It’s fight week and the fight that nobody thought was ever going to happen is finally upon us.
Floyd vs Manny, Mayweather vs Pacquiao, arrogant vs humble, defence vs offence, Money vs Pac-Man. Slice it up however you want, the fact of the matter is that boxing’s ‘superfight’ is here.
>> Mayweather vs Pacquiao: Start time and broadcast details
>> Mayweather vs Pacquiao: What’s on the line?
>> Mayweather vs Pacquiao: Preview and prediction
>> Mayweather vs Pacquiao: Form guide and fight information
This Saturday Manny Pacquiao will fight the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the WBO welterweight tile in a fight that is expected to generate upwards of $365 million.
Gate sales alone for the proclaimed ‘fight of the century’ account for nearly $72 million, easily tripling the previous gate record of $20 million for a fight between Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez in 2013.
It’s the fight that boxing fans around the world have been calling for and is undoubtedly the ‘Ali-Frazier’ fight of this century.
Come fight time on Sunday morning (AEST), Money Mayweather will either remain the undefeated pound-for-pound king or will have suffered the first loss (or draw) of his professional career.
It’s the biggest fight of both fighters career financially, if not boxing wise, and many are already predicting a rematch regardless of the outcome of the first fight given the astonishing financial lucrativeness of the bout.
But if we are to hypothetically say that there will be no rematch, what’s next for boxing? Where does boxing go after the sport’s biggest event?
It’s hard to imagine another sport where there would be such a significant decline after one event.
Combat sports differs from its competitors in that it’s not as easy as pitting the best against the best. It can more often than not be a case of what makes the most sense financially than what makes the most sense competitively.
It’s why Chael Sonnen got a light heavyweight title shot in the UFC after losing convincingly against middleweight champion Anderson Silva – it sold and sold big.
Unfortunately for boxing, Mayweather and Pacquiao are apart of a dying breed in boxing – they’re superstars.
Money and Pac-Man are two of the sport’s last icons in a sport that idolises its greats. Ali, Tyson, Frazier, Hopkins, Jones Jr, Leonard, Hagler, Holyfield, Hearns, Klitschko, Lewis, Chavez, Duran and the list goes on and on and on.
A pantheon of prizefighting greats that Saturday’s combatants will surely join, but after Mayweather and Pacquiao, who is there?
Who does boxing have that will generate the interest of the masses and take the torch from Floyd and Manny?
There are plenty of contenders such as Deontay Wilder, Gennady Golovkin, Adrien Broner, Carl Frampton, Andre Ward and Carl Froch, but I don’t know if their marketability matches their boxing skills.
The problem with boxing is unlike the UFC, the fighters are not under the one banner and therefore the fights are largely decided by the promoters and not by the organisations like in MMA.
Consequently the best don’t always fight the best and the fights the fans want to see don’t always happen. Haye vs Fury, De La Hoya vs Tsyzu, Benn vs Jones Jr., all great possible fights that never happened for a range of issues.
Make no mistake the sport of boxing is not going to die next week. There will always be demand for fights, as UFC President Dana White puts it “it’s in our DNA”, but this Saturday’s bout may well be the last of its kind, at least for the foreseeable future.
Let’s get ready to rumble! Pick a fighter and place your bets with PlayUp for great odds. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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