Who would be big today?

[ViperSniper]

Mayweather is the biggest name in boxing at the moment, being highest paid and PPV numbers in history. By saying that, alot of his success (name wise) came from fighting Oscar De La Hoya & many things other than his actual fights.

But one of the biggest reason for Floyd's success (Manny Pacquiao and any other current fighter for that matter) has been the way boxing started finding new ways to promote a fight.

De La Hoya-Mayweather saw for the first time in years big billboards around & specials printed on beer bottles to get discounts off the card.

24/7 contributed alot in generating not just numbers but interest. A casual boxing fan or even a non sports fan needs to at least know SOMETHING about the fighters or else how will they know who they are going for, who they "think" will win or most importantly, if they'll watch the fight! Not just 24/7 either, there is also All Access and the HBO Face Offs!

Someone getting into boxing when De La Hoya became big, couldn't jump on the net and youtube his fights like now. Someone following Mayweather these days can go on the net and use google, youtube, facebook, twitter, SOCIAL MEDIA!! Social media has been a big part for a fighter to not only promote a fight but more importantly promote himself. At the end of the day, the internet hasn't gotten any smaller and is only growing.



Which leads to the question, who would be big today if they were fighting?

Keeping all of the above into consideration, the fighters I believe would have been doing big ppv numbers and been big stars would be..

Mike Tyson
Roy Jones Jr.
James Toney
Johnny Tapia
Jorge Paez
Vinny Paz
Prince Naseem
Erik Morales
Arturo Gatti
Ricardo Mayorga

Think about those fighters having their own 24/7 or Face Off. The charisma, excitement, personality they'd bring..but most importantly would win fans over inside the ring and have them talking about their next fight!

[BrutalBodyShots]

Technology is a double-edged sword with respect to PPV buys. While people can go online and research fighters, watch video etc to get them excited and possibly tip them toward purchasing a PPV, equally as many people use technology to avoid having to PPV by either streaming it or watching it a day or two later for free.

[lloyd mayflower]

Roberto Duran

[ViperSniper]

(10-03-2014 12:00 PM)BrutalBodyShots Wrote:  Technology is a double-edged sword with respect to PPV buys. While people can go online and research fighters, watch video etc to get them excited and possibly tip them toward purchasing a PPV, equally as many people use technology to avoid having to PPV by either streaming it or watching it a day or two later for free.

I didn't look at the whole streaming side of things. However, the internet (or streaming) didn't stop the biggest PPV bout from taking place either.

[BrutalBodyShots]

(10-03-2014 12:09 PM)ViperSniper Wrote:  

(10-03-2014 12:00 PM)BrutalBodyShots Wrote:  Technology is a double-edged sword with respect to PPV buys. While people can go online and research fighters, watch video etc to get them excited and possibly tip them toward purchasing a PPV, equally as many people use technology to avoid having to PPV by either streaming it or watching it a day or two later for free.

I didn't look at the whole streaming side of things. However, the internet (or streaming) didn't stop the biggest PPV bout from taking place either.

True, but mega-fights aren't what streaming is going to really impact. Use me as an example. 10-15 years ago I bought every PPV generally speaking, big or small. Now I probably buy every other one depending on how much it interests me and I stream every other one. So for me, my PPV spending has gone down 50%. All of the big fights though like DLH/Mayweather would only be marginally impacted by streaming; the cards it impacts most are the less appealing ones.

[the ollie reed fan club]

(10-03-2014 12:46 PM)BrutalBodyShots Wrote:  

(10-03-2014 12:09 PM)ViperSniper Wrote:  

(10-03-2014 12:00 PM)BrutalBodyShots Wrote:  Technology is a double-edged sword with respect to PPV buys. While people can go online and research fighters, watch video etc to get them excited and possibly tip them toward purchasing a PPV, equally as many people use technology to avoid having to PPV by either streaming it or watching it a day or two later for free.

I didn't look at the whole streaming side of things. However, the internet (or streaming) didn't stop the biggest PPV bout from taking place either.

True, but mega-fights aren't what streaming is going to really impact. Use me as an example. 10-15 years ago I bought every PPV generally speaking, big or small. Now I probably buy every other one depending on how much it interests me and I stream every other one. So for me, my PPV spending has gone down 50%. All of the big fights though like DLH/Mayweather would only be marginally impacted by streaming; the cards it impacts most are the less appealing ones.

