4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,000!
4,920 people trooped to MGM Grand Garden Arena to watch the fight.
Marquez / Katsidis - Berto / Hernandez
Willaims / Martinez drew a crowd of 5,202
Arum narrows list of Pac-Man foes - Boxing - Yahoo! Sports
Wow! those are good attendance numbers for a good fighter, but for an elite fighter and three more world title holders those are pretty lousy numbers. Perhaps the promoters made a mistake by picking Thanksgiving weekend? The UFC is drawing crowds near or over 10,000 for larger events.
Could it be that a World Title Belt means less and less and the P4P list now has more value? Are the casual fans disregarding the alphabet soup belts and paying more attention to the P4P list? Is this what is happening to boxing. It appears that the only fans showing up at the live gate are boxing fans. After seeing those numbers I don't think Arum has a choice for Pacquiao. I think Mosley gets the nod.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
I'm under the impression that's it's not all about how good you are but about how many fans do you bring to the table. You have many fans, then suddenly everyone wants to fight you and TV wants to show you. Adamek has no belt currently and he easily draws 15000 to Prudential Center.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Quote:
Originally Posted by
El Kabong
It was poor planning as it was Thanksgiving weekend, a weekend one doesn't usually associate with boxing
I think (and hope) you might be right here, obviously it's an holiday we don't celebrate but from what I can make out, you Americans take it very seriously.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rjj tszyu
Quote:
Originally Posted by
El Kabong
It was poor planning as it was Thanksgiving weekend, a weekend one doesn't usually associate with boxing
I think (and hope) you might be right here, obviously it's an holiday we don't celebrate but from what I can make out, you Americans take it very seriously.
i surprised there were even that many people there. They starve us all year for decent bouts then they finally throw us a bone on a holiday weekend when everyone is traveling and spending time with family. What's really sad is people were breaking their necks to watch the football games but come fight day came around no i knew could care less. Boxing isn't dying but it sure isn't very popular. Can't make up for a whole year of garbage with one or two desperate cards at the end of the year.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rjj tszyu
Quote:
Originally Posted by
El Kabong
It was poor planning as it was Thanksgiving weekend, a weekend one doesn't usually associate with boxing
I think (and hope) you might be right here, obviously it's an holiday we don't celebrate but from what I can make out, you Americans take it very seriously.
This is true, it's our 2nd most favorite holiday after Christmas. And I think GBP messed up by having it so close to that holiday.
And Mar was right, for some reason myself and friends that I know who are also fight fans were looking forward to the NFL games on Thanksgiving day and the weekend more so than any fights, as I've said it's a huge mistake having it so close to Thanksgiving, not to mentioned also competing with the NFL.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rjj tszyu
Quote:
Originally Posted by
El Kabong
It was poor planning as it was Thanksgiving weekend, a weekend one doesn't usually associate with boxing
I think (and hope) you might be right here, obviously it's an holiday we don't celebrate but from what I can make out, you Americans take it very seriously.
We tricked the native people, ate with them, then murdered them and fucked them outta their land. Whats not to love !? ;D
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Quote:
Originally Posted by
0james0
I don't think you can measure a fights popularity by the number of people at the event, or even PPV buys.
With all the live streams and full fight downloads available, it distorts how many people actually watched it. I bet most boxing fans have now watched the fight.
Live streams are pretty much limited to Americas due to time difference. As to downloads, there are not so many of them, at least I was struggling to find those fights at the usual torrent sites and then it downloaded quite slowly (never had those problems with UFC torrents). I would say this way of watching boxing is for the patient and determined, there can't be so many of us.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Quote:
Originally Posted by
therealremi
Quote:
Originally Posted by
0james0
I don't think you can measure a fights popularity by the number of people at the event, or even PPV buys.
With all the live streams and full fight downloads available, it distorts how many people actually watched it. I bet most boxing fans have now watched the fight.
Live streams are pretty much limited to Americas due to time difference.
As to downloads, there are not so many of them, at least I was struggling to find those fights at the usual torrent sites and then it downloaded quite slowly (never had those problems with UFC torrents). I would say this way of watching boxing is for the patient and determined, there can't be so many of us.
If your struggling for day after downloads then your looking in the wrong place man. Get posting a little more and you'll have access to the file sharing area man. I try to keep that place moving every fight weekend man.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Those numbers are dam low, but yeah let's hope it was due to it being the holiday weekend. That said if that card had taken place within a few hours of me I would have been there, holiday or not. As it is instead I just get a bunch of no namer fights with 2-15 records, if and even that's only a couple times a year.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Quote:
Originally Posted by
0james0
I don't think you can measure a fights popularity by the number of people at the event, or even PPV buys.
With all the live streams and full fight downloads available, it distorts how many people actually watched it. I bet most boxing fans have now watched the fight.
That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The purpose of a boxing event is to sell viewership and promote the sport itself. If people don't show up for a live championship event, where is the sport headed? If more and more people are showing up to watch UFC events vs Boxing events were less people are showing up, its an indicator of what? I don't have the stats to even know if that statement is even correct, it's just an observation.
