There’s no defending the conspired commercial ploy, a down-and-dirty business deal crafted among promoters, boxers and television enablers.
Gone are the golden days when boxing, much like art, was viewed for its aesthetic value, for its controlled violence and the bonding emotional effect it had on its viewers.
In the Gilded Age, we must bear witness to the corrosive effects of capitalism, a pollutant that puts a price tag on the innate entertainment value of all sporting events, but especially boxing.
By now you’ve heard that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. missed the deadline set by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to agree to fight Manny Pacquiao. If just for a moment, let us all acknowledge the obvious: Mayweather-Pacquiao is commodity fetishism passed off as necessity.
In search of this generation of sports’ national treasure, we reflect nostalgically on Thrilla in Manila — the finale to a trilogy featuring the sharp-tongued Muslim poet Muhammad Ali and an at-the-twilight-of-his-career Joe Frazier, spilling pure emotion out onto a bare-naked canvas — hoping and grasping desperately at every present-day fight said to be legendary.
Supposedly, Mayweather-Pacquiao is boxing’s lifeblood, the defibrillator to shock interest back into a breathless fan base and an on-its-deathbed sport. In truth, Mayweather and Pacquiao are nothing more than cash cows, milking the American system, a system that allows second-at-best main events to be sold at first-rate prices.
Adding to the mystery behind Mayweather’s decision not to respond by the deadline is the fact that Pacquiao’s camp had apparently worked out agreements about blood testing and tabled the lawsuit filed against Mayweather and his ilk for subtle assertions that Pacquiao was somehow linked to performance-enhancing drugs — qualms that tanked the two’s last fight negotiations.
Of course, Mayweather’s detractors will say that the 33-year-old is trying to bob and weave his way out of fighting Pacquiao. If that were the case, Mayweather’s camp would have never approached Pacquiao’s handlers about the two ever stepping foot in the ring.
When the curtain is pulled back, it’s apparent this isn’t about Floyd’s uncle Roger Mayweather’s impending legal issues weighing on the younger Mayweather’s conscience; nor should it be argued that Mayweather is concerned about tarnishing his legacy, though such a mega-fight would undoubtedly varnish it.
This comes down to simple economics.
There’s a reason his nickname is “Money.” Always aware of his own self-worth, Mayweather knows pulling out is an effective method of — you guessed it — increasing consumerism. Through it all, Mayweather has drastically driven up the fight’s demand while shortchanging viewers on the supply.
As an intended consequence of stalled negotiations, the toil and trouble of acquiring the bout has supercharged the luxury tax people will dole out if (and when) the match becomes a reality. For that reason, we are all spectators to a nationwide auction, in which the fight goes to the highest pay-per-view bidders.
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More troubling, the boxing narrative enables such a holdout.
There exists this deep-rooted mystification about the current nature of the sport. It’s the bane of boxing, the concept that it has to be on its last breath to sustain its vitality, a belief system that enhances and hampers the sport’s credibility and continued success.
Out of these hysterical delusions that boxing is fading to oblivion, we’ve emboldened Mayweather and Pacquiao to believe they are the sport’s resurrectionists.
And so, much like politicos, Mayweather and Pacquiao are divorced from the interests of the people. Because the sport is plagued by politics, by the time all the hand-wringing, negotiations and concessions are squared away, we are often forced to watch geriatric boxers going toe-to-toe.
But, in the same breath, the false consciousness that is fed to the public by those that shape the boxing narrative stokes the hype hearth, convincing the clueless that Mayweather-Pacquiao is somehow on the same level as Ali-Frazier III.
The fact that Mayweather has already generated $292 million in revenue in six pay-per-view fights for broadcaster HBO, according to CNN, is a testament to the flourishing boxing industry. That Mayweather and Pacquiao’s posse believe the two are deliverers feeding an attention-starved sport is as unfortunate as it is misguided.
Mayweather and Pacquiao are the poor man’s version of Ali and Frazier. It’s just a shame nobody recognizes the sham, and when the fight finally happens, the two will be even richer than they already are.
