The financial part of boxing gets a little too much attention, IMO.

[TitoFan]

Some posters on here (and fans in general) put a bit too much emphasis on fighter's purses and PPV revenues, IMO. While I'm not blind to the realities of today's boxing environment, I still think of boxing mainly as a sport where you're supposed to have The Best against The Best... ALL the time. But no... it's now viewed as a business first and a sport second. Personally, who gives a flying one HOW many millions Oscar made vs. Pacquiao or how many PPV buys it got? It was still a shitty display of boxing (by Oscar, anyway) and nothing more than a public humiliation. All in the name of wanting to cement a legacy and adding another small fortune to Oscar's already healthy bank account. Seriously... how many millions can a person need in a lifetime?

But the point is... I hear boxing "fans" (and I put the quotation marks on purpose) talk about how much money so-and-so got for fighting the other so-and-so... and how many PPV buys the fight generated. That's all well and good when the fight lives up to the hype in terms of the competitiveness and the quality of the fight. But when it doesn't, all this $$$ talk just leaves a sour taste for the real boxing fans.

[BlackRazor]

The same could be said of players in team sports. The goal is to win a title but some players would prefer to make more money than be on a team with a real shot to win a championship. It boils down to what's more important to that player/fighter - money or belts/titles?

[albsur2006]

Some posters on here (and fans in general) put a bit too much emphasis on fighter's purses and PPV revenues, IMO. While I'm not blind to the realities of today's boxing environment, I still think of boxing mainly as a sport where you're supposed to have The Best against The Best... ALL the time. But no... it's now viewed as a business first and a sport second. Personally, who gives a flying one HOW many millions Oscar made vs. Pacquiao or how many PPV buys it got? It was still a shitty display of boxing (by Oscar, anyway) and nothing more than a public humiliation. All in the name of wanting to cement a legacy and adding another small fortune to Oscar's already healthy bank account. Seriously... how many millions can a person need in a lifetime?

But the point is... I hear boxing "fans" (and I put the quotation marks on purpose) talk about how much money so-and-so got for fighting the other so-and-so... and how many PPV buys the fight generated. That's all well and good when the fight lives up to the hype in terms of the competitiveness and the quality of the fight. But when it doesn't, all this $$$ talk just leaves a sour taste for the real boxing fans.

The financial aspect of boxing is just another topic for all of us to talk about. You can only talk about how great a fight or fighter is for so long until things get a little boring. It just gives us more things to discuss and argue over.

By the way, boxing has ALWAYS been a business first. Let's not forget that Leonard waited almost two whole years to fight Hearns. Why? He wanted the fight to be huge, along with his paycheck. Remember, it's usually the boxers themselves and their pay demands that cause fights not to happen. Boxing is a sport, but it's also a boxer's livelihood, it's how they make their money. If you think that these guys are fighting each other just to prove how much of a man they are, then you'd be wrong. Boxers themselves are worried about money, how a PPV does, how much their peers are getting paid. So if money is an issue to them, then it becomes an issue to the fans as well. I see where you are coming from but it's not a realistic view to take. Money isn't everything in the sport, but it most definitely plays a part in why matches are made and why some matches aren't. Money is talked about in boxing for the same reason ESPN reports how much money a free agent baseball player just signed for or how many people watched the Super Bowl this year. People are generally interested in the financial aspect of things.

[BlackRazor]

That's true, I think Arum wanted the hype/demand to build for Ray & Tommy too so it would be a bigger fight. That's why I like having elite fighters show off their skills against lesser fighters months before a big bout. It helps build anticipation & causes fight fans to debate what will happen when 2 elite fighters do actually fight.

[TitoFan]

Some posters on here (and fans in general) put a bit too much emphasis on fighter's purses and PPV revenues, IMO. While I'm not blind to the realities of today's boxing environment, I still think of boxing mainly as a sport where you're supposed to have The Best against The Best... ALL the time. But no... it's now viewed as a business first and a sport second. Personally, who gives a flying one HOW many millions Oscar made vs. Pacquiao or how many PPV buys it got? It was still a shitty display of boxing (by Oscar, anyway) and nothing more than a public humiliation. All in the name of wanting to cement a legacy and adding another small fortune to Oscar's already healthy bank account. Seriously... how many millions can a person need in a lifetime?

