5 Reasons Boxing May Go Mainstream Again (and 5 Reasons It Won't
People have been predicting boxing's demise since Jack Johnson stopped Jim Jeffries in the "Fight of the Century" back on July 4, 1910. More than a century later the Sweet Science soldiers on, no longer a staple of shrinking newspaper sports sections or network television but increasingly relegated to the confines of premium cable, Pay Per View, and the Web. But the buzz surrounding Saturday's superfight between Filipino phenom Manny Pacquiao and the viable-if-slightly-shopworn "Sugar" Shane Mosely may position the sport for a return to mainstream relevance for the first time since Mike Tyson faded from contention at the end of the last century.
Here are five reasons why boxing may be ready to hit the mainstream once again:
5. Globalization American soccer fans are swearing allegiance to Barca and Man U while Chinese teens endlessly imitate Kobe and DWade on the basketball court. The increasingly cosmopolitan nature of sports is a perfect fit for boxing, which has historically marketed itself in ethnic and nationalistic terms. The notion of another "Great White Hope" like Jeffries seems hopelessly antiquated in an era where the nation's sports icons range from Ichiro Suzuki to Albert Pujols. Whereas once boxing writers and promoters bemoaned the lack of white American contenders, today the sport benefits from its global reach and the American public is more than willing to embrace foreigners like Pacquiao.
Outside the U.S. the sport's future has never been in doubt: Pacquiao is an icon in his home country while the Ukrainian Klitschko brothers, who currently rule the heavyweight division, thrill audiences of more than 50,000 in German stadiums. As the amount of international attention and investment in boxing increases, it can only mean good things for the sport domestically. Already we're seeing U.S. fighters head abroad to search of big paydays; with the advent of Internet video, watching a fight in Tokyo is as easy as catching the latest episode of 30 Rock.
4. The Latino Fanbase While the absence of an American heavyweight contender to succeed Tyson has sapped much of the sport's mainstream appeal stateside, Mexico remains a hotbed of the sport and home to some of its most beloved champions. Ditto for Puerto Rico and Cuba, albeit on a smaller scale (of course the latter produces amateur champions who must defect to fight professionally similar to baseball). Fighters like Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Miguel Cotto, and Juan Manuel Marquez helped maintain the sport through one of its darker decades and remain viable as box office draws. A new generation featuring the likes of Brandon Rios, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Saul Alvarez, and Robert Guerrero, many of whom speak English and were raised in the U.S., appear poised to succeed them. With Latinos now making up more than 16 percent of the U.S. population it's getting harder to dismiss their twin passions, soccer and boxing, as merely niche sports.
3. The Internet At once a blessing and a curse for the traditional media, the Internet is a boon for the fighting world and those that follow it. While traditional U.S. boxing publications have been on the decline for decades (only The Ring remains standing in print, and even that is owned by promoter Oscar De La Hoya), the Web has spawned a variety of sites that cover the fight game from every angle. They range from hard-hitting investigative reporting to sites essentially devoted to airing the venom between supporters of Pacquiao and his rival for the sport's top honor, Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
While the uneven quality of reporting on the fight game is a challenge that must be navigated, the Web has stepped admirably to fill the gap in coverage left by newspapers barely able to cover their local sports teams. It has also given fight fans access to a wealth of footage of untelevised undercards, obscure prospects from the far reaches of the globe, championship fights from yesteryear, and all of the other underground content necessary to drive any Internet subculture. It's never been easier for a casual fan to catch up on the career of a fighter that intrigues them or simply spend the day watching highlight reel knockouts.
2. Good Prospects, Great Fights The most basic element for any sport's revival is a compelling cast of characters and a high level of competition, both of which appear to be coming together in not one but several weight classes at the moment. Starting with welterweight, which boasts Pacquiao, Mosely, Mayweather, and Victor Ortiz, the sport's middle and lower weight classes offer an embarrassment of riches. A number of contenders have emerged one weight class below at 140 lbs. including the brash Brooklyn native Zab Judah, who recently returned to championship form, and charismatic Brit Amir Khan. Lightweight features Marquez, Rios, Guerrero, and Humberto Soto, while bantamweight includes a number of talents including Filipino American Nonito Donaire, who has shown flashes of the kind of thunderous power that propelled Pacquiao through the weight classes.
And it goes on: Showtime's Super Six tournament at super middleweight has produced a number of fan-friendly performances both here and in Europe and at least one new American star in Oakland's Andre Ward. Ortiz overcame crippling poverty as a child and a reputation as a quitter to dethrone welterweight belt-holder Andre Berto last month; Argentinian middleweight champion Sergio Martinez comes from a similarly harsh background and has risen to challenge Pacquiao as the sport's pound-for-pound king following a series of highlight-reel KOs. 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins has a chance to turn back the clock by overcoming light heavyweight champ Jean Pascal in an upcoming rematch of their disputed draw in December. This summer features the most meaningful heavyweight fight since 2003 when Lennox Lewis hung up his gloves between champ Wladimir Klitschko and British contender David Haye. If you're even slightly interested in the sport the lineup of fights for the next few months couldn't be more appetizing.
1. Manny Pacquiao Any talk of boxing's ascent must begin and end with the Pacman, who rose from the slums of General Santos City in the Phillipines to become his country's arguably greatest sporting icon and a political leader at just 32 years of age. Since teaming up with Freddie Roach at the start of the last decade, Pacquiao has gone on a tear through the lower weight divisions, winning a number of epic battles against Mexican legends and pound-for-pound contenders like Cotto to cement his place atop the sport. His courageous and fan-friendly style, attacking with barrages of punches thrown from every angle, has made him universally recognized along with Mayweather as the top fighter in the world.
Endearingly humble and childlike, aside from the Mayweather camp it's almost impossible to find anyone in boxing with something negative to say about the eight-division belt-holder. The Pacman's unprecedented rise through the weight classes after debuting as a 107-lb teenager in 1995 has captivated his countrymen and built a massive following that's grown beyond Asia into a global phenomenon. His influence in the Philippines cannot be overstated; beyond his recent election to Congress he also boasts hit songs, TV shows, and films there as well as a number of businesses and near-universal respect from his fellow lawmakers.
"Even the New York Times, which gave up covering boxing years ago, makes a special effort to cover a Pacquiao bout," noted biographer Gary Andrew Poole, author of the recent Pacman: Behind the Scenes with Manny Pacquiao. "Pacquiao—a Filipino who is also a Congressman and has dedicated himself outside of the ring to helping his impoverished people--has essentially been carrying the sport on his back."
Pacquiao's influence in the sport is great enough that it enabled his promoter and Top Rank CEO Bob Arum to spurn longtime market leader HBO to take the fight to Showtime, lured by the promise of cross-promotion on network parent CBS. As I'll discuss next, the prospect of exposure to the network audience is one of the key ingredients for any potential revival of the sport.
