Boxing's Dark Side II: Almost Famous? Not Even Close There are roughly 6.6 billion people in the world today. About 305 million of them live in the United States of America. New England's population is estimated at 15 million. There are several psychological factors relating to those that yearn for fame. We won't get into those too much, as they vary quite a bit anyway. To be famous, is to be widely know, which means quite a few of those 6.6 billion people are familiar with you. In part I of Boxing's Dark Side, we talked about the no credentials necessary policy that boxing has. That illusion of fame is what seems to be driving many of the people involved in boxing, and it's become a problem. We call this young generation today, "Generation Y." They're also referred to as the "Look at Me" generation. Boxing's the "Look at Me" business, and it's not thriving, because not a lot of people are looking. It seems like it would be a good idea to change that approach. Or, we could lie to ourselves, and say that "we're getting there." We can continue to lie to each other, swap success stories, and leave the room feeling like we're walking off of the Jay Leno set. To have a lot of friends in your business is nice, and it should provide some joy and happiness. The fact that your friends are in boxing, as opposed to say...electronics, shouldn't make us feel famous. There are electrical plants that have many workers, and if one of their workers are a hit at parties, he's probably as well known as 98% of the people in boxing. This wouldn't be such a "dark" issue, if it weren't hindering the sport. But it is. The concentration needed to rebuild a severely hurting sport/business, cannot be wasted trying to convince everyone that we're famous. Believe me, if you're famous, people will know it. Doesn't that stand to reason? Maybe it's too hard of a pill to swallow. Maybe some people have wanted to be famous and revered their whole life, and they feel that they've earned it. Well, they either chose the wrong business, or they need to reevaluate their standards of fame. Let's go over the numbers. 6.6 billion-That's the estimated number of people in the world. For those that aren't too familiar with that lofty digit, 1 billion is a million....1 thousand times. To picture that number, envision 1 million people on a huge mass of land. Then add another million. Then keep bringing em in by the million, a thousand times. Once you've done that, repeat that process again...5 more times. A lot of people. 305 million- That's the number of people in the USA. Most of us are more familiar with that number, although slightly. It's a great many people. 15 million- That's how many people live in New England. It's just a small fraction of the worlds population, but that's still quite a few individuals. 1,070,000- Rhode Island's population. 6,500,000- Massachusetts population. 3,500,000- Connecticut's population. If you're looking for fame, those are the numbers that should interest you. Super Bowl viewer ship is high, so are regular season NFL games. Everybody knows that boxing is no longer competing with the major sports, or any other programming really, but how many more viewers do they get? We'll throw a couple more numbers at you. 97.5 million- People that watched this years super bowl. It's always a huge game, and it keeps getting bigger. 20 million- People that watch each World Series game. Baseball isn't as popular as it once was, still though, those are good numbers. 2.1 million- People that watched Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. It was the biggest fight in many years. It was a PPV event, and it succeeded. Unfortunately, 2.1 million people aren't dishing out 50 bucks to watch fights. This was so unusual by today's standards, that they'll do it again in a few months, even though the fight wasn't very good. Still, what a drop off from the numbers above it. Those numbers are just a gauge to see where we stand. If fame is a motivating factor for you, you've got a steep hill to climb. It's human to enjoy being recognized and adored, that's a natural stimulant. It feels good, so why wouldn't we want more of it? You should want more of it, but it has to come from your family and co-workers...friends, and the like. Otherwise, you'll tell fish stories, and people will leave with a bad impression of you. Thus, they'll have a poor opinion of boxing. The other thing that won't work, is name association. People can always spot a "namedropper." When you have to prove your self worth by mentioning a more well known name, it backfires. You won't see any books at the library written by one of Adam Sandler's high school buddies. Adam Sandler is ultra famous, but his buddy isn't. It's a bad reflection on the sport when people see it's members acting in that manner. People do see it, and they smile, agree, maybe even congratulate you on your wonderful works. Then they head for home, and throw on a Patriots game. If boxing crosses their mind during that game, it's during the post-game interview. At that point, they're noticing the difference between Tom Brady's demeanor, and the boxing associate that they'd spoken to earlier. Bye bye potential boxing fan.
2.1 million is the number of PPV buys, but 2.35 was the final number. Sport bars, homes with 1 to dozens of fans etc. still count as 1 buy, so I guess around 4 to 6 people per buy is around reality, but I have no info on that. Let's say 5, that means 12 millions viewers. That's not bad. Other PPV buys getting 150k or less is bad. BAD, WCB and other HBO events getting around 1M viewers is bad. But outside of the US, boxing is pretty big in at least 10 contries.
You're also doing what a lot of ignorant Americans do and see your 305 million populus as the only viewers and fans of boxing in the whole world. North America are generally the only fans of American Football, so the 90 million you said is probably near the global amount of viewers. Boxing however is a global sport, no doubt the US ppv number for Pacquiao vs Hatton wont be overwhelming, probably around 600,000.; but if you think thats the total watching the fight globally you are much mistaken. You think some of the 90 million Fillipinos and the 68 million Britons wont be watching? Your confusing sports. Boxing you get global fame, American Football your known in North America.