With boxers getting paid more than ever, are fans getting the right value for those big purses?
Bob Arum recently reacted to the big fight cards that took place last weekend, which had some of the biggest names in the sport. Devin Haney made his comeback against Jose Ramirez. While he secured a unanimous decision win, he suffered immense backlash for his style. He only landed 70 punches, while Ramirez connected with 40, making it the fifth-lowest fight recorded on CompuBox for punches. This is despite Haney working with Shane Mosley, with a view to increasing his power.
Ryan Garcia’s loss to Rolando Romero was a shock, as he looked miles away from the fighter who punished Haney in the fight before he eventually failed VADA tests for Ostarine. Ryan was rocked with a left hook in the second round, which sent him to the canvas. He was never in any danger of being stopped, but he went gun-shy for the rest of the fight.
Even Canelo Alvarez failed to excite the Saudi crowd in an undisputed Super Middleweight Title Fight. It became a fight with the lowest punches thrown, as per CompuBox. Luckily, for boxing fans, Naoya Inoue delivered a thrilling fight to stop Ramon Cardenas in a pulsating encounter. While those cards had big names, the lack of excitement has led Arum to question whether boxers are still hungry.
Arum Reacts
“Who knows with these guys getting so much money what their incentive is to really perform. I mean, look what happened. Let’s be honest, Canelo was in a not a very good fighter on Saturday and he was getting $50M to fight him and he had already been promised $100M to fight Crawford. So why would he take a chance, right? But that’s no good for boxing.
“Now see in the old days when we had a fighter like Sugar Ray Leonard or Oscar De La Hoya doing a fight, they had a reason to really give the crowd an entertaining fight because their next fight had already been agreed to but they stood to make extra money from the PPV, from the gate, so there was always an incentive for them to look good.
“Now the incentive is gone because they promise great money for their next fight and the only sure way they’re going to get it is to not engage in a fight. I mean Devin Haney is a very good fighter. You saw the fight with Ramirez, that was a disgrace. That was an absolute disgrace. But if you’re Devin Haney and you’re getting good money for the fight with Ramirez and you’re going to get super money to fight Garcia — because he assumed Garcia would win — then why would he take any risks? But that’s not for boxing, that’s terrible for boxing,” Arum said
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