The Economy And Boxing
Cointry -- “There’s one guy you can blame, and that’s George Bush, ".“With gasoline prices the way they are, people just can’t afford to come in from California.” Bob Arum complained. Arum is head of Top Rank Promotions that was handling the Manny Pacquiao - David Diaz June 2008 WBC lightweight championship at the Mandalay Events Center. Of the 10,500 seat capacity, only around 8,500 tickets were sold.
With the gasoline prices going down and George Bush stepping down, Arum is still complaining. While the tickets has been sold out within an hour, the pay per view buys were below expectations. The target is at least 1.5 million HBO PPV, a far cry from the record buy of 2.4 million set in the de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout in 2007. With the present financial crisis, people would have to fill in other necessities than a boxing fight. A PPV buy would be considered an extravagance.
The boxers get a percentage of the PPV gross which most of the time is bigger than their guaranteed purse money.
The matchup factor must also be considered. Manny Pacquiao was viewed by many as a sure winner against David Diaz even if Manny is climbing on weight from featherweight to lightweight. Even if the gasoline price is low, the Mandalay gate receipt will still be the same. There is also the Latino factor. David is more of an American than a Mexican so the Mexican fans were absent. David Diaz is also not that popular until he fought Erik Morales.
The PPV buy is lower than anticipated in the Pacquiao - de La Hoya fight because aside from the economy, many people believed it is a mismatch, which is not. It is the job of the promoters to dispel that belief. People say Oscar is too big for Manny. But now Oscar is lighter than Manny by four pounds. Oscar's four inches advantage in height could also be a disadvantage to him in close battle. It is up to Bob to hype it if he wants an increase in PPV buys.
