I know a couple who are big fans of hockey and more specifically a regional hockey team. They are the definition of loyalty: season ticket holders for ten years running, always decked out in fan attire, their seats never empty come game time. While this particular couples’ seats were never empty, the problem within the organization last season was that most other seats were.
The solution that the organization came to, much to the chagrin of the couple, was to sell single-game seats normally reserved for season ticket holders at a lesser cost, undercutting the loyalty of the season ticket holders. The couple was furious, having been told repeatedly that they were an integral part to the organization, which no doubt would not function without the loyalty of fans.
It was at this point that a harsh realization dawned on them.
It was not them in particular who were an integral part of the organization, but their steadily incoming monetary contributions.
Business is business and loyalty is rewarded only so far as the bottom line allows.
Boxing is no different.
The fans of boxing who watch every cable fight, shell out extra for every Pay-Per-View event and are loyal to the core know that Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley is crap.
Much to their annoyance they also know that this crap that will sell.
Their loyalty has been roped off, taken a back seat to the bottom line.
This is the boxing fans harsh reality, as William Burroughs would say, their “Naked Lunch”. ”A frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork.”
It is a tough business finding out that you are insignificant to something you are passionate about and even tougher when you get a good look at the gears that make an organization move forward.
Shane Mosley, on the long list of opponents for Pacquiao, was near the bottom of most boxing fan’s Christmas list. But in the estimation of the business, anyone but Mosley wouldn’t fill the fat mans sack with toys.
You waited for a new bike and you got one with a crooked wheel, one that rode poorly on its last two trips.
Critics have not taken the announcement of the fight well.
Kevin Iole of Yahoosports wasted no time with his thoughts concerning the fight.
“You know it’s garbage. I know it’s garbage. Heck, even Bob Arum, the guy who is putting the money up to stage the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight, which will take place May 7 in Las Vegas, knows it’s garbage.”
Iole added that the reasons this match-up is happening over all other potential fights are two-fold: Mosley left Golden Boy (whom Top Rank promoter Bob Arum despises) and Mosley is beatable.
ESPN scribe Dan Rafael’s sentiments bitterly echo those of Iole.
“Arum doesn’t care,” wrote Rafael. “He only wants to do what is best for himself, certainly not for boxing. He is going to put Mosley in the ring with Pacquiao soley because of name. It’s a move that will squeeze out the last gasps of Mosley’s once-outstanding career so Arum can generate another big payday while doing a disservice to real boxing fans who actually care about the matchups and not just a famous but faded name.”
Tan Wang of NOWBOXING skewers Pacquiao as well as Arum to slow roast on the spit.
“A guy like Manny Pacquiao, who Bob Arum claims is greater than Muhammad Ali, shouldn’t be fighting old man Shane Mosley,” Wang wrote. ”If you are so great why are you fighting washed up fighters? This is a slap in the face to the sport of boxing and to the fans by Bob Arum and by Manny Pacquiao himself, the so called “Peoples Champ.””
While fans of other sports will be opening the new year with their version of a Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle we will be walking with the same old coal.
It was at this point that a harsh realization dawned on them.
It was not them in particular who were an integral part of the organization, but their steadily incoming monetary contributions.
Business is business and loyalty is rewarded only so far as the bottom line allows.
Boxing is no different.
The fans of boxing who watch every cable fight, shell out extra for every Pay-Per-View event and are loyal to the core know that Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley is crap.
Much to their annoyance they also know that this crap that will sell.
Their loyalty has been roped off, taken a back seat to the bottom line.
This is the boxing fans harsh reality, as William Burroughs would say, their “Naked Lunch”. ”A frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork.”
It is a tough business finding out that you are insignificant to something you are passionate about and even tougher when you get a good look at the gears that make an organization move forward.
Shane Mosley, on the long list of opponents for Pacquiao, was near the bottom of most boxing fan’s Christmas list. But in the estimation of the business, anyone but Mosley wouldn’t fill the fat mans sack with toys.
You waited for a new bike and you got one with a crooked wheel, one that rode poorly on its last two trips.
Critics have not taken the announcement of the fight well.
Kevin Iole of Yahoosports wasted no time with his thoughts concerning the fight.
“You know it’s garbage. I know it’s garbage. Heck, even Bob Arum, the guy who is putting the money up to stage the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight, which will take place May 7 in Las Vegas, knows it’s garbage.”
Iole added that the reasons this match-up is happening over all other potential fights are two-fold: Mosley left Golden Boy (whom Top Rank promoter Bob Arum despises) and Mosley is beatable.
ESPN scribe Dan Rafael’s sentiments bitterly echo those of Iole.
“Arum doesn’t care,” wrote Rafael. “He only wants to do what is best for himself, certainly not for boxing. He is going to put Mosley in the ring with Pacquiao soley because of name. It’s a move that will squeeze out the last gasps of Mosley’s once-outstanding career so Arum can generate another big payday while doing a disservice to real boxing fans who actually care about the matchups and not just a famous but faded name.”
Tan Wang of NOWBOXING skewers Pacquiao as well as Arum to slow roast on the spit.
“A guy like Manny Pacquiao, who Bob Arum claims is greater than Muhammad Ali, shouldn’t be fighting old man Shane Mosley,” Wang wrote. ”If you are so great why are you fighting washed up fighters? This is a slap in the face to the sport of boxing and to the fans by Bob Arum and by Manny Pacquiao himself, the so called “Peoples Champ.””
While fans of other sports will be opening the new year with their version of a Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle we will be walking with the same old coal.
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