The Business of Boxing & Fleecing of Fight Fans for Money Runs Rampant Part II (Hey Oscar De La Hoya, You Need to Read THIS!)

By Dave “Madcap” Mroczek

The business of boxing holding the sport back from its potential is not only a historical phenomenon. The fighters, promoters and everyone is independent. This allows fighters to control their own careers, but it also allows fighters to duck, make mismatches, and pretty much do whatever they want. There are several current situations unfolding and winding down that indicate more of the same for boxing fans.

Adonis Stevenson won the light heavyweight championship many years ago on HBO, and beat a couple of good challengers in his first defenses. In the meantime, Sergey Kovalev looked terrific climbing the ranks and appeared to be setting up for one of the most epic clashes in boxing history. Two powerful destroyers of men on a collision course for the ages, what could be better? Wellllllll…… Stevenson struggled to beat Andrzej Fonfara in what was supposed to be an easy fight and his confidence appeared to be shot. When the time came to make the massive Kovalev fight, he bolted to rival network Showtime. Once again, the excuses came out. The money split wasn’t right. They were on different networks. One or the other was the real champion. On and on it went until Kovalev’s team petitioned to become the mandatory challenger in the WBC organization, and got their wish. Then once the fight finally went to purse bid and Stevenson’s team won the bidding, Kovalev and his people pulled out of the fight because they couldn’t have the fight on HBO. More excuses all around, and the fans who have invested time and money into following their careers are left holding the bag, the big, empty, light heavyweight bag.

Kovalev Vs Stevenson was the fight that the real fight fans wanted to see. Now this fight has rotted on the vine for so long that if the time ever does come to pluck it, it will be no more than a moldy pile of mush. Stevenson is turning 40 this year. He hasn’t fought anyone approaching dangerous for years now and is barely an afterthought in boxing circles. Any chances he had of beating Kovalev are retreating faster than his hairline. If this fight does happen it will not be as big as it could have been a year or two ago. The interest level in this fight has diminished so badly it is almost not worth making anymore. Are these men brilliant businessmen as well? I don’t think so.

It boils down to petty, personal, pride. They can claim money and network issues all they want, the few boxing fans that still remain know the truth. Adonis Stevenson can take pride in knowing that he hasn’t lost in the ring since winning his title, he can also take pride in going from the most exciting and promising fighter in the world to the most irrelevant and uninteresting stain on boxing’s reputation there is. Sergey Kovalev has managed to escape criticism for the most part due to making some big fights while waiting on Stevenson. At least he has proven he is willing to face top challengers, though we do all recall his team pulling out of the purse bid. His upcoming fight versus Andre Ward should leave the Stevenson Vs Kovalev fiasco where it belongs, in the dustbin of light heavyweight history. What could have been a legendary fight or even trilogy of fights has now become a mere “what if” discussion on boxing forums.

Something similar is going on right now. Starting with his bizarre insistence on a catchweight of 155lbs. to avoid the 160lb. reality of Gennady Golovkin, and ending with discarding his WBC middleweight belt in order to avoid his mandatory opponent, Canelo Alvarez is picking up where Adonis Stevenson left off. Instead of making the massive, no brainer, fight that everyone and their mother wants to see against middleweight standout Gennady Golovkin, Canelo is taking his lineal middleweight championship hostage and defended against welterweight Amir Khan, and now European level super welterweight Liam Smith. Not exactly hair raising stuff. Now we have a lame, alleged, agreement to make the fight in September of 2017? I’m not buying it. That leaves far too much time for injuries, excuses and potential losses to ruin this fight forever. Once again, instead of making a career high payday and a potential legendary series of fights, fans get to speculate about what might happen and see both of these guys beat the ever-loving shit out of fighters who don’t belong in the same ring as them. Somebody needs to tell Canelo and Golden Boy that while they can make a few more dollars right now by avoiding anyone with a pulse, they are actually damaging their long term interests by diminishing the amount of fans, viewers, and ultimately dollars that will be available to them in their future endeavors. Keep waiting, fellas, and there will be no one left to buy your tickets and pay per views. How many more fans must turn away from this sport in disgust before anything changes?

