Hi guys i posted a thread a week ago or so on how to manager a fighter from a business point of view and mentioned how Frank Warren does it very well but i did this on the main forum. Now if Warren had a prime Ali or Tyson in his hands then im sure he wouldnt be so clever with his matchmaking and even he would let them off the leash. BUT when Warren gets a good fighter who has FLAWS but is a resonable world level operator then he is at his very shrewd, cynical best. Now coming onto Amir............how would all of you market, promote Amir from now and into the next 2 years in terms of Match making? The rules are simple - Best reward/ least risk whilst mainting an abilty to pull the wool over the CASUAL fan. Also its of upmost importance that Amir is fighting fights that are winnable to keep along his status as an undefeated champ) For me........i would do it this way- Oct 2009 Versus Gavin Rees in Cardiff defending WBA (Business reasons - Fomer champion who only has one loss on the record, far to short to pose a problem for Amir and peferct for Amir to dance around him popping off shots. Big outdoor crowd in Cardiff for this fight) Mar 2010 versus Erik Morales in Las Vegas defending WBA (Perfect risk/reward fight....hopefully Morales get a tune up win and people all of sudden forget that he is far past his best an that he has never fought at 140/ Great marketing gimmick.....Amir Khan is now a certified great to the casual fan) July 2010 versus R. Hatton in London defending WBA (Hopefully by this time Hatton has got his victory over Katsis and another over an average world level operator and the HYPE goes into overdrive with 100,000 fans filling the Wembley arena out. Amir hoepfully outpoints the past Hatton and becomes a huge cross over star) I got 2 legends and one big name fighter now all with suitable angles for Amir to win) Nov 2010 J. Casamayor in Miami defending WBA ( By now Joel is 39 and having only ever fought as a smaller man provides my bussiness interest Amir with another beautiful scalp whilst providing great statistics.......4 former champiosn now) Also big cuban population in Miami........money money money. Mar 2011 versus J. L. Castillio in Manchester for a vacant strap at welterweight (At 37 the I now take the great timing of seeing a Vacant belt in the welterweight division and convince the org to let my man Amir fight Castillo.....2-time champion great marketing) June 2011 versus O. De La Hoya in Las Vegas for a vacant strap at Light-Middle (Oscar at 38 comes out of retirement in this facinating contest for the CASUAL/PUBLIC and see if Oscar can win once more or Amir is truley a legend) Come on guys lets see what we can do with cynical matchmaking...
Castillo and DLH in 2011? No chance. If Oscar comes out of retirement it won't be for Khan and I don't think Khan will be lucky enough to pick up two vacant straps in two separate divisions.
From a Marketing point of view- Yeah no chance these men would fight a for a title? Bit of convincing on my part but then we arent talking marvin hagler or sonny liston......Amir will appeal to the faded former champs as a guy who has a huge appeal in the UK market.....and a chance at glory once more. Who says no to 5 mill or more? Im also coming up with theories on putting out rumours that Amir gets the better of Pacman in training.....through a few sources. Remember i need Amir to keep winning so that he keeps making money.....we are talking critcal succes but COMMERCIAL success.
If Khan wants to carry on winning, then he's going to have to fight like he did against Kotelnik, ie: boring and not great to watch. This may make the really big fights hard to get. I can see him fighting Rees, and maybe Morales, (I hope not), but not ODLH, or Hatton for that matter.
If I was marketing Khan I would move him to regular Sky Sports. I mean it worked wonders for Hatton. And just hope Khan keeps winning until maybe he got a shot at an elite P4P fighter then have him on box-office.
'As a promoter or a fan' is the question when you're talking about marketing him. Promoter: If Warren does renew his deal with Khan then he has to make him big in America. If you want to market him in America then it would be worthwhile putting him in with some big, but faded, well known names with a low-risk attatched to the match-making aspect of it. The names also have to be big enough so as to generate enough interest for casual fans to tune in as well. That said, you could only do that for maybe two fights in a row before everyone starts getting cynical- and rightly so as well. You have to be careful. Maybe Khan's next promoter (if it's not Warren) will go for a few unification fights down the line but put Khan on a few American undercards beforehand as well. As a fan: Biggest and best fights out there, please. I'd like to see Khan take the mandatory against Salita first and then fight a unification bout: the winner of the Witter-Alexander fight if you were to promote it in the UK; the winner of the Bradley-Campbell fight if you were to promote it in the States:good.
It was from the angle of pulling the wool over the casual fan. The way they hype him up as the champion etc......when we really know hw is not is what fools the public. Hence why Warren and co can easily maufacture a legend by fighting certain fighters general public might know etc.
