Is money ruining boxing?

[Dizaster]

Okay, now i've got your attention...

I was going to type up an article that i'd read in a paper which I thought was very good about how and why boxing has lost it's lustre for good, but I thought i'd just discuss the main point of the article in my own words.

Okay, regarding money ruining boxing, read the following.

Lets take the PBF ODLH bout. The "superfight" as it was labeled. The "fight to break all records". Was this ever going to be a great fight? No way! Forget fighting styles. Forget Oscars age. Forget Floyds defence, forget the hype, forget everything,,, bar one thing...
The money BOTH these fighters were making.
Whether they won, lost, drawed or got knocked the f'k out for a week,,,, they were both making a SH*TLOAD!!! And what are they getting paid for? To put on a show! and that's all they did! Both fighers even commented on it at the end of the day about 'putting on a show' for the fans... And that's ALL they did... put on a show.
Back in the old days, fighters used to fight themselves out of the ghetto. They fought for respect. They fought to feed their families. They were hungry times where money wasn't as freely available. When Nigel Benn, Thomas Hearns, Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leanard, Marvin Hagler and the like used to step in the ring, you sensed the danger. You KNEW these fighters would stop at NOTHING to put their opponent away. And with ANY punch you could see it.
Did you feel that with Floyd and Oscar? of course not. All you knew was you were going to get a show. These fighters didn't have to hang it all out their... They were making more money than most people will see in their lifetime whether they tried or not... Whether they played the whole thing safe or not.
I did not sense one ounce of excitement during that fight. Not one moment where you could feel the tension between these fighters. Not one moment where you sensed EITHER of them wanted to knock the other out...
They were 2 guys, making a f'kload of money, to go out and throw a few punches....
and nothing more....

I'm absolutely CERTAIN that if the entire purse of the fight was put aside and ONLY give to the WINNER of the fight, and the loser got nothing. THEN we'd see a fight!!! THAT would be passion! THAT would be urgency! THAT would be BOXING the way it was popular in the old days!
Those oldies fought like they had everything to win,, but EVERYTHING TO LOSE at the same time!!


If THIS, is what our "superfights" have turned into,,, it's a rather large indicator that boxing has lost a huge part of it's soul that may never return....


It's only the select few of boxers,,, like the one we lost only a few days ago, Diego Corrales, who maintain some of that passion that boxing is all about. When he stepped in the ring, you knew he was going to put his heart and soul into it.. Win loss or draw, he fought like he had it all to lose... Boxing will miss a man like this more than ever before. We should all just hope more like him come along in the future, or we might just have to forget it all and take up tennis.. (okay that was a joke but anyway)...

So that's my 2 cents about a few millions dollars...

[Dizaster]

Boxing's future doesn't depend on Great Fighters,,,

Boxing's future depends on Great Men!

[Rick_Rack]

Great post cc on me!

[DaxxKahn]

CC# 43.....I have said money is corrupting the quality of the sport for years....Do these guys deserve big pay days...YES......But sometimes the fight that pays the most is not warrented the pay check....

[bigragu]

CC# 43.....I have said money is corrupting the quality of the sport for years....Do these guys deserve big pay days...YES......But sometimes the fight that pays the most is not warrented the pay check....

every decent fight is going to pay per view....Boxing for the most part appeals to the poor/middle class...you know the people that really can't afford PPV at $60 a fight....if boxing was back on regular TV or cable for that matter, you would see it come back....until then, boxing's fan base will continue to shrink and those against it will increase in speaking out for its removal.

[Dizaster]

CC# 43.....I have said money is corrupting the quality of the sport for years....Do these guys deserve big pay days...YES......But sometimes the fight that pays the most is not warrented the pay check....

Yeah, these guys aren't fighting to get paid,,, they're fighting because they're being paid...

I think their's a little bit of difference. So bigger money doesn't equal better fight.. infact, probably the opposite in a lot of cases... Especially the media money fest that was ODLH & PBF... Unless the rematch means more to either of them that just money, it'll barely be worth 2 cents as far as distinguishing who is the better boxer between them.... When you talk about "prime" for these fighters, you have to talk about "hungry".... neither of them is that anymore.... as they BOTH say, they have done everything they wanted to in the sport and gotten everything out of it... Both of these fighters in their prime, i.e. when they wanted it all but didn't have it yet? it would have been an amazing fight....
I don't think circumstances allow for it anymore.... which is nothing to do with age or diminishing skills/performance ability...

[Black Mamba]

Steve Prefontaine the famous runner from Oregon used to run every race as hard as possible even if it werent the smart way to run a race because he couldnt deal with the fact that a mediocre effort could get a win while a terrific effort could get a loss. He poured his blood, sweat, and tears into every race even if it was against subpar competition. I would love to see more boxers with that type of attitude towards the fights they participate in.

[tedsares]

Yes. The bigger the prize, the fewer the fights.

[hackey100]

Steve Prefontaine the famous runner from Oregon used to run every race as hard as possible even if it werent the smart way to run a race because he couldnt deal with the fact that a mediocre effort could get a win while a terrific effort could get a loss. He poured his blood, sweat, and tears into every race even if it was against subpar competition. I would love to see more boxers with that type of attitude towards the fights they participate in.

Died in a car crash and his coach invented Nike if I'm not mistaken. Great athlete from the little I saw of him.

[amat]

Well...a lot of guys still fight to feed their families, I'd say less then .5% of fighters can retire off the money they made just from boxing like these two can.