Deontay Wilder won the WBC heavyweight title a little over a year and a half ago. Since then he has fought three times, all against limited, considerably lower ranked opponents. Twice he postponed his mandatory obligation and petitioned the WBC to be allowed an additional voluntary defense. Well since that mandatory fight fell apart due to a positive drug test for the challenger, it should be the next man up, right? Wrong. Inexplicably he has been allowed another voluntary defense, his fourth consecutively. Mysteriously, the hand chosen fighter all of a sudden appeared on the WBC rankings after Deontay expressed an interest in facing him. Why did Canelo have to vacate his WBC title for not facing his mandatory, when fighters like Deontay Wilder and Adonis Stevenson can fight on as so called “champions” when they haven’t faced a mandatory challenger in years? Nothing adds up, except for the sum that fighters are now winning championship belts and holding them hostage by fighting inferior opposition only. Fans want to see Deontay Wilder in a true live fight, against an opponent that is not significantly limited.

If fans speak out about such things, they are told: this is the era they are living in, boxing is a business, this is the way things are, the risk-reward ratio was too low. They are preached to and told what to think by the media, by those who claim to be “in the know”. Well truth be told, nobody is in the know. Even the fighters, promoters, and managers don’t truly know what’s going on with all the belts, rankings, and matchmaking that goes on around boxing, how are the people that cover it supposed to know any better.

The whole point of boxing championships is to determine who is the best man in each weight division. Somewhere along the line the goal became to get the three or four belt holders in each division then isolate them apart from one another so they never actually face each other, all the while knocking over hapless, low ranked opponents. Whatever happened to champions proving they were the best? Whatever happened to taking on all comers? Fans can afford a lighter matchup in between big fights. Now it seems certain fighters are taking only lighter touches. When I was a teenager I recall boxers looking to the top 20 to 30 range for their softer defenses, now they find them in the 100 ranks.

I like professional boxing because of the great contests it produces, because of the great displays of heart and courage. A well matched fight at the top level is beyond compare. What I don’t like to see is someone with almost zero chance of winning getting utterly pummeled by someone of a much higher skill level. That seems to be the direction boxing is headed right now. Some of the matchups being made today are more akin to professional bullying than pro boxing.

It is getting worse too, fight fans. Not only now are the fighters and promoters making excuses while garbage fights continue to roll off the assembly line, now the fans are doing it too! I am no sick and tired of hearing fans offer excuses as to why Canelo can’t fight “GGG” yet, why Floyd Mayweather, JR. and Manny Pacquiao had to wait more than five years to make their fight, why Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev couldn’t make a fight when it might have been relevant, why Deontay Wilder seems to get permission to hold an endless number of soft voluntary defenses, why the Klitschko Brothers couldn’t fight each other. I don’t know about you, but just because I like a fighter it does not mean I will endure excuses and cream puff mismatches for eternity. Just because that’s the way things are nowadays, does not mean we can’t strive for better. We should be, because things are getting bad. I hate to be a chicken little here, but the sky is falling. Viewers, revenue, pay per view buys, public interest; whatever that metaphorical sky represents, take your pick, because it is falling.

So many fans are defending this nonsense. It is time to stop. Have you ever had a friend or family member who was totally brilliant, yet was pissing their life away with drugs, alcohol, gambling, or something else and they need someone to stop them in their tracks and get them straightened out? That’s boxing right now, and fans are the friend who needs to give boxing a shake. Promoters and managers are complaining that ticket sales are slowing, pay per view buys are down, and overall interest has fallen, without ever considering themselves as part of the problem. We as fans are the ones paying the money, watching their TV advertisements, and buying their pay per views. We are financing all of this, all the cars, the babes, the mansions, the gyms, the $10 million purses. With no fans, and their money, there is no sport of boxing, no business of boxing. Money is power, fight fans, and we are the ones with all the money, we should be calling the shots. If these guys want to fight underwhelming opposition and charge us big bucks, it’s time we slowed down the flow of money to them. Instead we keep buying that fake Rolex time and time again.

Read: The Business of Boxing & Fleecing of Fight Fans for Money Runs Rampant Part II

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