Watching boxing online isn?t a new phenomenon. Various websites have streamed fights (legally and illegally) for some time now and some smaller shows have been offered via pay-per-view. For this weekend?s bout between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley, Top Rank will be making the plunge. So whether you think this is a premiere match-up or a televised execution taking place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, you have the capability of watching Saturday night?s card on your computer.
“This will be the first major boxing event offered on a pay-per-view basis and also offered on an online basis, digitally able to be purchased on pay-per-view,” explained Todd DuBoef, President of Top Rank, which is promoting this event. “And it will have four different feeds; it?ll have the domestic feed, which will be the Showtime feed. It?ll have the world feed, which will be the international feed, which is being sent out with Barry Tompkins and Rich Marotta and everybody else. It?s going to have a replay feature, which will be a highlight reel that will constantly roll as the fights go on. They?ll use highlights that will keep replaying and we?re having something called ?Just Ringside,? which basically is the handheld camera shots only. So just those two cameras that are on the ring, so it?s in tight always.
“So you have four different versions of it,” continued DuBoef. “You?ll be able to have picture-in-picture; you?ll be able to chat and blog while you?re on, in some social media column over there. And it?s just basically our sport meeting the new media genre and going forward and offering it on all platforms.”
DuBoef says that the internet pay-per-view will only be available in the United States, “at this point,” as they do not want to run the risk of interfering or breaching their international contracts and the price is the same as purchasing the card through your cable or satellite provider at $54.95.
In the year 2011, demand has intersected with technology.
“I think we?ve seen from the Olympics that did it; you saw it on the Masters that offered it. We?re seeing that the technology is getting really good, that there?s a seamless transition. You?re not seeing a degenerated or pixilated broadcast that?s online; you?re seeing an experience which is unique,” said DuBoef. “Also, to me, one of the things I like about it is that it allows everybody to have access that may not have access at that time. So you?re dealing with young kids that are in college that don?t have cable homes for pay-per-view. You?re dealing with people who are business travelers who are stuck in a hotel room and can?t get the pay-per-view. You?re dealing with people that are in airports or Starbucks or whatever. So it?s basically bringing the content through a new media mechanism on the digital front.”
This isn?t necessarily a new frontier; after all, Top Rank?s own website streams their untelevised undercards on a regular basis. However, this is by far the biggest show that has ever been put on this platform. On the other hand, this avenue hasn?t been without its hiccups. Epix offered the bout between Vitali Klitschko and Odlanier Solis on its website only to run into a problem where its servers were overloaded. Most people who logged onto see this fight were left frustrated at the inability to log in properly. The Top Rank feeds have oftentimes been choppy and uneven.
It?s one thing to have these issues when the content is free. It?s a whole ?nother ballgame when you are charging over 50 bucks, to which DuBoef responds, “The whole mechanism of the pay-per-view online is probably four generations ahead and the most current you?ll see of any distribution of content through a digital platform. What we?ve been offering on our site, because we?ve been doing it- is actually in the amount of time- has become archaic and we are actually in the process of, in the next four months, I?m going to redo it and revamping the whole site so that people don?t have those issues. This is not going through our site; this is being done totally separately. It will be offered on our site- but it?s going to have a separate player. It?s a totally different product. Totally different product.”
When asked if other Top Rank pay-per-view cards will be offered online such as their independently-produced shows like ?Latin Fury,? DuBoef answered, “That?s a good question. On the bigger shows, I would like it to be. I would like it obviously on the pay-per-view side of it where I haven?t sold my U.S. rights to a network, where they may hold those digital rights. So on a pay-per-view side, obviously, I?d like to. I also want to see the results. I want to see what the feedback is; in a way, it?s kinda like my own Petri dish. I want to check it out and see how it comes across, how the fans give me a response.”
This venture is another example of the intrinsic relationship between boxing and the internet. There was a time not too long ago when the ?net was essentially looked down upon by the powers-that-be in the sport, until they figured out this was here to stay and more importantly, discovered it was the only avenue where boxing was still covered extensively. With the demise of the newspaper business and print publications, the internet is now ?mainstream media? in many respects.
