http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/261075.html
A new rival enters the ring
Boxing has taken a hit in popularity from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
By Paul Gutierrez - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, July 7, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C6
LAS VEGAS -- The crowd was growing restless.
A sea of tanned, tattooed and buffed bodies -- both male and female -- yearned for flying fists, thrusting knees and tap-out-inducing chokeholds delivered by guys wearing nothing more than skivvies, scars and, oftentimes, gap-toothed smiles. But there was an inordinate amount of time between bouts in the steel-caged Octagon, which harkens lions and Christians as well as Mad Max's two-men-enter-one-man-leaves Thunderdome. Highlights of past fights, previews of upcoming shows, head-thumping music and trips to the beer stand filled the pauses.
It was the finale of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's highly rated reality series "The Ultimate Fighter 5" at the Palms' Pearl venue two weeks ago. Bouts on the card were being taped for television broadcast, and because some fights ended early, there were up to 25-minute delays between matches.
Yet hardly a soul complained, and there were no fights in the stands. Pretty much everyone went home happy after spilling out of the arena onto the casino floor and mingling with the fighters, posing for pictures with their bruised-up and cauliflower-eared heroes when not getting their signatures.
It was a far cry from what typically goes down at a high-profile boxing card in Sin City, where much-hyped fights often disappoint because of a lack of in-ring action and the undercards to such megabouts leave much to be desired.
It is but one reason that the UFC, the leading brand of mixed martial arts -- called sport by some and derided as "human cockfighting" by others -- is making such inroads on boxing, which not only is struggling to thrive but to stave off a slow and painful death of irrelevancy.
And the battle for the hearts, minds and money of fight fans continues tonight at Arco Arena, where the UFC makes its second visit to Sacramento with "UFC 73: Stacked."
At the helm of the U.S.S. UFC is president Dana White, who says the fight market is big enough to support both his sport and the sweet science.
"We're obviously creating our own," said White, 36. "If you're a fight fan, you're a fight fan. I'm not the guy trying to kill boxing. Boxing is killing itself. The guys that have been running it, Bob Arum and Don King, they reached in, took the soul out of boxing and put it in their pockets."
Among boxing's problems: an alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies that have watered down what it means to be a world champion; the lack of desire by the sport's top names to face each other, lest they risk defeat and, thus, earning power; and the growing popularity of mixed martial arts.
Because whenever boxing does pit marquee fighters against each other, as when Oscar De La Hoya met Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5, the result is the fight is available only to the "beautiful people" -- the celebrities and/or privileged -- what with the exorbitant prices for tickets, which commanded $2,000 for a ringside seat. The fight also priced out the blue-collar fan with a $54.95 pay-per-view tab, but it set record numbers with 2.15 million buys and $120 million in pay-per-view revenue, giving the impression that the sport was alive and well.
Cage fighting, meanwhile, brings its events to Anytown, USA, and tickets are relatively inexpensive, though ducats for tonight's card ranged from $50 to $550, and the pay-per-view cost ranges from $39.95 to $49.95.
Even Arum, who promoted 25 of Muhammad Ali's fights and is CEO of Top Rank Promotions, grudgingly acknowledged the UFC is a threat.
"It's a bunch of white guys that can't compete in any other sport," Arum huffed. "Our product is better, but our presentation has sucked. We're losing young guys (as fans) more and more.
"If we don't start doing similar things, we'll be like horse racing, when you go to the track and there's nothing but old people."
Indeed, the UFC is making a mockery of television ratings when it comes to that much-coveted male 18-34 demographic.
Consider: The finale of Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter 5," which pitted Stockton's Nate Diaz against Manny Gamburyan, and had a main-event grudge match between B.J. Penn and Jens Pulver, blasted the HBO-televised title fight between Ricky Hatton and Jose Luis Castillo, which aired at the same time. The UFC outdrew the HBO boxing show by 153 percent for viewers in that golden demographic, and also brought in 800,000 more total viewers.
The UFC also beat the Fox national broadcast of the interleague game between the Giants and New York Yankees, as well as the NASCAR Busch Series AT&T 250 the same day for the same audience.
Still, not everyone associated with boxing sees the hybrid as a menace to its society.
"UFC ain't (expletive)," Mayweather said in the weeks leading up to his bout with De La Hoya. "It ain't but a fad. Anyone can put a tattoo in their head and get in a street fight.
"These are guys who couldn't make it in boxing so they do (mixed martial arts). Boxing is the best sport in the world, and it's here to stay."
De La Hoya was not as harsh, but his point was similar.
"Well, I don't think we're competing for the same audience," he said. "I mean, the UFC is a sport that recently was introduced to the world, to the United States, and it's obviously doing very well with the younger audience. But it doesn't have that history of boxing."
"It doesn't have the 100 years of history that our great sport has, and I think that's the difference. Boxing will always be around, but we have to ask ourselves, 'Will the UFC be around as long as boxing?' "
The numbers seem to suggest so, as long as its audience stays loyal. Plus, you can't buy the kind of mainstream publicity the UFC received with cover stories in Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine within days of each other in late May, as well as "SportsCenter" highlights.
"All sports have become so (much) about the money, they've lost the whole concept," White said. "If you go to a Lakers game, you're never going to get Kobe Bryant's autograph. You come to a (UFC show), buy your T-shirt and program, and I could almost guarantee you'll get it signed because our guys interact with the fans.
"My athletes are my teammates -- they're part of the team, and we're all building something amazing."
About the writer: The Bee's Paul Gutierrez can be reached at (916) 326-5556 or pgutierrez@sacbee.com.
