Say what you want, but the future of boxing in the United States is in deep, deep trouble.
Earlier this week Max Boxing scribe Steve Kim wrote about serious whispers within the boxing industry that HBO and Showtime would be cutting their boxing budgets for 2009. Today Dan Rafael of ESPN reports that Telefutura will be canceling their long running and entertaining Solo Boxeo series.
Big time boxing promoters have used Telefutura to bring along some of their stars and expose them to the Latino market in the United States. Along the way there have been some very entertaining bouts on the series and most importantly, Solo Boxeo was accessible to most Americans for FREE off of a normal television antenna.
Here in Los Angeles, many of my neighbors and co-workers only know of boxing thanks to Solo Boxeo.
For promoters, the elimination of Solo Boxeo eliminates a regular subsidizer of their events. The network put out $69 thousand every week for boxing shows. Promoters used this money to help pay for shows that were duds at the gate. Basically, for many promoters, why worry about making money off the tickets for an event when Telefutura could frop $69k for a fight?
Well, the bubble has burst. Telefutura will no longer hand out corporate welfare to a sport which does not draw viewers or advertising money.
Where will Top Rank and Golden Boy go to promote their “up and coming” stars on a regular basis now?
Lets see how smart Richard Schaefer and Bob Arum really are because they will be put to the test as promoters of actual events – not broadcast welfare recipients- very soon. I could only wish HBO and Showtime cut their budgets in half and American casinos eliminated site fees; we would know who the really smart people in boxing are and really quick.
It may be fitting that as Solo Boxeo dies, one of the true promoters in boxing – an old school guy who makes his loot on live gates and putting together a dope card – Don Chargin presented a potential Fight of the Year last night on Solo Boxeo between Tomas Villa and Roger Mtagwa on a reasonable budgets. Hats of to Mr. Chargin, and his wife Lorraine, who present quality events that entertained fans.
Meanwhile, the big boys sank the ship with miserable television events filled with their “up and comers”.