“When you talk about the internet, you?re talking about a global sphere and there are very few sports- and other than soccer- boxing is the largest global sport across the world. It spans all continents, all countries, everything. So globally, it has even that much more appeal,” DuBoef pointed out. “As it relates to the role in the boxing business, I think online mechanisms have kinda been pooh-poohed until about three, four years ago and I think the reason being is that people didn?t consider online [outlets] ?traditional media? and I think the arrogance of all of us- ?If you?re not on the front page of a newspaper? or ?If you?re not writing for this magazine, you?re not a real reporter,?- well, now people see the power of the internet. And those articles and those postings and those things that start online are even more powerful than traditional media. It?s what the future is.
“I think the MMA is a classic example of where they had no tradition in traditional media and they exploited the new market, being online, and that?s where their fan base is huddled and that?s where they?re gathered and feeding off one another.”
Hopefully, it will help boxing skew to a younger demographic, something which hasn?t occurred in quite awhile.
“[Younger people] don?t know that there used to be somebody who would drive by and drop off the newspaper at your front door step or that kids used to ride their bikes and be the paper delivery. They don?t understand that. We used to get milk in a bottle with a box outside the house,” said DuBoef, who knows that more and more kids are just as likely to watch content on their laptops, as opposed to the television.
“We?re in a new era and it?s without a doubt, the younger genre, the younger method. Look at the music industry; I mean, we went from record player, eight-track tape to CDs; forget about it. It?s all gone. Everything is now iTunes, MP3 players and that dynamic has changed. Everything has changed with technology and I really believe the younger demographic obviously has a propensity to be at the cutting edge and they don?t know what existed many years ago.”
PFP
I find it a bit curious that some folks are making such a fuss over Floyd Mayweather being dropped from certain pound-for-pound lists. Here?s the thing; last I checked, they were mythical and really didn?t mean all that much. It?s just nothing more than an opinion poll of observers and pundits and in reality it doesn?t really amount to a hill of beans.
This isn?t like Auburn getting dropped from the BCS ratings last year in the month of November.
A list that would be more meaningful in my view is that of legitimate ticket sellers/attractions and fighters, who consistently put on exciting and entertaining affairs because that has true meaning.
CHESS GAME
As I speculated last week, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer is telling anyone who will listen that they just might match Top Rank?s offer to Juan Manuel Marquez to face Manny Pacquiao, with an offer of their own to face Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez (Never mind that many believe JMM is too small for the ?Pac-Man? at 147 and that Alvarez failed to make weight at 150 pounds his last fight).
Of course there is still the small issue of Pacquiao?s fight this weekend against Shane Mosley but another issue is that in Top Rank?s offer, Marquez is guaranteed $10 million for another bout against Pacquiao should he defeat him in the third go-round (That, my friends, is what is called a ?poison pill?).
OK, let?s say that GBP does pull the trigger on this offer, basically blocking Top Rank?s attempt at making Pacquiao-Marquez III, you have to wonder if Marquez will just choose to sit out till February when his contract runs out or take another fight where he can find middle ground with Golden Boy, say a Zab Judah, for instance.
Either way, it?s clear that ?Pawn? Manuel Marquez is a chess piece in this battle between the ongoing pissing contest between Golden Boy and Top Rank.
SUNNY FLURRIES
As it relates to a possible fight between Tim Bradley and Amir Khan, as of Tuesday afternoon, it looks like there were major steps taken in order to salvage that contest for July 23rd. More details as they come…It looks like Billy Keane, who handles the career of Craig McEwan, is now managing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr…Speaking of streams, the one for Gilberto Keb-Baas-Adrian Hernandez put forth by AT&T in conjunction with Golden Boy was as good as it gets. It was crystal clear with no technical issues…Seriously, I saw Chris Arreola at the fights in Ontario last Friday night; he is as slim and trim as I?ve seen him in years…Welterweight Mike Jones will return to the ring on June 25th, headlining a ?Top Rank Live? card and then return in September on an HBO bill alongside Yuriorkis Gamboa in Atlantic City…Folks, I think the Lakers are in a for a seven-game dogfight with the Mavs…Now that Boise State has run afoul of the NCAA, they have truly arrived as an athletic program…
