Just the latest victory of many in the battle of appeal between boxing and UFC! It is becoming painfully clear to this reporter that casual sports fans as well as some of the most respected boxing fans and analysts that I know and communicate with definitely do not give the sport of boxing enough credit.
According to Fighthype.com and Ring TV, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer has implied that the PPV numbers for Mayweather vs. Marquez have severely crushed that of the competing UFC 103 PPV event that also took place on the evening of September 19.
Schaefer originally predicted that the event would do one million PPV buys. Greg Leon at Boxingtalk.com has reported that the Mayweather fight did 800,000 plus buys, but could very well exceed one million. Surely these numbers will put Mayweather in lofty position at the negotiating table, should a fight with pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao materialize at some point next year. Nonetheless, we still have yet to see how the PPV numbers look like in November for the Pacquiao vs. Cotto fight and if the Phillipino sensation can out sell Money May. Boxing, beyond the shadow of a doubt, has a much broader fan base than any of the other professional combats sports today.
Latinos, African Americans, Puerto Ricans, South Americans, Phillipinos, Caucasians, Thais, you name it, they all have loyal fan bases endeared to a sport that has lived on for over a hundred years now. Boxingchronicles, which I am proud to say is building up its own fan base of readers, recognizes that this author speaks the truth and perhaps that is the reason why the base is expanding as the months and years progress. MMA simply does not have the type of following or fan base that boxing has consistently maintained through its ups and downs, rises and falls.
Boxing fans, and all other fans who follow this website, let's be truthful. Prior to September 19, UFC 103 was heavily advertised all across the country. UFC President Dana White's blood pressure probably went off the charts getting the card promoted as the main combat sporting event that was taking place that night. Mayweather vs. Marquez, at many sports bars and locations that were showing the boxing match along with the UFC fight, was listed in microscopic print somewhere beneath the UFC advertisement........... and guess what? Mayweather vs. Marquez still CRUSHED the UFC event in PPV numbers. That shows you what the people pay to see.
This was not even on the economic plateau of De la hoya vs. Mayweather, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, or Pacquiao vs. De la hoya. No, this was a fight featuring Floyd Mayweather Jr, who has previously been on the B-side of his record breaking PPV events [most notably against Oscar De la hoya in May of 2007] and was making his come back after a 21 month lay off against the lightweight champion of the world, in a fight that featured two counter punchers, and the event still generated almost a million buys as this post is being published. Statistics do not tell lies and longevity of boxing will keep the other combat sports honest. Boxing has been through ups and downs, just like any other sport, but it continues to maintain an abundant, multi-cultural fan base.
Right now UFC is comparable to the laser disc; it's a pretty cool thing that is happening right now, but unless it can draw the crowds of diverse ethnic backgrounds and generate appeal that is anywhere near the level of boxing, it will not be around for very long. Many of the critics and skeptics who have long claimed that boxing is dying must begin to give the sport more credit. After all, the sweet science is older than most of you, it will likely out live you, and it's here to stay for many years. Decades. Perhaps centuries. This is real talk and Boxingchronicles once again calls it like it is.
So what were the numbers for the UFC event?
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