A new rival enters the ring
Boxing has taken a hit in popularity from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
By Paul Gutierrez - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, July 7, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C6
LAS VEGAS -- The crowd was growing restless.
A sea of tanned, tattooed and buffed bodies -- both male and female -- yearned for flying fists, thrusting knees and tap-out-inducing chokeholds delivered by guys wearing nothing more than skivvies, scars and, oftentimes, gap-toothed smiles. But there was an inordinate amount of time between bouts in the steel-caged Octagon, which harkens lions and Christians as well as Mad Max's two-men-enter-one-man-leaves Thunderdome. Highlights of past fights, previews of upcoming shows, head-thumping music and trips to the beer stand filled the pauses.
It was the finale of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's highly rated reality series "The Ultimate Fighter 5" at the Palms' Pearl venue two weeks ago. Bouts on the card were being taped for television broadcast, and because some fights ended early, there were up to 25-minute delays between matches.
Yet hardly a soul complained, and there were no fights in the stands. Pretty much everyone went home happy after spilling out of the arena onto the casino floor and mingling with the fighters, posing for pictures with their bruised-up and cauliflower-eared heroes when not getting their signatures.
It was a far cry from what typically goes down at a high-profile boxing card in Sin City, where much-hyped fights often disappoint because of a lack of in-ring action and the undercards to such megabouts leave much to be desired.
It is but one reason that the UFC, the leading brand of mixed martial arts -- called sport by some and derided as "human cockfighting" by others -- is making such inroads on boxing, which not only is struggling to thrive but to stave off a slow and painful death of irrelevancy.
And the battle for the hearts, minds and money of fight fans continues tonight at Arco Arena, where the UFC makes its second visit to Sacramento with "UFC 73: Stacked."
At the helm of the U.S.S. UFC is president Dana White, who says the fight market is big enough to support both his sport and the sweet science.
"We're obviously creating our own," said White, 36. "If you're a fight fan, you're a fight fan. I'm not the guy trying to kill boxing. Boxing is killing itself. The guys that have been running it, Bob Arum and Don King, they reached in, took the soul out of boxing and put it in their pockets."
Among boxing's problems: an alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies that have watered down what it means to be a world champion; the lack of desire by the sport's top names to face each other, lest they risk defeat and, thus, earning power; and the growing popularity of mixed martial arts.
Because whenever boxing does pit marquee fighters against each other, as when Oscar De La Hoya met Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5, the result is the fight is available only to the "beautiful people" -- the celebrities and/or privileged -- what with the exorbitant prices for tickets, which commanded $2,000 for a ringside seat. The fight also priced out the blue-collar fan with a $54.95 pay-per-view tab, but it set record numbers with 2.15 million buys and $120 million in pay-per-view revenue, giving the impression that the sport was alive and well.
Cage fighting, meanwhile, brings its events to Anytown, USA, and tickets are relatively inexpensive, though ducats for tonight's card ranged from $50 to $550, and the pay-per-view cost ranges from $39.95 to $49.95.
Even Arum, who promoted 25 of Muhammad Ali's fights and is CEO of Top Rank Promotions, grudgingly acknowledged the UFC is a threat.
"It's a bunch of white guys that can't compete in any other sport," Arum huffed. "Our product is better, but our presentation has sucked. We're losing young guys (as fans) more and more.
"If we don't start doing similar things, we'll be like horse racing, when you go to the track and there's nothing but old people."
Indeed, the UFC is making a mockery of television ratings when it comes to that much-coveted male 18-34 demographic.
Consider: The finale of Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter 5," which pitted Stockton's Nate Diaz against Manny Gamburyan, and had a main-event grudge match between B.J. Penn and Jens Pulver, blasted the HBO-televised title fight between Ricky Hatton and Jose Luis Castillo, which aired at the same time. The UFC outdrew the HBO boxing show by 153 percent for viewers in that golden demographic, and also brought in 800,000 more total viewers.
The UFC also beat the Fox national broadcast of the interleague game between the Giants and New York Yankees, as well as the NASCAR Busch Series AT&T 250 the same day for the same audience.
Still, not everyone associated with boxing sees the hybrid as a menace to its society.
"UFC ain't (expletive)," Mayweather said in the weeks leading up to his bout with De La Hoya. "It ain't but a fad. Anyone can put a tattoo in their head and get in a street fight.
"These are guys who couldn't make it in boxing so they do (mixed martial arts). Boxing is the best sport in the world, and it's here to stay."
De La Hoya was not as harsh, but his point was similar.
"Well, I don't think we're competing for the same audience," he said. "I mean, the UFC is a sport that recently was introduced to the world, to the United States, and it's obviously doing very well with the younger audience. But it doesn't have that history of boxing."
"It doesn't have the 100 years of history that our great sport has, and I think that's the difference. Boxing will always be around, but we have to ask ourselves, 'Will the UFC be around as long as boxing?' "
The numbers seem to suggest so, as long as its audience stays loyal. Plus, you can't buy the kind of mainstream publicity the UFC received with cover stories in Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine within days of each other in late May, as well as "SportsCenter" highlights.
"All sports have become so (much) about the money, they've lost the whole concept," White said. "If you go to a Lakers game, you're never going to get Kobe Bryant's autograph. You come to a (UFC show), buy your T-shirt and program, and I could almost guarantee you'll get it signed because our guys interact with the fans.
"My athletes are my teammates -- they're part of the team, and we're all building something amazing."
About the writer: The Bee's Paul Gutierrez can be reached at (916) 326-5556 or pgutierrez@sacbee.com.
