Has Mayweather-McGregor torpedoed Ward-Kovalev promotion?
Posted: 16 Jun 2017, 10:57
"Has Mayweather-McGregor torpedoed Ward-Kovalev promotion?"
Main Events’ Kathy Duva says she has already felt the impact of Mayweather-McGregor’s official announcement just days before her own big event.
Lance Pugmire of the LA Times reports that Ward-Kovalev 2 has been struggling to sell out the 10,300 Mandalay Bay, mentioning that there are also additional concerns that the fight might not even reach the 160,000 PPV buys of their first meeting last November, which wasn’t a commercial success.
To that end Main Events promoter Kathy Duva has expressed her disappointment in helping put together a great fight for fans, who with the help of the treacherous media, have expressed more general interest in the novelty fight that is Mayweather-McGregor.
“The question I’ve gotten most often is ‘Do you think this fight should be bigger?’” Kovalev promoter Kathy Duva said. “I looked on Google today and it’s all Mayweather and the circus. … It’s a kick in the teeth. … This is the fight everybody asks for: The best fighting the best.”
“Of course it’s bad for boxing,” Duva said of Mayweather-McGregor. “It’s going to suck up all the air in the room. You’re all going to write about it. People will get all excited. And the casual fans we always want to bring into the tent are going to be disappointed again, and it’s going to be years before they want to see another boxing event.”
Oddly enough, even though Duva urged the boxing media to keep the attention where it rightfully belongs, on a legitimate championship-level fight, her own fighter abruptly walked off stage during yesterday’s final press conference - not making himself available for interviews or the standard face-off, which sort of hinders promotional material.
The fact is, Mayweather-McGregor is big news whether we like it or not. That’s already been made evident by the amount of media coverage the fight’s received across the board. And yes, tomorrow’s fight between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev is undoubtedly a much better fight that you should tune-in for if you’re a real fan of boxing. But Duva, her team, and everyone else involved in this promotion could’ve probably done themselves a few more favors to raise the profile of tomorrow’s fight.
Thoughts?
Main Events’ Kathy Duva says she has already felt the impact of Mayweather-McGregor’s official announcement just days before her own big event.
Lance Pugmire of the LA Times reports that Ward-Kovalev 2 has been struggling to sell out the 10,300 Mandalay Bay, mentioning that there are also additional concerns that the fight might not even reach the 160,000 PPV buys of their first meeting last November, which wasn’t a commercial success.
To that end Main Events promoter Kathy Duva has expressed her disappointment in helping put together a great fight for fans, who with the help of the treacherous media, have expressed more general interest in the novelty fight that is Mayweather-McGregor.
“The question I’ve gotten most often is ‘Do you think this fight should be bigger?’” Kovalev promoter Kathy Duva said. “I looked on Google today and it’s all Mayweather and the circus. … It’s a kick in the teeth. … This is the fight everybody asks for: The best fighting the best.”
“Of course it’s bad for boxing,” Duva said of Mayweather-McGregor. “It’s going to suck up all the air in the room. You’re all going to write about it. People will get all excited. And the casual fans we always want to bring into the tent are going to be disappointed again, and it’s going to be years before they want to see another boxing event.”
Oddly enough, even though Duva urged the boxing media to keep the attention where it rightfully belongs, on a legitimate championship-level fight, her own fighter abruptly walked off stage during yesterday’s final press conference - not making himself available for interviews or the standard face-off, which sort of hinders promotional material.
The fact is, Mayweather-McGregor is big news whether we like it or not. That’s already been made evident by the amount of media coverage the fight’s received across the board. And yes, tomorrow’s fight between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev is undoubtedly a much better fight that you should tune-in for if you’re a real fan of boxing. But Duva, her team, and everyone else involved in this promotion could’ve probably done themselves a few more favors to raise the profile of tomorrow’s fight.
Thoughts?
