It seems like forever and a day since that fateful trilogy bout took place.
The fight was Erik ?El Terrible? Morales vs. Manny ?Pacman? Pacquiao III at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The date was November 18, 2006 and I attended the bout as nothing more than a blue collar fight fan (which is something that I am and will always be).
As soon as tickets went on sale, I quickly bought eight at the fair price of $50 a piece. For those that have never attended a fight at the T-Mack Center, there isn?t a bad seat in the house. I quickly informed my lady at the time and six of my closest mongrel friends that we would proceed to attend the highly anticipated trilogy bout.
(I do enjoy force feeding boxing to non-hardcore fanatics.)
We conducted an absurd road trip leaving at ten o?clock at night on Friday driving all the way to Sin City while seeing the sun come up in the desert. Being a huge ?El Terrible? fanatic, the fight didn?t turnout the way I would have preferred but nevertheless, Morales gave every ounce of himself against an emerging superstar named the ?Pacman?. I?d rather see three rounds of hell than twelve rounds of? Pacquiao-Barrera II any day of the week. Due to the modest ticket prices for a true ?super? bout (no Mosley-Margarito is no super bout), the atmosphere was absolutely crazy.
Let me give you an example of what I mean by crazy.
In attending Mayweather-De la Hoya, some person sitting next to me leaned over during the ring entrances and asked? who?s the black guy? Referring to Mayweather. This is your typical over-priced ticket buying fight fan.
For Morales-Pacquiao III, there was nothing but passionate and extremely loud boxing fanatics. It has been a true rarity to see over the past couple years. A sold out stadium with true fight fans cheering their hearts out hasn?t been that common being that Mr. Schaefer enjoys setting ticket prices outside their price range.
Now looking forward to the proposed May 2 bout between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao.
Will there be any $50 dollar seats available for blue collar boxing fans?
Looking at the past two years and how the decision maker at Golden Boy Promotions, Richard Schaefer has conducted ?business?, I highly doubt it. This guy, a man who has historically never been a huge fanatic of boxing outside of Oscar De la Hoya, seems a bit out of touch with who truly supports the ?sweet science? throughout the country.
You see? Schaefer has one job and one job only, to maximize revenue for Golden Boy Promotions and it?s fighters. It?s not to please the fans, it?s not to expand boxing?s fan base, and it sure as hell isn?t to actually utilize innovative measures to ?promote? the sport.
There are three equations when it comes to boxing? the promoters, the fighters (including trainer, manager, hanger ons, etc.), and the fans.
When there is no balance in terms of the give and take between the three, one of the parties is likely to be left out in the cold.
It?s quite evident that Richard is in awe of most of his employees being the fighters which therefore leads him to guarantee them purses that aren?t necessarily realistic for a sustained period of time. This then leads to the former banker to try and keep squeezing as much out of boxing?s shrinking fan base attempting to generate enough revenue to support these purses.
An example of this would be the Hopkins-Calzaghe bout earlier this year.
Ticket prices were ridiculous for two men that have never proven to have strong fan bases here in the United States. In fact, Joe Calzaghe, a man of Welsh/Italian whatever descent drew the majority of the fans over our beloved domestic superstar in Hopkins.
The cheapest ticket prices were $150 but the majority were set much higher.
It was downright absurd and extremely simple to calculate that it just wouldn?t sell well in terms of live gate.
But oh yes? instead of commenting about the horrible affair that was Hopkins-Calzaghe, all Schaefer discussed throughout the post-fight press conference was how much money the bout generated at the gate.
Seriously though Richard, what does constantly touting how much revenue you?ve generated do for the average boxing fan?
Do they even care?
Does it create any incentive for them to continue to support boxing and spend ridiculous amounts for tickets?
A real boxing promoter?s job is to put asses in seats, make sure those asses are satisfied with the product and the prices they paid for those seats, make sure that the fighters are compensated fairly, and make sure that the promoter makes money on the event.
So once again? my question is exactly how greedy will Richard Schaefer be when it comes to Pacquiao-Hatton?
We know that greed will never subside when it?s in a person?s nature but the question is how greedy.
While past results are not necessarily indicative of future decisions, I highly doubt the boxing public will see any $50 dollar seats.
Is this the truth or is it not the truth?
PS. Richard, people have jobs to do in your company. Some are inept at their jobs and some are competent. Get rid of the inept ones and let the competent ones do their jobs. Also? stop letting your supposed ?promotional? firm get overrun by manipulative managers.
PPS. Just a word of note… numbers generated for De la Hoya-Pacquiao are not indicative of the health of boxing. They are indicative of the popularity of Oscar De la Hoya and the fact that he is most heavily marketed fighter in the sport today. But I’m not telling you people something you don’t already know. Remember, I’m stupid and you’re smart.