But money is ruining the sport a bit because, well when a fight doesn't get done because of money it is just so damn frustrating. You'll never hear out of Federer pricing himself out to face Nadal. Or Man U demanding to much play Chelsea. The 49ers will never make unreasonable demands to face the Cowboys, but in boxing you get that and that is a serious turn off. Maybe not to the casual fan but say someone gets into boxing to see RJJ vs Hopkins after the exchange they had, now how many times has that new boxing fan seen that fight fall through? It's a joke and that is one of the main things that hurts boxing.

The putting on a show thing, I don't think their is any shortage of hunger in boxing. So I don't buy that much.

[DaxxKahn]

CC# 43.....I have said money is corrupting the quality of the sport for years....Do these guys deserve big pay days...YES......But sometimes the fight that pays the most is not warrented the pay check....

Yeah, these guys aren't fighting to get paid,,, they're fighting because they're being paid...

I think their's a little bit of difference. So bigger money doesn't equal better fight.. infact, probably the opposite in a lot of cases... Especially the media money fest that was ODLH & PBF... Unless the rematch means more to either of them that just money, it'll barely be worth 2 cents as far as distinguishing who is the better boxer between them.... When you talk about "prime" for these fighters, you have to talk about "hungry".... neither of them is that anymore.... as they BOTH say, they have done everything they wanted to in the sport and gotten everything out of it... Both of these fighters in their prime, i.e. when they wanted it all but didn't have it yet? it would have been an amazing fight....
I don't think circumstances allow for it anymore.... which is nothing to do with age or diminishing skills/performance ability...

Pay days really got out of control after a prime Tyson hit the scene...Pay Days went from millions to ten plus millions....I think Tyson got 23 million when he fougt Spinks....Spinks got 13.5 million....All for 90 seconds...A scared 90 seconds easiest money of eithers career....

I agree with the "Yeah, these guys aren't fighting to get paid,,, they're fighting because they're being paid...".....Problem is even though they are getting paid they arent exactly all doing it that well.......

[Dizaster]

To be fair though as some have metioned,,, Floyd and Oscar is just one example... Their are a lot of younger fighters that aren't anywhere near that level of money who still want it as bad as ever..
And you can still see a lot of awesome fights, and i'm sure still will in the future. Just once in a while we'll get these hugely promoted fights that are billed to be fights of the century,,, but in the end, the money and hype and popularity takes the spark out of what the guys are have been going into the ring for over the past 10 or 15 years...
It's unfair to use the superfight to some up boxing, but it was something to think about...

[Wacko3205]

No...money aint hurtin the sport, IWO.

I've been paying for PPV's, shuckin out assloads of cash for live gates, & buying career sets out the ass for almost 20 years or so...since I was roughly 12 or less.

The thing is...money is a necessary evil...just as the organizations, promoters, & committees are.

In the end...I don't care about what Oscar & Floyd make...just as long as it does good for boxing...& anyone that says it didn't do good...well...you shoulda been there & seen it & heard the reactions.

That fight generated interest on the pages of my little small country ass newspaper almost everyday of the week for two weeks up to the fight.

I'm probably the only person on the planet that doesn't see anything wrong with the current flux thta everyone says the sport is in.

[LegendBoxing65]

promoters are ruining boxing not money. But to be honest, the reason the guys in the 80s did so well is because if you compare things to now the fights which do well need Oscar to be big sellers. But those fights with Hearns/Duran/Leonard/Hagler/Benitez/Duran occured almost every year with the exception of 1986 and 1988. So that kept people fascinated in the sport with those top guys fighting each other, It was not all Ray Leonard. Ray was retired from 82-87 and still Hearns and Hagler and Duran kept the top fights coming. For boxing to be big now they need Floyd to fight Mosley and Winky, and for a top middleweight to face the guys moving up. It is a system which has always worked. Make the huge fights and the promoters have to market the guys well like those guys in the 80s were and the heavyweights in the 60s and 70s were. But if they do not allow fights on the networks as much, there will be problems building fighters to where they were then. You need superfights to keep fans watching.. That is for sure.

[Wacko3205]

promoters are ruining boxing not money. But to be honest, the reason the guys in the 80s did so well is because if you compare things to now the fights which do well need Oscar to be big sellers. But those fights with Hearns/Duran/Leonard/Hagler/Benitez/Duran occured almost every year with the exception of 1986 and 1988. So that kept people fascinated in the sport with those top guys fighting each other, It was not all Ray Leonard. Ray was retired from 82-87 and still Hearns and Hagler and Duran kept the top fights coming. For boxing to be big now they need Floyd to fight Mosley and Winky, and for a top middleweight to face the guys moving up. It is a system which has always worked. Make the huge fights and the promoters have to market the guys well like those guys in the 80s were and the heavyweights in the 60s and 70s were. But if they do not allow fights on the networks as much, there will be problems building fighters to where they were then. You need superfights to keep fans watching.. That is for sure.

for some good points...the main one...I highlighted & want to discuss to see if anyone agrees.

For the past 4 or 5 years I have honestly felt that 147-160lbs is what has kept boxing alive.

Does anyone else?

To me...& I could be wrong...but I honestly believe that the middleweight division is going to shine over the next two years. There are waaaaaaaaaay too many compelling match ups just waiting to be sold & bought by the boxing public.

Take all these names: Wright, Kessler, Sturm, Abraham, Taylor, Mundine, Soliman, Hopkins, Miranda, Calzaghe, Sylvester, Mora, Lornezo, & mix up in a bowl & start pairing them & wev'e got enough legit match ups to last us for the next two to three years.

If that don't suit cha...do the same thing with these names at 147 : Cotto, Berto, Williams, Mosley, Judah, Collazo, Baldomir, Cintron, Margarito, Quintana, & tell me shit aint happening in the lower sections of our sport.

I think that everyone needs to wake up & smell the coffee...boxing aint that bad & it's just gonna get better.