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by David P. Greisman - The trash talk, if it could even be characterized as such, was rather tame in the build-up to the rematch between Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao. This was not for lack of trying on the part of those involved with marketing the event and the media covering it.
The combat sports cannot count on geographical loyalties as their primary form of support, not in the way that pro and college teams do. There aren’t thousands or tens of thousands automatically filling arenas and stadiums to root raucously for whichever players happen to be donning the uniform that season. While some fighters have local fan bases, the greater goal is to reach a wider audience, never mind a worldwide one.
Those larger audiences only come if people care about the personalities involved, the physicality to come, or both. And so boxing, mixed martial arts and the “sports entertainment” that is professional wrestling have long found a way to spotlight outsized personalities, to turn up the temperature on heated rivalries until they reach their boiling point, or, when necessary, to manufacture the marketing — all so as to create interest in outcomes and cultivate a conflict around the conflict.
This is why we’ve been drawn to and drawn in by Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, a trilogy in which what happened outside of the ring was just as notable as what happened in it; by the compelling character that was Mike Tyson, whose train wreck moments were simultaneously encouraged and condemned; and even by the endless bickering and back-and-forth between boxers, managers, promoters and network executives, quotes that feed article after article and which fit perfectly into the 24/7 appetite for all things boxing between those nights when the actual boxing is happening. [Click Here To Read More]
The combat sports cannot count on geographical loyalties as their primary form of support, not in the way that pro and college teams do. There aren’t thousands or tens of thousands automatically filling arenas and stadiums to root raucously for whichever players happen to be donning the uniform that season. While some fighters have local fan bases, the greater goal is to reach a wider audience, never mind a worldwide one.
Those larger audiences only come if people care about the personalities involved, the physicality to come, or both. And so boxing, mixed martial arts and the “sports entertainment” that is professional wrestling have long found a way to spotlight outsized personalities, to turn up the temperature on heated rivalries until they reach their boiling point, or, when necessary, to manufacture the marketing — all so as to create interest in outcomes and cultivate a conflict around the conflict.
This is why we’ve been drawn to and drawn in by Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, a trilogy in which what happened outside of the ring was just as notable as what happened in it; by the compelling character that was Mike Tyson, whose train wreck moments were simultaneously encouraged and condemned; and even by the endless bickering and back-and-forth between boxers, managers, promoters and network executives, quotes that feed article after article and which fit perfectly into the 24/7 appetite for all things boxing between those nights when the actual boxing is happening. [Click Here To Read More]
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