DALLAS,TX – I wonder if the 41,000 attendance figure would have been much higher if the fight promotion had benefited from coverage the previous day – Friday by the No. 1 station in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, WFAA Channel 8.
Sports anchor Dale Hansen has for a long time frowned upon pay-per-view sporting events and while I do remember some coverage of the Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey promotion in March, there was none for the Pacquiao vs. Margarito fight.
I’m talking both newscasts at 6 PM and 10 PM Friday night when many last-minute fans could have decided to go to the fight with a little encouragement if they saw any coverage of the goings on or the Friday weigh-in.
Even high school football, which is very popular here, received coverage over the fight.
It’s not boxing itself, but the pay-per-view end of it that irks Hansen. It’s probably not worth a protest of any kind since it happens so infrequently.
Channel 8 has covered other local boxers over the years – both professional and amateur in the past and I’m sure will continue to do so as long as not involving pay-per-view.
It’s certainly a shame it has come to this in the nation’s 5Th largest TV market and the highest rated (by far) TV network.
Maybe the classless impersonations of Freddie Roach by members of Team Margarito just as well kept Channel 8 from covering the event.
