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Manny Pacquiao destroys Ricky Hatton
By Zach Arnold | May 2, 2009
KO in R2. So much for Teddy Atlas and his prediction of Hatton winning. I think he may have been the only one in the sports media who made such a prediction.
Chris Mannix at Sports Illustrated has live commentary.
Update (5/4): Several reports in the British press state that Ricky Hatton is being encouraged to retire from boxing by his closest friends and family members. He will address his future in boxing later today.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 72 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The PPV numbers also show the same trend for 3 years…. 7 UFC’s, 2 Boxing Events, and WrestleMania. We are likely to see the very same thing this year…. Unless Mayweather fights again in late 2009, but I have a feeling he will put it off until early 2010.
If I have my pick of running the UFC or being a boxing promoter…. And I see those numbers, it isn’t even a choice…. The UFC’s model wins out.
DLH-Mayweather was actualy 2.5 million in total and Mayweather vs Hatton was around 900 + over a million in the UK.
If the rumors are acurate then Pac-Hatton could become the PPV with the highest buy rate of all time if you combine it with the UK market (1.5-2 + 1 million in the UK).
Both fighters will make well over $20 million each.
“If I have my pick of running the UFC or being a boxing promoter…. And I see those numbers, it isn’t even a choice…. The UFC’s model wins out.”
You couldn’t be a “UFC” promoter if you wanted too, instead you could become an MMA promoter and most likely lose all your money.
Not for nothing but if boxing only had one real big time promoter like MMA does Pac and Hatton would have been lucky to make 2 million each (before “locker room” money).
“Not for nothing but if boxing only had one real big time promoter like MMA does Pac and Hatton would have been lucky to make 2 million each (before “locker room” money).”
This is the biggest misconception today. And here is why….
Boxing and MMA payscales are obviously different. People use the business models of each sport as reasoning for this. This couldn’t be any more false.
The payscales are different mainly due to how long each sport has been along. Just like with any business, when it first starts, the individual(s) running it will get a larger percentage of the profits. As time goes by, the workers (or in this case the the athletes) will see an increase in pay until it gets to a fair and balances level.
This happened in boxing and all the major sports in America. The UFC is going through the same transition.
Since 2005, Zuffa has had their champions go from high 5 figure and low 6 figure payouts…. Now to 6 figures and now $1 to $2 Million. This has all happened in about 4 years, and really with no American Competition for the UFC.
So this idea that because Zuffa is the only big time promoter, and the fighters are getting shafted because of it is just completely ignoring how business cycles of businesses work. In 4 years, the payscales have DRAMATICALLY increased in the UFC. They will continue to increase over time, just like every other sport.
If boxing had one real big time promoter, it’d be a much bigger sport than it currently is.
The 1.6-2 million claim could be bogus. CNN copied an article from USA Today from 2008 and changed the names. LOL, talk about top class journalism.
“We know based on those early numbers and based on experience the event will perform extremely well. If I had to guess, anywhere between 1.6 million and two million homes, which is a home run,” he said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/05/04/manny.money/
Arum said the exact same thing here, but in 2008.
“Will that hold for the country? It’s like an election. Who the hell knows?” Arum said. “But we know based on those early numbers and based on experience the event will perform extremely well. If I had to guess, anywhere between 1.6 million and two million homes, which is a home run.”
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2008-12-05-pay-per-view-de-la-hoya-pacquiao_N.htm
Or maybe its accurate and Arum is a robot or talking out of his ass.
Very nicely done RIS.
Ice muncher you are dead on. I’ve said for years boxing bigger problem is that no one is looking out for the sport as a whole. For all his faults Dana has done a masterful job promoting MMA/UFC.
45 I agree a bit about the generational thing and UFCs audience growing as fans have kids. That’s another point I’ve been making for years. But I’m starting to wonder if that is true. I think MMA may remain a niche sport. I think a good chunk of current fans are fad fans and will fall off.
Outside of a few big eventts, both MMA and boxing will remain niche sports in North America.
PPV model = niche
I agree that MMA will stay a niche sport. I kind of like it like that. I like it big enough to support the sport, but not so big that we have authors writing muck racking books on their top athletes (think A-Rod).
However, I still see MMA as the primary combat sport in America going forward, not boxing. Losing that generation of fans for boxing would take a Mike Tyson type of boxer to get the sport back where it was.
