By: Sean Crose
Tank Davis ruffled a few feathers on Friday when he posted that “BOXING IS DEAD” (caps his own). When one of the stars of the sport says something along those lines, people listen. Now, whether Davis truly feels that way, or if he was merely letting off some steam on social media remains to be seen. The truth, however, is that boxing isn’t dead – but man it needs a lot of work. First the good news, boxing on Netflix brings in the numbers, provided the matches are good. While Terence Crawford’s brilliant win over Canelo Alvarez or Katie Taylor’s third go round with arch rival Amanda Serrano may not have done Mayweather-Pacquiao numbers, they brought in millions of eyeballs. That’s not a bad thing even if you want it to be (yeah, some fight fans love bad news).
There’s a flip side to the coin, however, an unsettling one. First and foremost, boxing has been cast away from mainstream traditional broadcasting. ABC, NBS, CBS, ESPN….all gone. That means every major fight – and even many less than major fights – cost the viewer. Netflix costs…and so does pay per view (obviously). Unless it’s a smaller card on, say, YouTube, you’re paying. That’s bad. Very, very bad. On top of that, Top Rank Promotions, a venerable pillar of the sport, has not gotten a new broadcast deal. And PBC? It’s still around sure, but is it the force it was was a decade or less ago?
And then of course there’s the Juggernaut known as Jake Paul. Out of everyone in boxing, he may be the most successful player both in the ring and outside of it. Infuriating? Yes. Unfair? Absolutely. Yet it’s true. Paul isn’t a bad fighter and he’s an absolutely terrific promoter, but no one really wants to see him fight Larry Holmes at this point in time. Money however talks. That’s something Davis knows better than anyone. For a man who complains about boxing, he certainly isn’t keeping it pure. Again though, who can blame him?
So what could be done right now about the sweet science.? I would argue that the best thing to do is to just keep putting the big fights out there…with no outrageous fees. Easier said than done, I know, but the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as Netflix have shown that the goal could be reached, at least sometimes. So long as people have the money to back up these low to no cost endeavors, the sport just may have a chance.
Getting some legitimate young stars wouldn’t hurt either
