Why we're getting De La Hoya - Pacquiao

Over the years I've been a huge defender of Oscar De La Hoya. That said, I've never considered Oscar an authentically great fighter, for one reason, he's not. Having said that, I like the fact that Oscar never ducked a fighter who was a perceived threat, nor has he ever fought not to lose or avoid getting hurt. Make no mistake, De La Hoya is tough and has plenty of heart.

In his big fights from 147 an up where the outcome wasn't conclusive, (I say 147 because I feel Oscar won a majority of his fights on the scales from 130-140) I think he drew with Whitaker, pulled the Quartey fight out with a 2-point 12th round, clearly beat Trinidad, and clearly lost to Mosley. I had him beating Mosley by a point at 154 (I saw it on TV, not live), and drawing with Sturm at 160.

I have always felt that De La Hoya thought if he could've beat Bernard Hopkins in 2004, he would've insured and secured his legacy. And since he was stopped by him, he's been looking for a fight to secure his legacy the way Sugar Ray Leonard did by beating Marvin Hagler. Remember, Sugar Ray Leonard is the fighter Oscar most compares and measures himself with.

In my opinion this all stems from De La Hoya never having won one of his signature fights in an impression fashion. I believe that Oscar is still looking for that career defining win, and that was the reason he fought Floyd Mayweather last year, and the reason he's fighting Manny Pacquiao this year. Like Mayweather then, Pacquiao is now considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in boxing. What a great way for Oscar De La Hoya to go out, beating the best fighter in boxing two months before he turns 36. That's why he's fighting Manny. See, Pacquiao is the perfect fit. He's a draw, along with being an exciting fighter, who's fearless and some see him as having a punchers chance....Wrong.

Oscar is too big, strong, and just fluid enough in style to decision Manny Pacquiao on December 6th 2008. He'll make another fortune, and he'll retire having defeated boxing best fighter. To which will cloud the judgment of many fight observers, and enhance his legacy to the ill informed or those having cookbook boxing insight. That's why he's fighting Manny Pacquiao! In a way, he goes out of boxing the way he entered it, beating up on guys smaller than him.

Who Are The Real Pirates?

The core component of boxing’s business model in North America over the past two decades has been pay-per-view television. Fights which used to air for free on broadcast or cable television now cost the consumer 50 bucks or more per pop.

Not coincidentally, boxing in North America has declined and been marginalized over this same period, as the product took itself out of the public spotlight and protected it behind this pricey wall. We now have an entire generation in these parts which has never seen a major world title fight live on television.

In Europe and Asia, where most boxing is still on non-pay TV, the sport is growing, often drawing huge crowds to arenas and sports stadiums, a phenomenon not seen in North American in decades.

At the same time, HBO, the principal architect of this business model, has become an incredibly profitable business, annually bringing in about $1.2 billion in profits – that’s just profits, not revenue.

Even with competition from satellite TV and now Verizon’s FiOS, cable TV rates keep rising, and disgusted consumers are caught in this profit assault.

Working around these profiteers used to be difficult. You had to buy a pirate box and hope it worked as promised. Soon, the cable companies would find a way to disable it, often through upgrading their own technology.

Now our beloved Internet has changed all that. All you need to do is find a web site which streams whatever you want to watch. Some of them require you to download a media player, but some others do not. All you have to do is go to a web site, just like you went to this one or any other site.

This is rarely discussed by that technophobic bunch known as boxing writers, most of whom grope around for a letter-opener when told they have an e-mail. Ask them what they have downloaded recently, and they’ll say their doctors told them it wasn’t serious.

We speak the truth here. It is not our task to protect whoever’s business model is being rendered obsolete by the growth of technology and the Internet. We just tell it like it is.

One of the most popular sites streaming these shows is SopCast.

You will see all “seven dirty words” in a row on these boxing “news” sites before you see that name mentioned.

What is being streamed is openly discussed on forums like the MyP2P Forum, which has a special section for fans of various combat sports.

That’s the reality, like it or not, legal or not. They may be offering pirate streams which violate copyright laws and which offer no compensation to their owners, but they also generally do not charge or make a profit from these streams.

When faced with the growth of peer-to-peer file sharing a decade ago, instead of adapting to the new technology, the music industry decided to declare war on consumers. That is leading to the destruction of the traditional record companies, with popular artists like Madonna distributing their music directly online, or though alternate services like iTunes and others.

The boxing business first has to get a clue that this is happening, which is not even likely until it is too late for them. The only major promoter taking seriously using the Internet to stream fights, and possibly for free, is Don King. Thus far, however, his DonKingTV.com seems more experimental than anything.

True, it will take some time before these p2p and other services can handle mass traffic. But storage and bandwidth are becoming cheaper and more plentiful all the time, and Internet users are becoming smarter as well.