Another big thing is where the athletes are going. We already know (and I think Foreman said it), that when pay went up in the NFL, it was the end of Heavyweight Boxing in America. I think an athlete who is 15 who wants to be in combat sports in America, is much more likely to choose MMA at this point. So boxing will continue to have a smaller American pool of fighters to pull from. And MMA is lucky. They have a solid pool of big fighters to pull from thanks to BJJ and College Wrestling. I would never say the MMA Heavyweight Division is stacked, but it is certainly much better off then what boxing has right now.
And while I think diversity is great for all sports, having 95% of your fighters speaking Spanish doesn’t do much to increase the popularity of boxing. That is kind of what boxing is up against. A lost generation of fans, primarily only 154 lbs and under (I know there are some exceptions), and a lot of their fighters not speaking English.
A side note…. Vince McMahon often says that MMA doesn’t directly compete with the WWE. I think he might be right to a certain extent. However, he completely misses the point. It is the athletes who are more likely to choose MMA now. The Brock Lesnar of the future won’t even think about the WWE. Where the WWE is going to be hurt is that the pool of potential wrestlers will dwindle.
“The payscales are different mainly due to how long each sport has been along. Just like with any business, when it first starts, the individual(s) running it will get a larger percentage of the profits. As time goes by, the workers (or in this case the the athletes) will see an increase in pay until it gets to a fair and balances level.”
Yeah, but you forgot one thing. Inflation. When comparing pay scales throughout the years, you have to adjust for inflation. Like one big argument in wrestling circles is who is the biggest drawing wrestler in North American history? The two obvious choices are Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin. Looking at the hard numbers, Austin wins. But it’s hard to compare 2001 to 1987. You have to adjust for inflation to get a better picture. I know we are only comparing by the span of four years, but still.
“I think an athlete who is 15 who wants to be in combat sports in America, is much more likely to choose MMA at this point.”
Not really. Boxing gyms are SO much cheaper than BJJ schools. The combat sports that most inner-city kids go to are boxing and judo, because they are prevalent in the inner-cities and they are cheap. BJJ schools are notoriously expensive. And high school and college wrestling only take you so far (eight years total of competing, unless you are able to get into international competitions and tournaments). And most MMA fighters train at multiple gyms to supplement their training. They may go to a BJJ school, and a Muay Thai school, etc. How many inner-city kids can afford that?
“They have done nothing to attract fans outside of the white male 18 – 32 demographic.”
What exactly are they supposed to do?
More rap music?
Maybe get some black or asian or latino fighters?
Shoehorn some wmma into a main event?
“What exactly are they supposed to do?
More rap music?
Maybe get some black or asian or latino fighters?
Shoehorn some wmma into a main event?”
lol.. rap music.
Your second point is exactly the point and exactly why UFC won’t grow unless it branches out. There is a reason why there is a push for Spanish as the second language in the US, the latino community is big and only getting larger.
They should make an effort to be marketing guys like Torres as big stars, which would mean lighter weight classes. They are the big league, why not support lighter weight classes? There is a wealth of hispanic and asian fighters at the lighter wight classes that are really good and put on a great show.
Hispanics are becoming Americanized by the day. No different then any other generation.
My Italian Grandparents came here off the boat with their parents to the Northeast. They were considered minorities of their time (not as bad as blacks were). They all spoke Italian, and from what they have told me, a lot of the “Americans” thought things would change too much because of so many coming over.
What happened? A lot of them spoke little English. Their children either were bi-lingual or spoke only English. And by the time it got to my generation, Italian to me is opening up a jar of sauce from the grocery store.
I see the same thing with Hispanics. At least here in the Northeast I do. The one’s my age are bi-lingual, and a lot of their kids can’t speak a lick of Spanish. Of course, they bring some of their culture over…. But in the long run, marketing towards a class of people who are only going to Americanize anyways is kind of pointless.
I think things might be different slightly different in California, but I’ve never been there so I wouldn’t exactly know.
Hispanic boxing fans in the US will outnumber the overall fanbase of MMA in 10-20 years. They all love Mexican/Mexican American fighters and Mexico will always produce boxing legends.
Didn’t they try to market that pretty boy latino kid (his name escapes me)before he took his new popularity and skidattled.