But the point is... I hear boxing "fans" (and I put the quotation marks on purpose) talk about how much money so-and-so got for fighting the other so-and-so... and how many PPV buys the fight generated. That's all well and good when the fight lives up to the hype in terms of the competitiveness and the quality of the fight. But when it doesn't, all this $$$ talk just leaves a sour taste for the real boxing fans.

The financial aspect of boxing is just another topic for all of us to talk about. You can only talk about how great a fight or fighter is for so long until things get a little boring.(Not me, but ok... I can imagine it does for some people). It just gives us more things to discuss and argue over.

By the way, boxing has ALWAYS been a business first.(Yes, but it has become blatantly more so in the last few years). Let's not forget that Leonard waited almost two whole years to fight Hearns. Why? He wanted the fight to be huge, along with his paycheck. Remember, it's usually the boxers themselves and their pay demands that cause fights not to happen. Boxing is a sport, but it's also a boxer's livelihood, it's how they make their money. If you think that these guys are fighting each other just to prove how much of a man they are, then you'd be wrong. Boxers themselves are worried about money, how a PPV does, how much their peers are getting paid. So if money is an issue to them, then it becomes an issue to the fans as well. I see where you are coming from but it's not a realistic view to take. Money isn't everything in the sport, but it most definitely plays a part in why matches are made and why some matches aren't. Money is talked about in boxing for the same reason ESPN reports how much money a free agent baseball player just signed for (And I usually don't care about this part of baseball either). or how many people watched the Super Bowl this year. People are generally interested in the financial aspect of things.

See my comments above. I'm not saying sports talk should be totally free from money topics, but nowadays it seems that's all some fans seem to care about. I guess I'm old fashioned. I'm into the substance of sports.

[albsur2006]

Some posters on here (and fans in general) put a bit too much emphasis on fighter's purses and PPV revenues, IMO. While I'm not blind to the realities of today's boxing environment, I still think of boxing mainly as a sport where you're supposed to have The Best against The Best... ALL the time. But no... it's now viewed as a business first and a sport second. Personally, who gives a flying one HOW many millions Oscar made vs. Pacquiao or how many PPV buys it got? It was still a shitty display of boxing (by Oscar, anyway) and nothing more than a public humiliation. All in the name of wanting to cement a legacy and adding another small fortune to Oscar's already healthy bank account. Seriously... how many millions can a person need in a lifetime?

But the point is... I hear boxing "fans" (and I put the quotation marks on purpose) talk about how much money so-and-so got for fighting the other so-and-so... and how many PPV buys the fight generated. That's all well and good when the fight lives up to the hype in terms of the competitiveness and the quality of the fight. But when it doesn't, all this $$$ talk just leaves a sour taste for the real boxing fans.

The financial aspect of boxing is just another topic for all of us to talk about. You can only talk about how great a fight or fighter is for so long until things get a little boring.(Not me, but ok... I can imagine it does for some people). It just gives us more things to discuss and argue over.

By the way, boxing has ALWAYS been a business first.(Yes, but it has become blatantly more so in the last few years). Let's not forget that Leonard waited almost two whole years to fight Hearns. Why? He wanted the fight to be huge, along with his paycheck. Remember, it's usually the boxers themselves and their pay demands that cause fights not to happen. Boxing is a sport, but it's also a boxer's livelihood, it's how they make their money. If you think that these guys are fighting each other just to prove how much of a man they are, then you'd be wrong. Boxers themselves are worried about money, how a PPV does, how much their peers are getting paid. So if money is an issue to them, then it becomes an issue to the fans as well. I see where you are coming from but it's not a realistic view to take. Money isn't everything in the sport, but it most definitely plays a part in why matches are made and why some matches aren't. Money is talked about in boxing for the same reason ESPN reports how much money a free agent baseball player just signed for (And I usually don't care about this part of baseball either). or how many people watched the Super Bowl this year. People are generally interested in the financial aspect of things.

See my comments above. I'm not saying sports talk should be totally free from money topics, but nowadays it seems that's all some fans seem to care about. I guess I'm old fashioned. I'm into the substance of sports.

I see what you're saying but IMO knowing everything about a sport and not just what happens on the field or in the ring makes you a truly multifaceted fan. Just because you're interested in knowing how much a player makes doesn't mean that you appreciate a double play any less than any other fan.