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A DREAM turning into a nightmare
By Zach Arnold | February 26, 2008
Gryphon has two news items of interest. First, Kaoru Uno is unlikely to work for the DREAM promotion right now. Second, DREAM backers are in a panic about Bob Sapp losing to Jan “The Giant” Nortje.
A panic? Why, our fine fellow readers chided me for making such a suggestion a couple of days ago!
Off-topic, speaking of nightmares… Bob Arum says the Jermain Taylor vs. Kelly Pavlik PPV only drew 250,000 buys.
Update: Pro Fight Store is pushing a rumor that Mirko Cro Cop will fight Mighty Mo at the DREAM 3/15 Saitama Super Arena event. Meanwhile, Mirko says nobody wants to face him.
Topics: Boxing, DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
MMA PPV’s drawing more viewers than the big bad boxing PPV’s? Say it ain’t so. š I hope this trend continues. If I was the boxing promoter, I would blame EliteXC, hah!
As for Sapp, he’s ridiculous. How does a guy his size act like a little baby when he fights?
Was Pavlik/Taylor’s buyrate wounded by the Kimbo fight? That may sound ridiculous but could be partially true. I had 4 friends over and we watched the Kimbo undercard, then went to the bar to watch Pavlik/Taylor, then back home to watch Kimbo on tape. Some people may have just stuck with the free option.
I just don’t think Kelly Pavlik brings in PPV Buys. He is talented. He is the best Middleweight in the world. And he is white. Yet something about him doesn’t make the general boxing consumer want to pay money to watch him fight.
who is going to fight cc on such short notice that will sell tickets in japan? they’re going to have to shell out some big bucks, or drop him from the card.
Hunt?
This was Pavlik’s first PPV. Against a guy whose best recent fight was a loss. I think there was a fear that Pavlik was lucky last time and would be a one-shot winner.
IMHO if you put Pavlik against a compelling opponent (and their aren’t too many possibilities at 160), I think he will draw. But most of the best drawing opponents are under 154 or over 168.
And the fact that Pavlik can sell tickets (which most US boxers can’t do) and headline a B-level ppv still puts him above most other guys out there.
since Sapp is useless and cant take on crocop, there’s always Minowa man
I’m not surprised that Pavlik-Taylor II did a reasonably decent 250,000 buys. Because Jones/Trinidad (which I saw. I saw EliteXC instead of Taylor-Pavlik II, even though I wanted to see it) happened a few weeks prior and did I think 500,000 buys? And Taylor-Pavlik II didn’t have as great of promotion as other HBO ppvs. Decent promotion, but not great. And maybe because it wasn’t a title fight of any sort (it was at a catch weight of 166 lbs. Two pounds under the super middle weight limit) could have been a deciding factor as well.
Arum makes sense: Having the first on HBO and the immediate rematch on PPV was stupid.
Thats a real shame that Taylor vs Pavlik only drew 250,000 PPV buys, guess people got their priorities all wrong with Jones and Trinidad or just didn’t for some reason want to see the rematch to one of the fights of last year!
If I was Arum I would keep Pavlik on free TV for a while, he can honestly bring boxing back to the masses in the U.S, I feel and im in England, but I have a feeling the American public can truly connect with this lad the same way we do with Hatton in England.
I’m still puzzled by why DREAM would care whether Sapp lost in the US for what would be a freak show match to showcase Cro Cop.
The only thing I can guess is that Sapp got a medical suspension — maybe for the TKO, or maybe for the hamstring Zach mentioned earlier — and that either he just doesn’t want to fight or if he doesn’t abide by the US suspension and fights in Japan that he would face sanctions of some kind, similar to the situations with drug suspensions.
Oooo CroCop vs. Mighty Mo is a neat fight. I think Mo takes it.. shades of CroCop vs. Hunt 2.
LOL at CroCop thinking that the cage is somehow fundamentally detrimental to his ability to fight well versus a ring. It’s the opponents, stupid.
There are more boxing fans than MMA fans, given its long history. There are also a definite mix of hardcore MMA/boxing fans that watch both. When they go head to head, it’ll be interesting to see how each respective sport do as the hardcore fans must pick and choose.
250,000 buys for Pavlik-Taylor sounds about right. Neither fighter has ever proven themselves to be a huge pay per view draw.
The numbers for this fight once again shows why boxing still doesn’t get it. Every good fight is not necessarily a pay per-view event. Especially when you consider that most bouts on the undercard of boxing pay-per views are genrally weak. So you are basically paying for the main event.
While Arum is blaming Taylor’s people & HBO for the decision to make the fight a PPV, he must have had SOME input into the decision to go that route with the rematch. But, whomever’s responsible for it, they screwed up, because it was a fight that clearly belonged back on “regular” HBO & NOT PPV.
These individuals at the top are just repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot with the constant glut of PPVs that they try to forcefeed us. It’s just a total oversaturation of product IMO.
I’m one of those lifelong hardcore boxing fans who’s also a rabid MMA fan that cyphron spoke of in his post & as such, I’m forced to be VERY picky about what PPVs I choose to order. There’s just simply no way at all economically that I can order even a fraction of what I’d like to. So, it’s come to the point where I’m forced to skip ordering cards that feature some of my most favorite fighters.
Which, initially was an extremely difficult thing for me to do, but now, it’s just something that I’ve gotten used to.
Not all that long ago, I was in a position where I could order damn near everything & I just couldn’t imagine missing a major card or even a single UFC. But, back then, I had two buddies who were really into fightsports as well who’d split the bill with me for each one we ordered. Unfortunately, they both happened to move out of state a couple of years ago. Leaving me on my own as far as PPVs go.
Consequently, I’m forced to take a lot of things into consideration now before I push those little buttons on my remote to order something. The fighters involved in the main event, the prospect of how well they match up for an entertaining scrap, the overall strength of the card as a whole, whether or not there’s another PPV of note within the same month and/or billing period that I might want to order etc..
And obviously, I’m not the only one faced with a similar situation out here, which is why, even though I’m a HUGE Pavlik fan, I just couldn’t see spending $50 to see his rematch with Taylor. And if I could come to terms with that decision fairly easily, It’s no wonder that so many other more casual fight fans than I could do the same. Thus making for Pavlik-Taylor II being an under-performer as far as it’s buyrate.
Bottomline, it belonged on HBO not PPV.
too bad they couldn’t fit Gomi into their GP, that would have been a good way to relaunch his career
“Iām still puzzled by why DREAM would care whether Sapp lost in the US for what would be a freak show match to showcase Cro Cop.”
-they’ve already fought in K-1 event, Cro Cop killed him
“Oooo CroCop vs. Mighty Mo is a neat fight. I think Mo takes it.. shades of CroCop vs. Hunt 2.”
-if you watched the Slowinsky fight with Mighty Mo, you’ll see all you need to do to win is to keep on kicking his leg, as he doesn’t bother checking those. i think Cro Cop would win … Hunt is better than Mighty Mo
not surprised by the ppv figures for the taylor v pavlik fight. Jones v Trinidad was just a few weeks before and I dont think Kelly & Pavlik would draw as well as that. To be honest when I watched the fight over in the UK and saw it was a HBO PPV production I was surprised. I didnt think this was going to be on PPV.
I feel for u guys in the states. Everything is PPV. Wresting, Boxing, MMA. Even if u only went for out of the 3 its still some serious money every month.
Mighty Mo would be a really tough fight for Crocop, especially given his recent poor performances.