They’ve brought in Kang and akiyama, and seem dedicated to keeping Vera around.
Torres is awesome and he will get pushed. His talent and domination is only recently becoming apparent IMO. But UFC said that they wouldn’t be using WEC as a guppy promotion and plucking all the good fighters out as soon as they get a belt.
And WEC is not PPV, so theres not a hell of a lot of reason to spend money and resources pushing it too hard.
As far as the lightweights in the UFC, I dont think thats really the money maker weightclass. And unfortunately a lot of the best mexican and asian fighters are around that weight.
With only so many slots on the main card, the lightweights outside of the top contenders just cant be given the same amount of attention and promotion as the bigger fighters because most people want to see the big guys.
Plus it seems like a lot of the japanese fighters tend to generally be more technicians and ground players, which as you are well aware can be a hard sell to the average american.
Is UFC even broadcast in Japan?
In fact the current lightweight champ is asian, whether he apparently looks it or not, and he has been marketed.
I dont see that they’ve failed to make reasonable efforts at appealing in those areas.
In fact a latino and an asian will be headlining UFC 101 for the belt.
It would be nice to get some of those LW japanese slicksters in there.
But beyond stars like Kid, Gomi, Aoki, etc who are just not realistic to get, unless they’re willing to become pariahs in japan, who are some examples that you think would get past sherk, diego, penn, florian, etc to get anywhere near the belt?
“Didn’t they try to market that pretty boy latino kid (his name escapes me)before he took his new popularity and skidattled.”
Roger Huerta?
They’ve brought in Kang and akiyama, and seem dedicated to keeping Vera around.
Its not like Spirit MC was selling out 20,000 seat venues. He’s not their ticket to the Korean market. Akiyama is. There was that whole thing about 2 months ago on the UG where Lorenzo said they’ll never run Japan too.
Vera and the Phillippines is a red herring. They throw it out there once in a great while to generate more traffic but it won’t happen. I’ll give them credit: They actually are running Germany, even if no one ends up showing up to the arena.
Torres is awesome and he will get pushed. His talent and domination is only recently becoming apparent IMO. But UFC said that they wouldn’t be using WEC as a guppy promotion and plucking all the good fighters out as soon as they get a belt.
So, uhhh….Brian Cantwell? Carlos Condit? I mean, they took 1/2 the divisions into the UFC. You look at their ratings, ticket sales, and that…well, its a guppy promotion.
Is UFC even broadcast in Japan?
Yes, on a channel no one gets. Kinda like starting a new promotion and it being on Starz.
In fact a latino and an asian will be headlining UFC 101 for the belt.
Problem with Brazilians is that they don’t actually watch MMA. And Mexicans aren’t going to watch some Portuguese speaking guy because he’s referred to being from the same general area by white folk.
It would be nice to get some of those LW japanese slicksters in there.
$$$$$$. Akiyama was easy to grab because K-1 treated him like crap after the Sakuraba fight. They sat him down, talked badly about him, brought him back only for a foreign card, etc. For all the talk about it putting the Japanese on notice, it instead ended up being the UFC essentially bidding against itself, especially when the facade of running Japan finally died. It turns out that, shockingly, those crazy Japanese people the calm, cool, and collected Dana White can’t deal with may actually have some business sense! Whoda thunk? Never could have guessed, given their success in the automotive and electronics field, that they could maybe see through the facade…
“Hispanics are becoming Americanized by the day. No different then any other generation.”
I respectfully disagree with you.
There is a reason why certain boxers attract certain crowds. It is the same reason why GSP attracts rabid fans in Canada and why Bisping has a dedicated following. Americans, mainly white ones (no dissing as this explains me), don’t have this same sense of belonging and connection with their roots.
Well, usually when white Americans connect with their “roots”, they get in trouble for it. “I hope that white American beats up that Mexican dude,” etc etc.
45 is right though, every immigrant group gets Americanized within a couple generations. It’s a little harder to notice with groups that have a steady influx of new immigrants, like hispanics and asians, but the 2nd generation immigrants are typically bi-lingual and have varying degrees of Americanization, and the 3rd generation is pretty much completely Americanized.
I grew up in Arizona with a decent hispanic population, and going to school you could pick out which generation each person was fairly easily.