DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER PLEASE!
San Francisco, CA– If you want to know why boxing is failing to attract new fans, one might want to read what I am about to put forth here. A few months ago I polled 100 people in downtown San Francisco and asked, “Is the sport of boxing fixed?” Out of 100 responses, 72 felt that it was. Now if 72% of the populace feels that way, and yes these were working professionals in the financial district, not Ghetto urchins, how can the sport be taken seriously? It can’t and that is why the biggest fight in recent years, Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather attracted less than 1%, that’s right less than 1% of the United States population watched the biggest and most overhyped fight of the past decade.
Was the biggest fight in years fixed?
SOME POINT TO MAYWEATHER-DE LA HOYA
When I asked some of these same working professionals if they had seen the Mayweather-De La Hoya debacle, the ones that did said that the fight was so bad that they would never again pay to watch a boxing match. A female fan said that she saw more ferocity in tennis than she did in purchasing and watching the fight on PPV. One guy told me that Mayweather’s WWE antics at Wrestlemania, that and his appearance on “Dancing with The Stars” were far more entertaining than watching him and Oscar. Oh, and for those of you that are doubting the numbers I laid out in the first paragraph, actually less than 3/4 of 1% of those breathing in the United States watched Floyd and Oscar hit each other on the arms with “shoe-shine” punches, seeing the US population is somewhere around 350 million people.
MANY THOUGHT OSCAR & FLOYD WAS “FIXED”
Of those polled who had seen Floyd dance with Oscar, out of the 72% who thought that boxing is fixed, roughly 40% of them brought up this fight as a clear indicator that professional boxing was choreographed like pro wrestling. With no drama occurring after the ring introductions, many “newbies” that were drawn into watching the fight from all the hype put forth by the HBO PPV media blitz, they felt they had thrown their money down a hole! In closing, if people are of this mindset, not even Manny Pacquiao fighting Rocky Balboa on Network TV would be enough to bring boxing back to the mainstream.
PART II: HOW MODERN TECHNOLOGY HAS HURT THE SPORT
Tomorrow, (Friday) I will delve into some other reasons why professional boxing, once the most heralded sport in the land is in some regards on “Life Support” with the masses.
WATCH, LISTEN, OR WATCH & LISTEN TO NICK CHARLES’ LAST INTERVIEW
This evening (Thursday) at 6:05 PM PT on “Ring Talk Worldwide,” the longest running fight show in history airs on the Sports Byline Broadcast Network Click for LIVE listening broadcast”Ring Talk” On Sports Byeline Broadcast Network
NICK CHARLES & ROBERT “THE GHOST” GUERRERO ON GUEST LIST!
Often immitated, never duplicatd, host Ring Talk Worldwide’s guests include ailing broadcaster Nick Charless and the world’s #1 lightweight boxer Robert “The Ghost” Guererro,. Slammin’ Sammy” will be part of the mix as he expands with his expertise in MMA.
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LIST OF LIVE RADIO AFFILIATE STATIONS @ 6:05 PM PT OR 9:05 PM ET!
KTRB 860 AM San Francisco
KXDP 87.7 FM Denver
KBGG 1700 AM Des Moines
WJKB 950 AM Charleston, SC
KELA 1470 Centralia, WA
KOAL 750 AM Price, UT
KSHP 1400 AM Las Vegas
KASR 92.7 FM Little Rock, AR