Is There a Future for 'the Fight Night Club'?

" I’m really impressed with the fan support, the atmosphere and everything. You’ve been there, you’ve seen it, it’s a great atmosphere," says Schaefer. ’Fight Night Club’ is not placed in your usual setting. Club Nokia is just that, a club, where the ring is set up on a stage, seats are on the balcony and standing room only tickets place you right in front of the ring, below the platform area. In between rounds, a deejay spins the latest trendy song and alcohol can be purchased at will at the bar. The Grand Olympic Auditorium, it ain’t. This setting is all part of Golden Boy’s ’ Hunger to get Younger’ mission statement. " We are definitely going to continue. Versus, we are told is exiting boxing altogether, so Versus will no longer be involved but we had some promising conversations with Fox Sports Net and they are interested and we are already exchanging deal points, deal memo’s. So I hope Fox Sports is going to pick it up."

FSN in recent years has scaled back their coverage of boxing. Late in 2008, they announced that they would be doing a monthly series devoted to international fights that has been shelved after they aired the bout between Carl Froch and Jean Pascal. ’ The Best Damn Fight Night’ is a thing of the past. Golden Boy’s series is also streamed and archived on the internet. But the question is, can it work without a television outlet?

" Oh, I think so, because let me put it like this, if there is going to be TV, great, but if there’s going to be no TV, that’s fine, too. I’m committed to do this because I really think there is a need for that. There’s a market for that in Los Angeles to have a regular show like that in such a great venue and give these young kids an opportunity to display their talents," said Schaefer, who’s goal is to develop fledgling fighters like Huerta, Rios and Ramos to a point where they can one day move across the street and headline at the STAPLES Center." But obviously, my hope is to have a television partner and I am confident, one way or the other, we will find a TV partner."

If boxing, like DirecTV, is no longer associated with Versus, it ends one of the most unproductive disappointing runs in recent memories. When they first entered the sport they carried with it great promise, but they made a common mistake in handing over the reigns of their boxing programming exclusively to one content provider- Top Rank- who saddled them with Tye Fields, one too many times. They then became the latest network to find out that people stopped caring about ’the Contender’ around 2005. But as they finally opened things up, they were able to televise compelling fights like Tomasz Adamek and Steve Cunningham.

It’s not as if Golden Boy is given a lucrative license fee from the network. In fact, they themselves pay for most, if not all, of the production costs themselves and they are armed with sponsors like Quaker State, to subsidize the show. It is alarming, though, that another entity has abandoned boxing.

But Schaefer, sees a bright future for the sport." Well, it’s not good but at the same time we saw the writing on the wall there. I’m not really that shocked, to tell you the truth. I do think when you are going to see how well this fight( Mayweather-Marquez) has done and how sponsors are coming back to the sport, I am convinced that this will open other avenues for other networks. They’re going to say,’ Hey, y’know what? Sponsors are coming back, we should be in boxing.’"

And he believes that in comparison to other major sports, boxing is a relatively low cost alternative.

" The fact is, the way license fee’s are going for other sports, be it basketball, football, college football, baseball, all these other sports, content has become very expensive for many of these television networks. So I do think that with the return of blue-chip sponsors to the sport of boxing, this will open doors. It will open doors for other networks to come. I am convinced by the way, that Univision, Telefutura, will eventually come back to boxing. I am convinced that ESPN will continue, they actually did pretty well from a ratings point of view. Tecate, as you heard this weekend in Las Vegas, they made a strong commitment to the sport of boxing. As a matter of fact, they have committed their entire sports marketing to boxing. And this is one of the largest beer brands in the world.

" So I’m not really that pessimistic to tell you the truth. I’m more optimistic today than I was six, nine months ago. So I like what I see. I like the way these fights are performing, I like the ratings I see, the pay-per-view numbers, I see fans coming and supporting these fights at all levels."

While the familiar storyline of the MMA/UFC overrunning boxing continues to be told, the truth of the matter is that the boxing business post-De La Hoya in 2009 has had a resurgence, where you see overflowing crowds in Los Angeles for the Shane Mosley-Antonio Margarito battle in January and in Houston when Juan Manuel Marquez faced Juan Diaz. Schaefer, expects a full sell-out on Thanksgiving weekend when Lucian Bute and Librado Andrade go at it again in Quebec.

" I think the key is," surmised Schaefer," promoters realized you have to make good, solid fights and fight fans are embracing it."

