Are PPVs ruining boxing?

[FinitoElDinamita]

Blame the government for not stepping in... if I was a promoter, id do the same thing..

[Master]

Make golf ppv, basketball, tennis, athletics, ice hockey let's piss everyone off.

[TitoFan]

Make golf ppv, basketball, tennis, athletics, ice hockey let's piss everyone off.

Shhh... don't say that too loud. They're probably already planning it.

PPV is like a virus. It's just gonna continue to spread to unworthy fights (it has already), and eventually to sports we now watch for free. It's the ever-present tendency of the capitalist world. Some may not remember life before cable TV, but it used to be that broadcasted programs were free. All you had to do was buy the TV set. Same goes for bottled water, pay toilets, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

So we can piss and moan all we want. Soon enough we'll have Joe Blow fighting Mike Schmuck on PPV for a "mere" $200 PPV fee, and we'll still be bitching while reaching into our pockets to shell out the money.

[beenKOed]

Make golf ppv, basketball, tennis, athletics, ice hockey let's piss everyone off.

Oh yeah, they're going to be pissed. At you!
Don't go outside for a few weeks, you are going to have people carrying golf clubs, hockey sticks, baseball bats and I don't know what all looking for you.

[Beanflicker]

The problem isn't PPV. PPV is a necessity in a SPECTACLE-driven sport like boxing. People here who are drawing comparisons to other sports like basketball, hockey, baseball, ect are missing the point completely. These are totally different things. Baseball teams play 162 games a season. Hockey and basketball teams play 82 games a season. Compare that to the average PPV fighter, who may fight 1-3 times a year. There's a lot more luster involved in a PPV fighter's boxing match. Yeah, it'd be great if we got EVERYTHING for free, me me me, gimme gimme gimme, blah blah blah. Grow up, that's not how the world works. There is a lot of overhead cost involved in putting off these shows.

The problem is there is the lack of free content and "give-back" by the promotion companies, which also acts as a way of getting the general public introduced and emotionally invested in the fighters. Look at the UFC: they were putting on exciting fights for YEARS and nobody gave a shit. It wasn't until The Ultimate Fighter and the free finale where people got to know and get invested in the fighters that it blew up. The UFC are constantly putting out free cards on FOX to introduce fans to up and comers.

When you're making EVERYTHING a PPV, including a lot of fights that really shouldn't, you're not giving the general public a chance to attach to these fighters.

But it's not going to change, because these lousy PPVs are still making big money off the names alone.

[Rantcatrat]

The problem isn't PPV. PPV is a necessity in a SPECTACLE-driven sport like boxing. People here who are drawing comparisons to other sports like basketball, hockey, baseball, ect are missing the point completely. These are totally different things. Baseball teams play 162 games a season. Hockey and basketball teams play 82 games a season. Compare that to the average PPV fighter, who may fight 1-3 times a year. There's a lot more luster involved in a PPV fighter's boxing match. Yeah, it'd be great if we got EVERYTHING for free, me me me, gimme gimme gimme, blah blah blah. Grow up, that's not how the world works. There is a lot of overhead cost involved in putting off these shows.

The problem is there is the lack of free content and "give-back" by the promotion companies, which also acts as a way of getting the general public introduced and emotionally invested in the fighters. Look at the UFC: they were putting on exciting fights for YEARS and nobody gave a shit. It wasn't until The Ultimate Fighter and the free finale where people got to know and get invested in the fighters that it blew up. The UFC are constantly putting out free cards on FOX to introduce fans to up and comers.

When you're making EVERYTHING a PPV, including a lot of fights that really shouldn't, you're not giving the general public a chance to attach to these fighters.

But it's not going to change, because these lousy PPVs are still making big money off the names alone.

That's a pretty good point.

However, boxing has no major network backing it, like UFC has Fox. It's only on premium cable so it's audience is inherently limited, and the biggest fighters in boxing never even fight on premium cable.

I don't know UFC, but did their biggest stars ever participate on UFC Fox?

[Beanflicker]

That's a pretty good point.

However, boxing has no major network backing it, like UFC has Fox. It's only on premium cable so it's audience is inherently limited, and the biggest fighters in boxing never even fight on premium cable.

I don't know UFC, but did their biggest stars ever participate on UFC Fox?

Yeah, the UFC have put big stars on UFC Fox. Actually, the first one they ever did featured a main event for the Heavyweight title between Cain Velasquez (current HW champ) and Junior Dos Santos (former champ).

Now these cards aren't up to PPV standards, but they are usually headlined by a championship fight, or at least by a fight between two fan favorites/top contenders.

Now if Top Rank, GBP, ect went to a major network and said "hey, we'll give you these free fights headlined by a big name", I'm sure they could get it. I'm not saying put Floyd vs Canelo on free TV. But Canelo vs Angulo? Why not? Why not a bounce-back fight like Pacquiao/Rios? Give them the big upcoming punchers, Kovalev, Stevenson, GGG, and back it up with upcomers.

But they won`t do that, because boxing is set up to be very short sighted. It goes night to night like a travelling circus and is only concerned with squeezing every nickel out of every fight without thought going into developing the future. Put Canelo on free TV, draw big crowds, and use Canelo`s spotlight to shine a light on some up and comers on the undercard. Tell the people their stories with well produced video packages.

