Hopkins vs Calzaghe! 4/19/08!!!!

[Akileese]

ESPN - Calzaghe, Hopkins set light heavyweight bout for April in Vegas - Boxing

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to call every big wig I know and score tickets.

[arkk91]

Originally Posted by Akileese

ESPN - Calzaghe, Hopkins set light heavyweight bout for April in Vegas - Boxing

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to call every big wig I know and score tickets.

I love Hopkins, especially since im a homer, but I don't see him winning that fight.

[Lyrical]

People still watch boxing? It seems so old and stodgy compared to MMA. I haven't gotten excited about boxing since I paid $50 to see one guy bite the other guy's ear off.

[Akileese]

It's just awesome since people always say that Calzaghe doesn't fight any Americans (pretty much a moot point now since Europe has at least equal talent to the U.S), so it's a bit of a dream fight.

[arkk91]

Originally Posted by Lyrical

People still watch boxing? It seems so old and stodgy compared to MMA. I haven't gotten excited about boxing since I paid $50 to see one guy bite the other guy's ear off.

Cause MMA is so much more popular than Boxing in the US...

riiiiiight.

[Thorpe]

I really enjoyed watching Hopkins fight Oscar de la Hoya in 2004. Hopefully this fight can be much of the same. Not to mention he's from Philadelphia.

[Dinthug]

riiiiiiiiight is riiiiiiiiight

Even boxing's staple for decades-pay per view (PPV)-has been failing them in the battle to stay on top as the world's combat sport of choice. According to Zuffa LLC- the company that owns the UFC- UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz II on December 30, 2006, netted 1.2 million PPV buys. At $39.95 per purchase that adds up to 47.94 million. In the same year, the highest grossing boxing event-Ricardo Mayorga versus Oscar De La Hoya-drew only 925,000 PPV purchases. Coming with a price tag of $49.95 per buy, this event totaled 46.2 million in revenue.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by Lyrical

People still watch boxing? It seems so old and stodgy compared to MMA. I haven't gotten excited about boxing since I paid $50 to see one guy bite the other guy's ear off.

I watch every major pay per view. I dont pay 50 bucks for the fights, but i watch them. I will be watching this one as well. I seen the Roy Jones fight on Sat as well. IT was fairly entertaining to watch as well.

[Akileese]

And this is HBO, not PPV. Also, I believe Mayweather/DLH did more buys than any UFC show.

[Ironhawk]

I have never purchased a boxing PPV. Boxing is a great sport, I appreciate the technique in it but I find it boring as fuck to watch. I have no passion for it, so that's just me.

[arkk91]

Originally Posted by Akileese

And this is HBO, not PPV. Also, I believe Mayweather/DLH did more buys than any UFC show.

And it wasn't even the highest grossing ever.

More people know who Mayweather or De La Hoya, in comparison to Tito or Fedor.

This may not be the case for ever, but no MMA ppv fight is going to draw anything close to what, I dunno, a DLH/Mayweather rematch would draw. Shit, even a fight between Cotto/Mayweather would be monumental in terms of PPV buys.

[Akileese]

I say 4 years and UFC will dominate Boxing. It's like VHS/DVD.

[Believe]

Who gives a flying fuck about MMA vs Boxing.

MMA is about brutal brawls, Boxing is a beautiful science. Both can co-exist and be appreciated for what they are - and neither are disappearing any time soon.


Anyways, looking forward to this fight. I may try to see it, but depends if I'm able to travel to Vegas from DLI (if I'm in a high enough phase by then). I'd have to put my money on Calzaghe. His fight vs Kessler was incredible.


PS: Comparing the best selling fight for for MMA vs a 'meh' boxing match is pretty laughable. Mayorga is a piece of shit.

[Grimmlokk]

Originally Posted by Believe

PS: Comparing the best selling fight for for MMA vs a 'meh' boxing match is pretty laughable. Mayorga is a piece of shit.

Was a comparison of the best selling match for both sports that year(2006), but if I recall the DLH/PBF fight broke 2.4 million buys. And Mayweather's fight with Hatton was over 1 million also. Boxing still draws bigger individual numbers for the true blockbuster fights, it's just that there's been less of them than ever before unfortunately, until recently.

That BS out of the way, I'm really glad this fight got signed finally. It had all been pretty much worked out except for the signatures for awhile now, would have really been depressing if Hatton hadn't signed(apparently he was the one holding it up?).

And now they're saying the DLH/PBF rematch is getting closer to happening, September 13th. Though Cotto/DLH is also likely. This is all a good direction for boxing, for the last few years there has been a huge derth of real showcase matches above the 135 division. I guess the decreasing revenues and paydays finally got the promoters and matchmakers to decide they have to put their meal tickets in the ring against serious competition with some real risk to get back in the limelight.

Now if only the heavyweight division could quit fucking about(what are there, 15 different champs now?). It would be a huge shot in the arm for boxing if a young exciting fighter showed up at heavyweight, a new Mike Tyson, minus some of the crazy. Hopefully Sam Peter is legit, but his chin is questionable and his technique still looks sloppy(though noticably better than it did just 2 years ago). Feh, I love good matches at any weight, but damn do I miss the serious heavyweight clashes.

[Araxen]

Here are the numbers:

TOP N. AMERICAN BUY RATES, 2007*
• 1. Boxing: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, May 5: 2,400,000
• 2. Boxing: Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton, Dec. 8: 850,000
• 3. WWE: Wrestlemania, April 1: 760,000
• 4. UFC: Chuck Liddell vs. Quinton Jackson, May 26: 675,000
• 5. UFC: Tim Sylvia vs. Randy Couture, March 3: 540,000
• 6. UFC: Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga, Aug. 24: 520,000
• 7. UFC: Liddell vs. Keith Jardine, Sept. 22: 475,000
• 8. UFC: Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans, July 7: 425,000
• 9. UFC: Anderson Silva vs. Travis Lutter, Feb. 2: 400,000
• 10. UFC: Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra, April 7: 400,000
• 11. Boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Marco Antonio Barrera, Oct. 6: 350,000
• 12. WWE: SummerSlam, Aug. 26: 344,000
• 13. Boxing: Miguel Cotto vs. Shane Mosley, Nov. 10: 340,000
• 14. UFC: Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin, Oct. 20: 325,000
• 15. WWE: Royal Rumble, Jan. 28: 314,000
*Numbers not yet available for UFC 78 and 79, which are expected to crack the top 15. Source: Wrestling Observer.

The business of MMA in 2008 - MMA - Yahoo! Sports