Kimbo Slice
PT BARNUM STOLE HIS FAMOUS LINE FROM ANOTHER
Charlette, NC– Kimbo Slice makes his professional boxing debut on August 13th at Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma. While PT Barnum gets credit for saying “There’s a sucker born every minute” it was actually a banker, David Hannum who uttered those famous words.
THE USUAL DISCLAIMER ON FAIR HIRING GOES FIRST
I believe that in America a person has the right to make a living in any legal manner they so choose. So, while Kimbo has already flopped in MMA and Professional Wrestling, if he can make a living swapping leather, more power to him! My question is, do such ‘gimmick’ matches help or hurt the sport of boxing? We have already had James Toney-Randy Couture (and possibly Toney-Ken Shamrock). There have been gimmick tournaments similar to “Tuff-Man” Contests, and then there are the Celebrity “Boxing” Matches.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY PLAIN & SIMPLE
The truth is, boxing has always been sport and business. Today it is a multimillion dollar enterprise. And it got that way through a history of dramatized clashes, both in the ring and of personalities. Think about it; Football and Baseball don’t need to be promoted heavily. Their championships happen every year at the same time and always attract a huge following. But major fights occur at irregular intervals, and like “Blockbuster” movies, you never know if they are going to be hits or flops.
WILL THE KIMBO CIRCUS MAKE MONEY?
So, to make sure a fight makes money, a promoter, with good business sense, good instincts, and yes, the right gimmick can make a fortune. Yet if the promoter is wrong, he can be ruined.
THE HISTORY OF PRIZEFIGHTING
Boxing hasn’t always been a major sport in this country. In England, the Manly Art of Self Defense has been popular since the early 1700’s, but it took longer to catch on here. First of all, it was illegal in many places, so if it happened, it took place in secret. Add to that the fact that boxing has always been an urban activity, and this country simply didn’t have enough urban dwellers to support the sport until around the the late 1800’s. In addition to this, because of the illegality, the business side of the sport depended entirely on betting. There was no admission price, so the fighters fought for the purse put up by their backers ( that’s where we get the term ‘Prizefighting’), and the backers hoped to profit by betting on their fighter.
MEET THE INFAMOUS TEX RICKARD
With the advent of the Queensberry Rules, boxing became more accepted. and legal, thus promotable. Then entered a faro dealer by the name of George Lewis “Tex” Rickard. And boxing and it’s promotion hasn’t looked back. In his very first promotion, Rickard matched lightweight (135 lbs) champion Joe Gans against Oscar “Battling” Nelson for a total guaranteed purse of $33 thousand dollars. Promoter Tex Rickard then took the entire purse, in the form of shiny new twenty dollar gold pieces, and stacked them in the window of the bank next to his casino. Then Rickard made sure that pictures of the prize money got into every major newspaper in the country.
FROM RICARD, TO GORGEOUS TO ALI & DON KING
And so from Rickard, to Don King, to Ali imitating Gorgeous George, there have been gimmicks in boxing and boxing promotion, and love it or hate it, there will always be a “Butterbean” or a Kimbo Slice. So, does it help or hurt the sport? I don’t know. Your thoughts?
Professor Chuck Marbry