I say stealing your money because I boycott all PPV's and haven't ordered one in over 3 years. The sport has deteriated into nothing more than a market for promoters to make money first & second and deliver a meaningful fight third. Let's look at the up coming thefts: Culprits: ODLH, Mayweather Jr. Crime - ODLH was once viewed as a possible savior of the sport now looks like just another greedy promoter. He started out scooping up all the big names to win by monolopy and now is putting together a fight the fans want to see least because it will make the most money. Plans to fight a much lighter opponent on May 5 on regular cable appear to be a "gift" to the fans but what it really is is a marketing ploy to make Oscar look like a beast to mainstreamers who don't know shit about weight classes and therefore reexcite those same fans who might have sat through Floyd-Oscar 1. Oscar's lack of interest in a Cotto fight shows he not only doesn't care about his career at this point but that yes he is only interested in making the most money while taking the least damage. I'm not going to even discuss Floyd who's nothing more than a hired pawn in a much larger game. Big Question - Why is this fight being made? Because Floyd and Oscar already generated over 30 million dollars for a glorified sparring match. (Seriously did these guys make a pact to go easy on each other?) And like greedy corporations they want to milk the dumb fans for as much as possible. What should you do? Watch the free tv fight, then boycott the PPV. HBO's going to reshow it, so save your money and join your buddies on fightbeat for a fun time in the rd by rd. Culprit - Don King Crime - King's stable has been so pathetic and generating so little action lately that he almost seemed retired already. He's probably scraping up his last retirement dollars with this bout that is coming way too late to be worthy of PPV. Neither fighter has been relevant enough to warrant a PPV alone and even together they shouldn't be able to do so at this point in time. That still didn't stop King or HBO from doing it anyway. This is eerily similar to the Mayorga-Vargas bout that was PPV'd yet came too late to deservedly be credited with that status. Big Question - Why is this a PPV? Name recognition nothing else. Though Jones has shown flashes lately, Tito looked utterly shot and helpless in his last fight and didn't even take a tune-up to create a buildup or let us know if he's capable of delivering on fight night. What should you do? Boycott. No more PPV's, buying them only breeds them so stop it. Tito could be shot and merely cashing out. Why pay his retirement fund? Culprit - Bob Arum Crime - He's putting on a nice 2 fight mismatch on HBO with Cotto/Gomez & Margarito/Judah. Like the ODLH tv fight this looks like a deal for the fans but closer inspection and it too is nothing more than a commercial for both Cotto and Margarito to destroy overmatched opposition to setup a PPV for later in the year. The Cotto Margarito matchup is the best one of these three PPV robberies and you can almost make a case for the buildup fight, but like I said, I see it as more about dollars than caring about putting on great fights for the fans. Cotto's paid his dues, he's fought more tough opposition lately since who knows when and deserves a gimme fight. Margarito though is coming off a points defeat to Williams--and almost to Clottey if not for a hand injury--that has been almost swept under the rug. Big Question - Is Margarito even worthy of PPV? No but Cotto's rising star does make me grudgling admit it does deserve to be a PPV. What should you do? Boycott anyway. Even I want to see this PPV but it will like wise get replayed on HBO. Is 50 bucks worth the drama of seeing a big fight before you know the outcome? That's for you to decide. For me the answer is no and I will be here on the rd by rd.
When I lived in Vegas, I would go to the casinos and watch the PPV for free and then NOT GAMBLE. 100% free boxing!!!!
Fighters put their lifes on the line. They deserve the money. It is what it is. I would rather pay to watch boxing then watch other sports for free.
Everyone already knows about King and Arum, but this is a good point about Oscar. It's because of Oscar that such undesirable fights as Barrera-Juarez II, which clearly had no business being on PPV (seeing as the first fight wasn't on PPV and wasn't really that exciting a fight anyway), ended up being on PPV. And then there's stinkers like Barrera-Pacman II, which clearly went to pay for Barrera's retirement fund. Blame also goes to HBO of course, which apparently gives blank PPV dates to Oscar and then lets him fill in whatever fights he wants. If there is an upside (if you can call it that) to Oscar's scamming, it's that the money goes into old fighters' pockets (ie: Mosley, Hopkins) rather than simply greedy suits. But yes, he is as much a scammer/bullshitter as any other promoter.