You say piracy is a big problem, and it may be. Yet there are UFC event streams are all over the net, and their sport patronage continues to grow. I think boxing promotion might have a serious problem and this is just one of the indicators. Williams / Martinez II was not over the thanksgiving weekend and drew just 5,202 live ticket sales when it was being sold as a candidate for fight of the year.
My thought is, it might in part have to do with the ranking system and the multiple sanctioning bodies. Causal fans can't keep track of who are the champions. The mainstream media seems to be paying more attention to who is ranked as on the P4P list. Basically they are telling the general public who the champions of boxing are. While in reality they ignoring the sanctioning bodies ranked champions.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Quote:
Originally Posted by
0james0
I don't think you can measure a fights popularity by the number of people at the event, or even PPV buys.
With all the live streams and full fight downloads available, it distorts how many people actually watched it. I bet most boxing fans have now watched the fight.
But if a huge number of people are willing to watch the event live or subscribe to the PPV instead of watching the live stream, then the fight is indeed that popular. So the popularity of a fight will be based on this. Whatever cannot be counted will just be speculation. But I know where you are coming from.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
Thats what happens in Vegas, people are more inclined to buy the ppv. Also I dont think alot of people gave Kats a good chance of winning. Not to mention the pricing for decent seats in Vegas is way too high. If your up in the outer areas, you might as well be watching it on PPV.
Re: 4 World Champions; 1 future hall of famer couldn't draw a crowd of more than 5,00
To me it's all about the media hype.
lets be really clear here. The hardcore boxing fans are a dying breed, and don't make a huge difference on revenue, what matters now is making it the "in" thing, and what makes you want to flock to it. It isnt just being on HBO that makes you special, you have to be hyped and talked about on ESPN, on other channels, you need to reach out in the media, you need to have crossover appeal. It's just like wrestling when certain people wouldn't get a push to the title because they didn't have crossover appeal. It's the same in boxing, where even if you have a title if you have no crossover appeal or a country behind you(and that has to be hyped) then you don't draw flies.
Boxing fans try to say that a blood and guts warrior etc is gonna get the fans respect and draw crowds. In reality, the fan's respect nowadays outside of the hardcore fans, is just what they see on ESPN that makes them want to tune in.
The reason why UFC is drawing so much so often and boxing isn't is because UFC is everywhere, its on every TV station being talked about, they have a reality show on a cable channel, they also have events that are non PPV on that channel on the end of weekdays, and are constantly putting new faces in front of you to get used to, and fighters on the up and coming even, they have countdown shows to showcase their best fights from years ago to now even and things like that every week or so there is some kind of MMA event on TV and every month or two there is a PPV and there is big hype around it. They put a lot of effort into getting the hype out there for people to be interested in seeing it. That is why it's successful.
Compare that to boxing, where you rarely hear names not "Pacquiao" or "Mayweather" on ESPN or any other channels for the most part. It comes on every 3 or 4 months or so, and sometimes its people you never heard of. Boxing doesn't take the time to put itself on TV like that, and build fighters in front of you every week, they don't have a steady show to keep interest in the sport, they don't put boxing out there like they care if you watch it or not. Boxing relies on it's "spectacle" aspect, like the old guard, they PROMOTE themselves like the old guard, there is nothing about boxing they make scream "HEY, this is interesting! Watch this! And keep up with it!" And fans don't respond to that, especially with the younger fans nowadays that are looking for that big thing to keep them interested. And boxing really doesn't make an effort to make you care.
Don't believe me?
Alright lets go to the Andre Berto vs Freddy Hernandez fight. They was talking about how Freddy was doing so great coming into the Berto fight and how Berto should do against a puncher and Berto is a champion, so alright the average fan is interested in seeing that, and he may have seen the Hernandez guy on showtime building himself up.
Alright then berto knocks out hernandez and the average fan is excited and may see Berto as the real deal or is at least impressed. Jim Lampley even starts some build up with "Hey! You wanted to see an impressive Andre Berto victory?" which can start to build interest right there..
But then what does the other announcer do.. an announcer none other then LARRY MERCHANT... he condescends the victory and says "I'm sorry when a fight comes that easy that ain't him its the other guy" which basically will translate to "Berto is nothing special, and the guy was a bum." now how does that translate to the average fan? They are either going to listen to that and lose interest right then and there, or think well dang they don't even back their younger fighters. it's gonna turn more people off to what they see and get rid of the little interest they may have had. It basically makes them feel like what they just saw was pointless, so why get behind it. Sad part is, had it been an already established name, you would not hear the end of the kudos for beating a dangerous fighter.
THAT right there is a prime example of what boxing doesn't need.
There is only so much two people on their feet can do, and not every fight can be a barn burner because of the different styles, there is no "spark" in boxing right now outside of the names Mayweather and Pacquiao and that's sad.
Like I said boxing needs to make their own crossover success, because as it is, you have to be a lucky sob to make it, and even when you've made it, you still havent "made it" and that's a shame.
