The spring boxing schedule is starting to shape up and the stars are returning to fatten their wallets by getting back in the ring. The only thing that sucks, though, is that none of them are fighting who they should be fighting.
Terence Crawford, Leo Santa Cruz, Adrien Broner, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Luis Ortiz, Andre Ward, Kell Brook, Manny Pacquiao, Timothy Bradley, Gennady Golovkin, Saul Alvarez, and Amir Khan will all be in action over a ten week stretch starting February 27…in fights that, for the most part, could be considered time wasters.
Each fighter has a different reason for not fighting the “right” opponent, but the root cause is all the same– Boxing’s business model is garbage. Oh, yeah, and also throw in the fact that not one single boxing insider with the power to make a positive change for the fans cares to lift a finger to help.
What we’re seeing now is the end result of decades of civil war within the sport. It’s the natural downturn caused by premium cable channels working exclusive contracts with fighters and sanctioning bodies wrangling their 3% fees, both at the expense of the natural flow of the sport. Meanwhile, promoters and managers have been standing back, carpetbagging on the network bickering and alphabet hustles to sweep up the easy, loose change falling to the ground.
And while this blood and money orgy envelopes the sport of boxing, the fans are the ones losing out.
This has actually been in the works for awhile, possibly from the very first moment an upstart HBO decided to buy boxing matches as exclusive content to attract subscribers. In the past, however, there was enough talent to go around and more flexibility in where fighters could actually fight.
But now, with fewer marquee fighters available and more business people looking to lock up exclusive, binding contracts with the talent, fans are feeling the effect of the sport being pulled in a dozen different directions at once.
Certain fighters can’t fight others because of conflicting network obligations. Some are held back by silly rulings from one of the four sanctioning bodies. Some promoters don’t deal with other promoters or networks. Some managers don’t deal with certain promoters. etc, etc….
It all adds up to one big supreme cockblock when it comes to putting together major fights.
Just imagine an NFL divided into about eight different pieces where TV contracts stand in the way of anything resembling a true championship game. Compelling rivalries like Chicago vs. Green Bay would be negated because one team was signed to FOX and the other to CBS. Imagine four Super Bowls over the span of 8 weeks, none pitting no. 1 against no. 2 because business deals block the way.
How long could the sport go on like that before fans and media would badger the teams into some sort of harmonious coming together?
Well, in boxing, the cockblock is part of the sport and while media members are trying to cozy up inside of some promoter’s pocket or stroke their own egos, fans are either walking away from the sport or flat-out accepting the shit dealt to them.
There is no resistance anymore in boxing. Nobody is fighting the good fight to get matchmaking back on track and put the sport first, ahead of easy money deals that only benefit the short term.
And, sadly, this problem will only get worse as everyone with the money to air fights fights over the dozen or so marketable names left in the sport and builds their own in-house “leagues.”
We’re still at a point where fights will find a way to happen if there’s enough money to be made, but we’re quickly getting to the point– and have actually crossed it with some fighters– where there’s more money involved in NOT taking the best fights.
This isn’t meant to be a “sky is falling” article, but boxing cannot survive as even a niche sport unless its business model changes and the emphasis goes back to making good matches rather than amassing a collection of exclusive contracts.