BUZZ KILLED

As I type this story out on Wednesday morning the official pay-per-view figures for this past weekends fight had not been released. But all indications are that it will do very, very well. Perhaps, if truth be told, well above the expectations that Golden Boy and HBO PPV had themselves.

My gut feel is that it did outstanding. Why?

Well, maybe it’s just me and perhaps it’s because I’m so insulated in the boxing world, but I don’t hear much post-fight buzz about the UFC 103 that took place at the same time. Dana White had basically gone on a one-man crusade against ’Numero Uno’ and Mayweather, but the fact of the matter is, it’s Mayweather’s performance and his future prospects that are being talked about by the general media.

That has to mean something, right?

Also a few other thoughts....

- Hate him or love him, this proves that Mayweather is a marquee attraction, whether you like it or not. You can’t deny the numbers. Most boxing insiders believed that his fight with Marquez would be lucky to do 500,000 buys, well, it looks like he’ll be well north of that figure. Hey, every story needs a black hat or foil. He’s more than willing to play that role. You may dislike him personally or his style inside the ring, but a lot of you want to see his block knocked off. Think about it, what would the WWE( back then the WWF) have been with a Rowdy Roddy Piper to go with a Hulk Hogan.( And yes, I just made a reference to wrestling. Yeah, I use to watch, so sue me.)

I’ve gotten more than a few emails from fans stating how they will never be sucked in again by Mayweather or his fights. Trust me, I’ve heard that before. You’ll be back, you guys can’t help yourself.

- Unlike past years, boxing will do about three major pay-per-view shows. There was Pacquiao-Hatton, Mayweather-Marquez and then on November 14th, Pacquiao-Cotto. I think the lesson here is very simple- less is more. Simply put, what constituted a big pay-per-view had been completely watered down and boxing fans were getting sick and tired of having to shell out for eight or nine shows a year at 50 bucks a pop. The reality is that pay-per-view should be an option for the really, really big promotions or the smaller shows/series like ’Latin Fury’. Everything else in between, the fighters need to be on the biggest platforms available, whether that be Showtime, HBO, ESPN, FSN, CNN or PBS.

It wasn’t that long ago that Shane Mosley-Zab Judah was going to be on pay-per-view.

- You’ve got to hand it to Golden Boy, listen, promoting a De La Hoya fight is like being the jockey for Secratariat or coaching the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. It isn’t all that difficult. But they defied the odds here and really came up big. I think they really found something in their ’Hunger to get Younger’ campaign and set the template for the way boxing should be promoted in the 21st century. I hope other promoters take notice. It isn’t just enough to hold a conference call with reporters and do a few press conferences, anymore.

They showed that there is life after ’the Golden Boy’ for not only themselves, but for the overall boxing industry if it continues to evolve in the way they promote and market their events.

- I know that down the line, should ’the Pac Man’ defeat Cotto, everyone will clamor for a showdown between Mayweather and Pacquiao, but here’s a line of thinking that I was told: what if Mayweather-Marquez does so well and Pacquiao-Cotto does it’s expected numbers, that both sides believe that they deserve the upper hand in the revenue split?

Yeah, I can already see this happening.

OCT. 10TH

Schaefer says that the return of Vazquez on October 10th will be broadcast by HBO Plus. The only problem is that nobody in the States can really get that channel.

" My understanding is that they are working out a deal with ESPN Deportes going forward, where the HBO Plus fights will be shown with ESPN Deportes," explained Schaefer.

OK, but what if you don’t have ESPN Deportes, either?

CLUB FLURRIES

I hear that Golden Boy has plans of expanding their ’Fight Night Club’ series to other cities.....The AP is reporting that Mayweather has agreed to pay the IRS $5.6 million in back taxes or whatever. I’ll say it again, nobody, but nobody, whether it be Mayweather or Al Capone can defeat the IRS....Remember that old WWE rassler, Irwin R. Schyster?....I saw the pictures of WBA heavyweight champion Nicolai Valuev and David Haye. Good grief,  they look like Gheorge Muresan and Muggsy Bogues standing next to each other. I don’t know, I don’t think it’s really all that easy of a fight for ’the Haye-maker’.....The college football gods are looking out for me. The Miami-Vatech game is at 12:30 out here in Los Angeles. Which means I can catch that game and then go right to the Staples Center on Saturday for Klitschko-Arreola.....I’ll say it again, I highly recommend ’Brick City’ on the Sundance Channel. It’s really incredible.....If your having any technical problems with our site because of our recent server change, please email me at k9kim@yahoo.com. And my apologies in advance....Twitter.com/stevemaxboxing.....