There is almost no discussion in our obsolete boxing media about the obsolete pay-per-view model. One article which does refer to this phenomenon, “Do Not Pirate This Saturday’s Pay-Per-View” by John Chavez on BoxingConfidential.com, oddly argues that it is OK to pirate most boxing shows, but not Saturday’s Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito showdown: “If you call yourself a boxing fan and choose to pirate this Saturday’s Pay-Per-View bout, in essence you’re telling HBO and the other major players in boxing that exciting style match-ups still won’t entice you to purchase the event. To support this weekend’s match is to support boxing as a whole as it will point to the fact that we are educated fight fans that know good from bad.”

I would respond that it is better to be consistent, and either eschew pirating altogether as unethical, or eschew pay-per-view altogether as unethical pirating of the consumers.

Granted, something in-between may be more practical for many people, but once you open the door to pirating as acceptable, it is hard to argue that sometimes it is OK while at other times it is not.

In the end, different groups of people just have different economic interests. And many of them may be pirates of one sort and size or another. You just have to choose, or realize, which type, if any, you are.

SecondsOut Radio: Charles Farrell, Cotto-Margarito

SecondsOut Radio with Eddie Goldman

On this week's edition of SecondsOut Radio, host Eddie Goldman begins by criticizing the build-up for this coming Saturday's important welterweight title fight between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. In particular, the pay-per-view model, the reliance on nationalism, and the failure to use the Internet properly are singled out.

In our interview this week, we speak with the award-winning boxing writer Charles Farrell. In a lengthy and candid discussion, the topics include the Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito fight, the controversy arising from this past Wednesday's rematch between heavyweights James Toney and Hasim Rahman, the major injury suffered by Oscar Diaz in his fight with Delvin Rodriguez this past Wednesday which required emergency brain surgery, and more.

It is free to listen to SecondsOut Radio, but you must register to gain access to it. Just click here, and listen, learn, and enjoy.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman
http://eddiegoldman.com

Pavlik-Hopkins

Pavlik-Hopkins. October 18. Atlantic City. HBO Pay-Per-View.

Are you excited yet?

Boxing is Run by Complete Idiots, Part 651,909

After getting sick of having everyone tell me that they couldn’t hear me on my aging cell phone, I finally decided to retire it and replace it with a new one Friday afternoon. The one I had, like Arturo Gatti, was once pretty good and very durable, but it had taken far too much punishment, and was now starting to bleed much too easily.

I went to my favorite T-Mobile store where I have purchased all my phones. I’m quite satisfied with the service, and having been involved in telephone company evaluations in another lifetime, that is quite an endorsement from me (make checks payable to “Eddie Goldman”).

A young man helped me make this cell phone transition, setting up the new phone and handling the paperwork, while we chatted. Judging from his name, he was of either Russian or Eastern European origin, although by his accent he had either been born in America or had moved here a long time ago.

After we had some techie talk about new cell phones coming soon like the Google phone (actually a phone running a Google-devised operating system) and similar stuff, he asked me if I had watched the soccer game yesterday. I said I hadn’t, and, in an instant, added that I watch boxing (interesting that this was my first reaction considering some other sports I cover).

He perked up and said he, too, likes boxing, and asked me whether I liked the heavyweights or the lightweights. I said these days the heavyweights were awful, and that Saturday there would be an interesting lightweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and David Diaz.

Now one of his co-workers came over to join our little discussion, and he said he expects Pacquiao to win. So here, out of the blue, I had discovered two young, knowledgeable boxing fans.

Then I said to these obviously tech-savvy guys that while the fight was on pay-per-view, you could watch it for free online.

Now my helpful retail sales representative, as I believe they are called, smiled broadly, and nodded. He said he knows all about these sites, and implied that this was how he would watch this fight live.

So there it is once again. Boxing still has a lot more young fans than the ruling networks and promoters realize. These fans just aren’t coughing up 45 or 50 bucks a month to HBO pay-per-view when they can watch these same fights, and even more, for free through a site like SopCast.

When a sport’s business model is based upon relying on obsolete technology that has already been bypassed by new, user-friendly services available to almost anyone with a computer and a high-speed Internet connection, then it needs a major change.

But while I realized that I had to retire and replace my cell phone ASAP, how long will it be before the dinosaurs running this sport will come to a similar conclusion?

By The Way, Pacquiao vs. Marquez 2 Saturday

Is it just me, or is there a surprisingly little amount of buzz for Saturday’s long-delayed rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez? There has been the requisite number of news releases, teleconference calls, e-mails, articles, and even a countdown show, but the anticipation you would think a rematch involving these two top ten fighters, who fought to a split draw almost four years ago, seems lacking.

Perhaps it is because we are still awed by Vazquez-Marquez 3 just two weeks ago, or still disgusted at the two recent heavyweight title fight stinkers. Maybe the incessant use of nationalism to hype fights like this has dampened the enthusiasm of those not from the Philippines or Mexico. Maybe it is a regional issue, with more build-up out West than in the Big Apple, where I roam.

Their first fight, from May 8, 2004, will be replayed in the U.S. on HBO2 Friday, March 14/early Saturday morning March 15, at 12:30 AM (ET/PT), and Saturday, March 15, at 9:30 AM (ET/PT). The rematch, from Las Vegas, is on HBO Pay-Per-View, Saturday night, March 15. It may be expensive, but it should get interesting.