TalkingBoxing Articles
Three Things Golden Boy and Top Rank need to do Together in 2009 and beyond
MON December 29, ANDRES ANTONIO CARRIEDO - This is the time of year when all the lists come out. Slow news days are plentiful; so, writers plow through their (hopefully) fertile minds for interesting content. I am an editorialist though; so, I have been thinking for awhile now about how to put a different spin on the “arbitrary number of things I’d like to see next year…” concept. In a recent interview, Daniel Edouard spoke to me about his desire to help build a vibrant club fight scene. In his eyes, the club fight scene is not only the foundation of the sport, but also the venue where the sport is most personal and interactive.
An abundance of truth lies in that point of view. However, over the course of this editorial, I plan to list a few ways and discuss the reasons why Golden Boy and Top Rank must bring that personal touch and interactive atmosphere to their roughly quarterly joint events and the rest of their events in general. Afterall, boxing fans go to club fights. We need more of those. Edouard will get no arguments from me on that front.
But, generally speaking, big events get every and anybody out. There is so much at stake that failure really should not be considered an acceptable option. Top Rank and Golden Boy need to perform better with the entire sports world watching. I already see a few warning signs that the Margarito-Mosley undercard might be De la Hoya-Pacquiao-esque (thankfully this is not a PPV otherwise it almost certainly would be that bad). So, without further ado, here are my suggestions and observations; Get undercard bouts set at least one month in advance:
I admit that I don’t know everything that goes into finalizing a bout. I am not currently nor have I ever been a fight manager. But I do know this much; Sauerland, Universum and Arena in Germany all consistently have at least three or four (and sometimes as many as seven or eight) bouts set more than a month in advance of the card. I’m not taking about a bout scheduled for a name fighter versus an opponent to be determined either. These promoters have their fighters in fights with actual opponents, sometimes even very credible ones, already signed more than a month in advance.
Popular regional promoters like Warriors and Prize Fight routinely set three or four bouts about a month in advance of their cards. So, we have tangible evidence that this can be done. Golden Boy and Top Rank need to start doing this for their cards, especially their joint cards and their PPVs in particular. Margarito-Mosley has Robert Guerrero-TBD on its undercard. I’d think that since the card is essentially taking place in Golden Boy and Top Rank’s collective backyard that the two powerhouses would have a card chalk full of compelling fights, but I’d be wrong. When promoters have a card of this magnitude at a local arena like the Staples Center, they have to take advantage of the opportunity to present a great live event to the audience in attendance. Give fans a reason to want to show up the moment the doors open instead of 15 minutes before the main event. Part of that requires promoters to sell local attractions and popular world class contenders in competitive fights on the undercard. Golden Boy and Top Rank have deep enough stables to do this, especially in LA. But they haven’t.
Make the shows more interactive for both the TV and live audience:
Showtime and Versus have done a great job of stoking interest in upcoming bouts by conducting interviews with participants in those bouts during the downtime between fights. I can’t recall a time when this happened during either a Golden Boy or Top Rank card, mostly because they’re televised by HBO, which apparently insists upon being difficult. Getting these interviews, though, is such an easy thing for them to do. Half the time a relevant fighter is at the fight being televised anyway. A simple two or three minute interview not only keeps the viewer interested in the telecast, but also informs him/her about upcoming fights in a far more intriguing fashion than the current status quo, which is listening to Jim Lampley reading from a teleprompter.
As for the live audience, many of them do not know just how many interesting tidbits of information are sitting amongst them in the audience. During 20 or 30 minutes lulls in action either the ring announcer or an emcee (maybe George Lopez or even Mario Lopez since he seems to be at every fight anyway) could ask random trivia questions, similar to how they do at baseball games, about a fighter in the audience. They could pick contestants based on seating. If the contestants get the questions right they can be awarded predetermined prizes. If not, they could at least be brought into the ring to meet the fighter in attendance.
Meanwhile, the rest of the audience wouldn’t be sitting around getting bored waiting for the next fight to start. It would not really matter what they do. Autographs and a chance to meet the fighters in attendance and to learn more about the history of the sport seems logical to me, but as long as they make their shows more interactive I don’t really care what they actually do.
Use TV Airtime to Introduce Fans to Younger Fighters:
Both Top Rank and Golden Boy publicly insist that they’re working to usher in a new era for the sport. Top Rank, especially, has a slew of very young fighters ready to jump into the big time and win big fights. But winning big fights and becoming a star capable of carrying the sport into a new era are not necessarily one in the same. Top Rank had the perfect opportunity to introduce its young talent to the boxing public during its two year exclusive contract with the Versus network. They aired a few quality fights, but for the most part they missed a golden opportunity.
Additionally, when Top Rank and Golden Boy work together they need to find a way to work fighters like Juan Manuel Lopez, Nonito Donaire, Vanes Martirosyan, the Peterson brothers, Abner Mares, Robert Guerrero, James Kirkland, Juan Diaz and others onto the screen. Let fans become personally invested in their careers. Thus far, the Top Rank and Golden Boy truce has not really created any new stars under the age of 30 (preferably 25).
Fans are ready to move on from the stars of the ‘90s toward a new generation of stars, but Golden Boy and Top Rank have failed miserably on this front. Their PPV undercards have been poor considering the talent they’re working with. Even when young fighters do make it onto the airwaves their airtime is relegated to their fight and brief post-fight interviews. Golden Boy and Top Rank need to figure out a way to give fans a reason to care about the younger fighters in their promotional stables.
In other words, these two companies need to make every card feel like the “grandiose club fights” that Edouard spoke of in his interview with me. In the wake of ESPN2’s “Wednesday Night Fights” and Telefutura’s “Solo Boxeo” cancellations, both Top Rank and Golden Boy are working with networks to get deals for more boxing shows. As part of the negotiations for these deals they should keep these three things in mind. Set quality fights far in advance, make shows more interactive and give fans a reason to get invested in younger fighters’ career progression.
Previously, the problem the upper echelon of boxing faced was that Golden Boy and Top Rank would not match their best fighters against each other. The two rivals have now gotten good at consistently putting together headlining bouts that fans want to see. Now, they've got to work at consistently putting together supporting bouts to those headliners that fans want to see. That starts with getting undercard bouts finalized ahead of time because we all know that world class contenders and top prospects want and deserve more than two or three weeks notice to get prepared for a fight.
In sum, this constitutes delivering a reliably good product. If Top Rank and Golden Boy give fans a reliably good product they won’t need to worry about fans coming out and tuning in to see their fights. It’s really that simple. They have many talented and smart people under contract; they can do it. The real question is: do they want to?
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