be Three Wise Men?here Schaefer has been on the right track in getting Golden Boy sponsors to come up with rebates tied to Manny vs. Oscar?if they all agreed to take a small haricut to boost PPV buys.
Take the $55 price and knock off a sawbuck.
Offer Oscar vs. Manny for $44.95 and watch the PPV buys zoom. Certainly, all the involved parties can afford to take less money for one big bout in the future interest of the business.
There won?t be as many PPV bouts in 2009 but Oscar and Manny will both fight on after Dec. 6 and it?s hard to envision them going off PPV and on to HBO Championship Boxing.
By taking a voluntary trim off the top, the boxing Establishment?top promoters, fighters and HBO?would be showing they feel the real pain of customers who have supported boxing in good times and bad. They would show some empathy towards boxing aficionados who are nervous about mortgage payments or worried about losing their jobs.
One of cackling Don King?s old saws is about how charity begins at home and spreads abroad.
Another is ?that it?s for the needy, not the greedy.?
By giving boxing fans a one-time, no rebate attached ten buck discount, Oscar, Manny, Schaefer, Arum and HBO would be pouring ?comeback sauce? on their clientele.
It?s easy for me to say, yeah, as nothing will be removed from my pocket. But it makes sense given the economic turmoil and turbulence of the times.
Oscar vs. Manny for $44.95 instead of 54.95.
If there was ever a time for the boxing Establishment to give back, it is now.
