. . . THE CBZ JOURNALTable of Contents
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. . . THE CBZ JOURNAL |
October 2001 Table of Contents |
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Millions For Promoters AND the Fans Win Too! by Steve Coughlin Hey HBO & TVKO executives! How would you like to make MILLIONS AND please your paying customers at the same time? I’ve got the perfect fight that would allow you to do both. And because I’m a fan of the sport & growing tired of the crap you’ve been feeding us on PPV lately, I won’t charge you ONE RED CENT for this GUARANTEED moneymaker. A couple of weeks back, Teddy Atlas said one of the brightest things ever said on television. “Promoters, give guys like Mickey Ward PPV money … he won’t let you down and he DESERVES IT! And you’ll make a ton of money doing it!” I couldn’t agree with Teddy more! When fighters like Roy Jones Jr. & Oscar De La Hoya make millions fighting stiffs and bore everyone that paid to sleep, ACTION fighters like Mickey Ward struggle to make even six figures. And that sucks!!! With PPV numbers for 2001 shows in the dumper, you’d think promoters would be looking to ACTION fighters and ACTION fights to bring the paying customers back happy. Well, here’s the fight that would only cost you $2,000,000.00 in purses and return a minimum 400,000 buys at $29.95 (Total PPV revenue to the promoter, less fees to cable PPV & DSS carriers, is a cool $6,000,000.00 NET): ARTURO GATTI vs. MICKEY WARD ! That’s right, both guys would be thrilled for the million dollar payday and boxing fans across the WORLD would GLADLY plop down $29.95 to see a GUARANTEED WAR / Fight of the Year candidate. Hell, 300,000 of us paid MORE to see Roy’s latest snooze fest just hoping to see some action. Just as many tuned into see De La Hoya’s “toughest challenge to date”. And everyone that did was disappointed. And quite a few walked away saying “I’ll NEVER buy another *#^@$ boxing PPV again”. Trust me, with Gatti – Ward you won’t have that problem. And to take ANY thought out of it for you, here’s the commercial campaign that will help push the event WELL BEYOND my conservative estimate of a measly 400,000 buys … Opening scene : Gatti & Ward are sitting on a couch in a living/rec room. They’re watching TV & eating chips. A mock commercial comes on TV to promote a fighter who’s dressed like Hector Camacho and runs like Roy Jones Jr. The commercial pans to images of fighters in Camachowear while running around the ring without punching. The voiceover in the mock commercial utters out “This will be war !” Gatti turns to Ward and says “Look at this guy, Mickey …who the heck wears a dress into battle?” Ward retorts “I wouldn’t mind the dress so much, Arturo, if the guy actually FOUGHT instead of running”. Both guys then look at each other, raise their eyebrows and say, simultaneously, “Why don’t WE show them what WAR is all about!”. Then cut to hilights of Gatti – Roriguez, Ward – Burton, Gatti – Ruelas, Ward – Green and then to Gatti – Robinson. Flash back to Ward & Gatti. Gatti: “Sorry, but we won’t be wearing dresses.” Ward: “And there won’t be any dancing or running either.” Cut to announcer : “Gatti – Ward ‘Now THIS will be WAR !”. Maybe I’ve been prejudiced by my own ad campaign, but I’m willing to prepay NOW ! Other Stuff : Nelson, Jirov, Gomez, & Hill – Sounds like either a hell of a law firm or a great unification tournament. Seriously, when was the last time you even thought about the Cruiserweight division ? It may now be the most interesting in the sport. At least when Bob Lee was the head of the IBF, FIGHTERS held top contenders spots. In all but three IBF divisions, NOT RATED is ranked either #1 or #2. Maybe the ol’ bribe system wasn’t that bad after all … Why in the HELL can’t Chicago ever get a quality fight ? Arguably the best sports town in the country is virtually non existent when it come to boxing. If Paulie Ayala EVER complains about loosing a close decision he ought to be shot. Nice Job Chris Byrd ! I know this will come as a surprise to everyone that knows me, but I can’t wait to see him lace ‘em up again. From the cheap seats, Steve Coughlin
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