Did Mayweather-Pacquiao kill the sport of boxing?
Did we all just witness the death of boxing?
Fans all over the world are saying yes! A reporter for USA today with choice words over the weekend.
“Boxing is dead and Mayweather-Pacquiao killed it,” he wrote. “Never again will people shell out $100 to watch two old men grab at each other for 36 minutes.”
So, what did you think of the fight? Was it worth the hundred bucks? And what could this fight mean for the future of the sport? After all, a lot of people wanted more for their money.
“I wasn’t disappointed because that’s exactly what I expected,” said Borderland Boxing trainer Louie Burke, who trains top contenders Austin Trout and Abie and Jennifer Han. “From the get-go, I said it was going to be a fight of styles and Pacquiao was going to have a hard time finding Mayweather.”
Burke said boxing isn’t dead. He pointed out that network television is starting to broadcast boxing again. In fact, Trout is scheduled to fight on network television next Saturday.
“Just like it was when i was a kid,” Burke said. “I could watch Muhammad Ali defend the world title on ABC Wide World of Sports.”
The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight grossed more than $400 million, with $300 million of that coming via three million pay-per-view buys, most of them by Hispanics. Pacquiao and Mayweather combined grossed $150,000 a second for their time in the ring.
“The next fight should probably be free making all that money, if there was a rematch, right?” joked Alex Alderete, GM of El Paso’s UFC Gym. “There definitely was a lot of people who were expecting a lot more aggressiveness, a lot more action, maybe even a knockout.”
Because of fights like Mayweather-Pacquiao, Alderete said UFC is starting to surpass boxing in popularity.
“I think it’s a little more exciting than boxing so a lot of fans are gearing more towards that,” he said.
Burke reminded every that boxing is known as “The Sweet Science.” The idea? To hit and not get hit! But Mayweather does that so well, one wonders if people would pay another $100 to see him fight again.