New Boxing PPV Star Needed? It Takes Two to Tango
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 02 Aug 2016
A week ago the public was treated to an excellent boxing match between the two best fighters the Jr. Welterweight division (140lbs) had to offer in Crawford and Postol unifying their respective titles (WBO & WBC). It was an important match for Top Rank who are looking for an eventual replacement for their PPV (Pay Per View) ?cash cow?, Manny Pacquiao. Before they had Pacquiao, they had Oscar De La Hoya. They also had Floyd Mayweather, Jr., but that was before he became a PPV star. How did De La Hoya, Pacquiao, and Mayweather become PPV stars?
When De La Hoya came out of the 1992 Olympic he had won a gold medal for his country (USA). Sadly he lost his mother to cancer, prior to winning the Olympics. He had a fantastic genuine story to sell to the public. He was an excellent amateur that came from humble beginnings, came from a tight close knit family, handsome, and a very good prospect for the professional ranks. His Mexican heritage only helped because of the large Latino market of fight fans. If you?re a Latino, are a good fighter, have a winning record, and your promoted properly, the potential is there to become a PPV star. On PPV, De La Hoya fought Rafael Ruelas, Pernell Whitaker, Hector Camacho, Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley (twice), Fernando Vargas, Bernard Hopkins, Ricardo Mayorga, Floyd Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao. All these fighters are boxing stars except for Ruelas. De La Hoya?s PPV sales ranged from 330,000-2,400,000. His average PPV fight sold for over 1,000,000 buys. So when Mayweather defeated De La Hoya, Mayweather became a star because he was able to showcase his skills on a very big stage. Pacquiao?s PPV sales were all in the 200,000-350,000 range until he to fought De La Hoya and just about tripled all his previous sales by selling 1,250,000. So what went wrong with the PPV sale of Crawford versus Postol?
A PPV ?New Jack? like Terrence Crawford needs an established PPV partner. The perfect partner is former champion like Juan Manuel Marquez who has been looking for an opponent. No disrespect to Marquez, but he is an established PPV performer (Side B). That should be no puzzle to the high paid executive at a network or a high end boxing promotional company. Look at the last 4 of Marquez?s PPV sales results. Marquez as an opponent to Diaz, Pacquiao, and Bradley are:
Marquez-Juan Diaz II: 200,000 PPV buys
Marquez-Pacquiao III - 1,400,000 PPV buys
Marquez-Pacquiao IV-1,150,000 PPV buys
Marquez-Bradley-375,000 PPV buys
That is almost an average of 800,000 PPV sales a fight. Marquez is a great Mexican fighter with a large Hispanic following. In a Crawford-Marquez match, the public would very likely have bought a PPV match up with Marquez while introducing Crawford. Marquez would?ve been the A side to Crawford being the B side. A or B side wouldn?t matter because Crawford would have the much needed exposure he needs to be a ?crossover? star and eventually become the side A in future PPV fights. This match up would surely do more than the reported 50,000 PPV buys that Crawford-Postol generated a couple of weeks ago. Matching two very good unknown champions like that on PPV is like throwing up a ?Hail Mary pass? and hoping the opposing team defense doesn?t realize it and the team on offense miraculously catches the pass. If Crawford is to succeed in the PPV world he will need that proverbial ?dance partner?. Juan Manuel Marquez would be perfect this side of Crawford fighting Mayweather or Pacquiao, which at this point is unlikely. After a victory over Marquez (if they fight), Crawford needs to secure fights against fellow fighters like Adrian Broner no matter how difficult it is to sign the fight. Crawford is a very good fighter. He may someday be great, but in order for him to become a PPV star it will ?take two to tango?. He must be given the right dance partner.*
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
Ralph Rimpell, Boxing Writer and Advisor
*The last paragraph was a small piece of advice to the Promotion and it?s for free.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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