Instead we have a handful of guys with all the heat and a ton of other guys left in the cold. And what happens when Pac and Mayweather are retired... they`re going to be scrambling for another cash cow but it won`t be there because they never put in the work to develop anyone.

[Master]

Make golf ppv, basketball, tennis, athletics, ice hockey let's piss everyone off.

Oh yeah, they're going to be pissed. At you!
Don't go outside for a few weeks, you are going to have people carrying golf clubs, hockey sticks, baseball bats and I don't know what all looking for you.

Tyson has got my back who has got their Tiger Woods?

Ppv will kill off careers like Canelo who is young and has to fight top fighter each time because of the demand of ppv.

[Bo-Bo24]

I'm convinved most sports will be either PPV or else some kind of subscribtion based service. In football less and less gets shown on English tv and theres already talk of the World Cups being shown on Sky Sports.

[Dropanuke]

Make golf ppv, basketball, tennis, athletics, ice hockey let's piss everyone off.

What a dumb arse person you are.
No wonder nobody responds to you

[Master]

Make golf ppv, basketball, tennis, athletics, ice hockey let's piss everyone off.

What a dumb arse person you are.
No wonder nobody responds to you

Please piss off.

[Dropanuke]

Make golf ppv, basketball, tennis, athletics, ice hockey let's piss everyone off.

What a dumb arse person you are.
No wonder nobody responds to you

Please piss off.

No can do!

[J_Undisputed]

Stream it like the rest of us do. When they can guarantee a knockout or a masterful performance, I can guarantee i'll find the money to pay for it. In the meantime, these matches are horrible and you're either paying to see one guy put on a showcase against an outmatched/rehyped opponent... or 2 guys that profess bad blood but fight like its about the money.

Just my opinion, but:
Canelo/Angulo was only worth paying for in Mexico - everyone knows Angulo was going to wear down and floyd didnt put much wear and tear on Canelo, but no matter who won, the Mexican people won. I liked watching the fight but i wouldn't pay for it.

Martinez/ Cotto- One hasn't fought since he beat Junior and accumulated ring rust and injuries and the other one has looked better recently but that wont erase how many miles and wars have been put on him over the years.

Pac and Bradley- many of the people buying this aren't doing so for an intriguing match up. They are paying for pac to right a wrong. Bradleys not a bad guy, but the bad taste his gift decision left in the mouths of fight fans can only be washed away with justice.

Floyd /Maidana- People will pay for the chance to see if MM can land a miracle punch or to have something to talk about Monday morning around the water cooler. How many of us think that a.) maidana would drop Mayweather with one punch B.) could land the succession of punches that would put floyd on his back for 10? c.) that this fight could go either way? based on what maidana did to "all flash and no cash" broner....

PPV hasn't been about boxing or sport in a while. Its shrink wrapping animosity, shticks, the next guy trying to do the impossible and slapping a 50 dollar price tag on it. It's a a sad reality that everyone knew that people knew Tyson fights would last 2 rounds but pay the money anyway. Why? because you know you were going to see a knockout or see someone else pull off a rarity and last till the end of the fight taking brutal Tyson punches for 12 rounds. It was a win-win. Boxing doesn't offer these type of deals anymore. I missed the days that right before a big PPV, i'd start pacing and get nervous, run to the the bathroom 2 twice because I didn't want to miss anything. Sit on the edge of my seat the entire time. I'd have all my friends over and everyone had a drink in hand and i'd find a sucker bet me that I couldn't call the outcome and the punch that would end it.

Now, I sit and watch the fights in front of a laptop jumping from feed to feed, and the most action happens when the chick catches me drooling over the top rank girls and tries to kills the streaming window.

[generalbulldog]

2 reasons why boxing became a niche sport in the U.S. The 1st major reason was that boxing was taken out of high schools and college in the mid 1950s, what this did was limit the sport to future participants. The 2nd major reason for its decline was that top level fighters urged by their promoters began gravitating towards fighting on HBO and Showtime exclusively instead, which are 2 premium networks with a small subscription compared to the big boys like ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, which is free network tv. And that's how boxing is in the state it is in now, hardly any future participants in the U.S. and hardly shown to the casual viewer or sports fan.

American football and baseball are the top 2 most participated sport and the 2 most watched in the U.S. The 2 sports are supported at every level, especially during high school, plus they are shown on network tv, where the casual viewer and casual sports fan can watch without paying a dime.

Another example, compare boxing to MMA, where the basics of the sport which is wrestling is participated at the high school and college level, plus MMA is actually free on network tv for most of its fights, minus the big PPVs. MMA would be in the same state as boxing if wrestling was taken out of the high schools and colleges and if MMA went strictly to HBO and Showtime, but Dana White is too smart for that. Yes, many boxing fans may hate him, but the man ain't stupid.

No sport can survive without replenishing its fan base and future participants. Boxing within 60 years, coming from being the no. 2 sport behind baseball at the time in the U.S. in terms of popularity and participation to its current state as a niche sport. It is what it is.

[DannyV297]

Blame the government for not stepping in... if I was a promoter, id do the same thing..

Absolutely, that's why promoters get no love