NEARLY ALL OF THE BOXING MEDIA IS THE WEB
San Francisco, CA-Fights in the 1970?s got publicized in daily newspapers, on TV, radio, and in magazines. Today, boxing is driven from a publicity point of view by the web. Fight fans no longer have tens of actual ?boxing writers? assigned to cover the sport from major papers. Look at the press row at a fight, and the websites that were once placed in the ?auxiliary? press section, (see rear row) are now sitting up front.
SOME MEGA STARS DON?T BRING THE HITS!
Men like Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Fernando Vargas, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Tito Trinidad, not even either Klitschko brother Vitali or Wladimir, all of whom were pre-Internet fighters with well established fan bases. That being said, the “King of the World Wide Web” today is the first post-Internet fighter, Manny Pacquiao.
MANNY’S NUMBERS DWARF MARCO, ERIK, OSCAR TOO!
Right now Pacquiao has the #3 website in boxing www.MannyPacquiao.ph I guess it doesn?t hurt when you?re the best fighter ?pound for pound? in the world. And with his laying out of Mexican legends like Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera, the adulation of Pacquiao extends further than the Philippines and the United States.
?FIERY FILIPINO? LIGHTS UP ALL THE FIGHT SITES!
When Pacquiao fights, web action across the board increases at boxing websites as much as 25 to 30%. And not all of those folks are in his homeland. There will be several major fights before Pacquiao(42-3-2, 33 KOs) and Morales (48-4, 34 KOs) clash for the third time on November 18th at the Thomas and Mack Center. But none, not a one will top the rubber match when it comes to Internet hits and message board chat.
?G-MAN? & I CONSIDERED WORST POSSIBILITY
When Gary ?G-Man ?Randall of www.MaxBoxing.com brought up the fact that there aren?t any other post-Internet fighters other than Pacquiao, we both were of the opinion that this could be an ominous sign for the sport and industry. Looking at the recent serving of amateurs, there doesn?t look to be any ?Internet? fighters on the rise. That doesn?t bode well for boxing. So I ask the question, does this mean that when Pacquiao goes, so does boxing?
