Tuan_Jim wrote:When did Vitali become a "PPV A-side"?
Vitali/Sanders and Vitali/Williams were hardly big business - in fact the Sanders fight was for purses that by heavyweight championship standards were extremely low. And since those two ungainly affairs, how many times has his odious robo-fencing been broadcast by HBO? One time, versus Arreola?
Vitali became a PPV A side when he was the A side of a PPV main event on a major network, although maybe that logic is tough for LG and DF to understand. While some of his previous fights may have been on PPV in other countries (I'm not sure), in this case I'm referring to his bout with Williams, which as an HBO PPV was on about the highest stage it gets.
So he was widely seen as being at the top of the division and was strongly supported by the widest-reaching boxing medium in the US, and he did this on the back of his showing against Lewis, which he generally won a fair deal of respect and attention for even in defeat; he jumped into the spotlight to become the man of the division while the previous division ruler went off into the sunset, which in my view makes it appropriate for calling Lewis-Klitschko a passing of the torch bout. Obviously he was out for a while with injuries, but he came back and quickly retook his consensus position as the best or second best (next to Wlad) fighter in the division, one that was established in aftermath of the Lewis bout and the latter's retirement. Obviously he wasn't quite the American TV presence he was earlier, but his position as the top HW (what Lewis was) along with his brother was generally accepted and insofar as HBO ratings matter his bout with Arreola drew a massive 2.124 million viewers, which I believe is the most in the last seven years.
PPV A-side? LOL Vitali's lone PPV vs Williams was an absolute bomb!
Yep, he was the A-side of a major network PPV. Whatever was found out after the bout doesn't change that.
To say his stock rose is not telling the whole story, because his stock was incredibly low to begin with. He'd been beating a bunch of C and B raters in Germany and his lone appearance on HBO he'd quit on his stool in a fight he was winning. Yes people appreciated his courage and valiant effort vs Lewis but he in no way became a "star" in America . . .even Larry Merchant continued to confuse one brother for the other.
Right, so someone with an incredibly low stock won plaudits for 'his courage and valiant effort', on that showing became commonly regarded as the top fighter in the division with Lewis bowing out, and headlined HBO cards in his next three bouts, including a major PPV. Maybe he didn't become a star in America, but I hardly see why that is a requirement for Klitschko-Lewis being appropriately labeled a passing of the torch fight; Lewis was the man, he became widely seen as a faded force and retired, and heavily on the basis of their bout Klitschko first entered the top spot, which he arguably held for several years over the past decade or so.
