Doggy Bag: The Sweetest Science

I loved your recent piece “Note to Mayweather & Boxing: The Battle is Over, and You Lost.” It really does sum up exactly why boxing has slid down the "audience ladder" so far. One other thing that was really evident as I watched both weigh-ins was the incredible “lack of organization” in the Mayweather weigh-in, versus the incredibly “organized” weigh-in event perfected by the UFC.

Boxing needs to understand that the UFC brings an unmatched “value-proposition” to their audience and not just one main fight that carries the entire success of that particular event. I would also assume that it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep a stable of “excellent” boxers with name recognition than it is for the UFC to provide. In any event, great
article & you gained a new follower.
-- Ron

Jason Probst: I've seen it myself. Watered-down belts, murky rankings, and a general sense of incoherence have made following boxing like watching a weird European film, sans discernible plot and only the occasional bit of exciting action. What makes it so sad is that it's like an abusive relationship -- boxing cleans its act up with a great fight (say, Margarito-Mosley, or whatever) and then the winner basically disappears for five or more months -- or if he does return, it's against a far less competitive opponent.

You are obviously a man who understands running a business and the concept of brand-building. That is something that is so foreign to hypersensitive boxing fans who don't want to hear the criticism, at least not from an alleged "MMA writer." Never mind that I've forgotten more about Greb, Ketchel and Saddler than they know about the sport as a whole. I suppose NASCAR has lousy athletes and a certain demographic, but they also know how to promote their product.

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I'm an MMA fan, no doubt about it. However, even I find it ridiculous when people say MMA has overtaken boxing. I'm going to point to one statistic: Floyd Mayweather made upwards of $15 million in his last bout. He has a $10 million guarantee, and a cut of the PPV and gate takes. All of the UFC fighters combined won't make $2,000,000 on an event.

The bottom line is that boxers make much more money than MMA fighters, and fight a lot less. Until MMA and the UFC can figure out a way to make their fighters some real money, I can't say that they have won anything against boxing. I will say that the UFC is a well run promotion that is profitable, but not profitable enough to give big paydays.
-- Dan from Phoenix

Probst: Yes that stat is probably true. But you have to look at trends and market share. The MMA demand curve is exploding. Boxing's isn't. And after UFC 103 and Mayweather-Marquez, how many of the people that watch either event will say "I'm sure ordering that again."

It's pretty high with UFC. With Mayweather, it's iffy. And he won't fight again for six months.

Do the math and over a long enough timeline. And ask random people, hard core to non-sports fans, how many fighters of each sport they can name. You'll get your answer on what the future holds there, as well.

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