Boxing needs a Bolt

[JazMerkin]

Boxing is not in anywhere near the state this guy makes out. In the UK, it's actually doing pretty well, despite the TV companies best efforts. Consider that 3% of the total population of Britain stayed awake till 4 in the morning to watch the Hatton-Mayweather fight. That's not viewing audience that's of all the people in 4 separate countries.

The thing is the sport has become far more ethnocentric in the past decade or so, with a small number of stars in their own 'community' & occasional cross-over stars. For example, Mayweather is a MASSIVE star in the black community in Britain, particularly with young people. I have friends who would think Marvellous Marvin Hagler was a pornstar & Roberto Duran a footballer they couldn't place, but will stay up to watch a Mayweather fight. I would imagine he has at least a similar status in the African-American community. Honestly, I've had people pestering me all week about the fight, people who I know have absolutely no interest in boxing as a sport.

Similarly, Hatton's popularity as a white, working-class hero brought him absolutely legions of fans, people who had no idea who JMM was at the Pac-Hatton weigh-in, but still people who will travel half-way around the world & spend thousands of ££s to support him. He tapped into something that many other UK fighters couldn't & created a following, something that Calzaghe was eventually able to exploit as well. Joe Calzaghe's personal life would not be on the front page of tabloids if he was not a star, & let's face it, he's managed this with the minimal amount of personality. It will be interesting to see whether Carl Froch can pick up on this.

Similar things can be seen with the Asian community & how they've embraced Amir Khan & made him the PPV star many feel he doesn't deserve to be (myself included). It happened before with Naz, one fighter getting a community behind them. All of that is just over here. The way ODLH tapped into the Latino audience in the US, as did Trinidad & Cotto, was the blueprint for this. Plus we can all see the effect of Manny Pacquiao pretty much every day on here.

The problem with marketing fighters towards a certain ethnic community is that you rely on continued success to keep the fans in the mainstream & there is a dearth of boxers of the largest ethnic group in the US. Kelly Pavlik could have been that guy but then he got beaten up by a 43 year old & I think in pushing fighters towards ethnic demographics damages the sport in this way. In the 80s, the fighters & their ability tended to do the speaking for itself, but it was only in retrospect that the likes of Hagler became a star. It was only after his fight with Hearns that he really became the name he is now, & even then neither Hearns or Hagler reached the level of public consciousness in the way Duran or Leonard did.

It's easy to say there are no crossover stars, but Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Floyd Mayweather & Manny Pacquiao have all disproved that in recent years by not only becoming stars among those of a similar background, but at least becoming recognizable names above it. The Klitschkos have neither the personality nor the style to excite people in the US & UK, but that doesn't mean they're not massive superstars in Germany & the former Soviet Union.

Haye beating Valuev might do something, but the problem is he hasn't marketed himself anywhere outside the radar of that of boxing fans. If Arreola beats Vitali, it might start to put HW boxing back on the map a bit. But, historically the sport has been in far worse shape at other times in its history & pulled through.

Oh & the comparisom to Bolt was ridiculous, the guy has 10 or 20 second races that people can watch quick on tv or on youtube. He is the ONLY athletics star right now, if mentioned the names of any of those pole-vaulters or long-jumpers, people would think you were abusing them in another language. The key thing boxing needs to do is stop thinking about fucking ethnic demographics & make exciting fights. Which it is starting to do.

SORRY FOR THE SHEER LENGTH OF THAT, THE ARTICLE SEEMED VERY POORLY RESEARCHED TO ME