Sal don't ruin Viper's fun with the whole 'how is streaming going to impact PPV's' scenario. Let's talk about how earlier fighter's would have done in today's PPV market.

Prime Toney and prime Jones would be doing I reckon close to a million buys per fight but for diffrenet reasons.

Not sure how Naz does but you would think having power plus speaking English plus being such a braggadocio he would have to be doing similar number to Manny.

And as for Tyson........................ Prime Tyson I would think could just about do 2 million buys regardless of opponent and for something like the Michael Spinks fight you could even be looking at 3 mill. If Tyson were around today Floyd wouldn't even be a grain of sand on a beach.

[and the NEW]

Ray Robinson.

He wins, non-stop.
He knocks people out brutally and spectacularly - including a death in the ring that he even predicted (imagine that on HBO 24/7).
He led an incredible lifestyle from his pink cadillac, his dwarf court jester and imagine Frank Sinatra walking him out ;-) That tops Lil Wayne or Justin Bieber any day!
He had very weird tendencies - wouldn't ride an elevator, had his entire house wired up so he could hear everything (imagine that on 24/7).
He presented the perfect public image (father of the year award) but had a very dark side, beating his wife and hoarding hookers at a hotel down the road.
He had the perfect social proof - all the other great fighters calling him the greatest fighter of all-time. No need to coin yourself TBE.
He had a great back story - came from abject poverty, changed his name at an amateur fight where he filled in for another boy, and was the bag boy for Joe Louis.

He did all this and had incredible fame in a day when most black fighters (Charley Burley, Holman Williams et al) were relegated to fighting eachother.

Can you even imagine how bigger PPV star he would have been!

[FernandoDaDonLOM]

PRINCE NASEEM would be big in any era!!!

[Fitz]

(10-03-2014 12:46 PM)BrutalBodyShots Wrote:  

(10-03-2014 12:09 PM)ViperSniper Wrote:  

(10-03-2014 12:00 PM)BrutalBodyShots Wrote:  Technology is a double-edged sword with respect to PPV buys. While people can go online and research fighters, watch video etc to get them excited and possibly tip them toward purchasing a PPV, equally as many people use technology to avoid having to PPV by either streaming it or watching it a day or two later for free.

I didn't look at the whole streaming side of things. However, the internet (or streaming) didn't stop the biggest PPV bout from taking place either.

True, but mega-fights aren't what streaming is going to really impact. Use me as an example. 10-15 years ago I bought every PPV generally speaking, big or small. Now I probably buy every other one depending on how much it interests me and I stream every other one. So for me, my PPV spending has gone down 50%. All of the big fights though like DLH/Mayweather would only be marginally impacted by streaming; the cards it impacts most are the less appealing ones.

Yeah, but back then, they didn't have anywhere near as many PPV's as they have today and they weren't PPV'ing fights like they have recently with some of the Chavez Jr and so cards.
Many more these days and a lot more fights that are PPV that probably would have been on a network all those years back.

[ChadDaElite]

(10-03-2014 06:46 PM)and the NEW Wrote:  Ray Robinson.

He wins, non-stop.
He knocks people out brutally and spectacularly - including a death in the ring that he even predicted (imagine that on HBO 24/7).
He led an incredible lifestyle from his pink cadillac, his dwarf court jester and imagine Frank Sinatra walking him out ;-) That tops Lil Wayne or Justin Bieber any day!
He had very weird tendencies - wouldn't ride an elevator, had his entire house wired up so he could hear everything (imagine that on 24/7).
He presented the perfect public image (father of the year award) but had a very dark side, beating his wife and hoarding hookers at a hotel down the road.
He had the perfect social proof - all the other great fighters calling him the greatest fighter of all-time. No need to coin yourself TBE.
He had a great back story - came from abject poverty, changed his name at an amateur fight where he filled in for another boy, and was the bag boy for Joe Louis.

He did all this and had incredible fame in a day when most black fighters (Charley Burley, Holman Williams et al) were relegated to fighting eachother.

Can you even imagine how bigger PPV star he would have been!

but mayweather restrains and shakes around his ex-wife a bit in order to calm her down and all of a sudden he's the devil.

also, frank sinatra bigger than bieber and lil wayne combined? please. did old blue eyes have millions of followers on twitter and people paying attention to his every move, 24/7? didn't think so.