In American society, many believe that sports have taken a front row seat in the values and development of our existing culture. The financial opportunities and gains that are made by many who participate, engage, invest, promote, or even watch them is astonishing.
Many argue that sports in America have taken over as the priority of our society: over education and over infrastructure.
You can argue this fact in the idolization of our athletes, the contracts they sign, and the massive amount of attention events such as the World Series, Superbowl, NBA Finals and even prize fights are given today.
As a result, many divides occur between people within American culture. Divides even occur within agencies, companies, fans, and athletes. But let’s look at this idea from the perspective of the sport of boxing.
Today, although many will argue it is dying, boxing is still generating a record amount of revenue from its fans, both casual and hardcore. Any individual with no boxing knowledge, who analyzes these numbers, would probably conclude that fans must be getting a “bang for their buck.”
But is that true?
According to Forbes Magazine, in 2013 Floyd Mayweather Jr. made an outstanding $80 million dollars for his easy destruction of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Many should understand that not all boxers make this amount and it can be argued that Mayweather earned his money after a decade and half of dominance in the sport.
AP Photo/Eric Jamison
Unfortunately, not all boxers earn this much and most of the money made at fights goes to promoters and the networks that show these events.
This brings me to the “Cold War.” This concept rose from the battle between the leading cable networks in the sport of boxing.
Cold War was a term used to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1980. It was caused by a clash of very different beliefs and ideologies. The Cold War in boxing is completely different.
It is caused by two money hungry television networks–HBO and Showtime–that only sometimes care for the interest of the fans. Their battle has caused some of the best fights in boxing not to occur.
Most recently, HBO had a two-fight deal with Adonis Stevenson where he would take a tune-up fight with Andrzej Fonfara before putting together a Fall clash with WBO titlist Sergey Kovalev.
Photo courtesy of KovalBoxer.com
Many will say that Stevenson ducked Kovalev by going to Showtime, but you can’t argue the money decision. According to Stevenson’s promoters, HBO had the opportunity to match the offer and HBO thought it was too pricey.
We all understand money is important to a boxer and by all means they deserve every penny they can get, after it is called prize fighting. But like any sport, team or individualized glory should be at the sight of those who participate, why else does American society pay massive amounts of taxes, high ticket prices, and pay-per-view dollars?
It is not just to view, but this essentially makes our country the leading country in sports.
This network Cold War needs to end. The ideologies of each network are not different, they are both in search of money and good fights and each believe they are the best boxing network in the sport.
These networks should not just strive to make good fights, they should want to make great fights. Their loyalty should be to the fans and subscribers who pay to watch.
The reality is that we the fans are worth a little more than how we are being treated.
Each day, we are making fighters, promoters, networks and companies very rich. Fans should take a stand and bring down the wall in this Cold War, which was created by these networks.
Fight fans should demand communication between the two, so that the great fights that hang in the balance can actually be made.
