MMA puts boxing down for the count.
It’s like VHS vs. Betamax or HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray, and boxing is on the wrong end. Today, CBS inked a deal with MMA 
company, ProElite Inc., to show four televised events a year for an undisclosed number of years. Multi-channel news reports,
The deal calls for CBS to air four live, Saturday night events beginning in late April or early May from ProElite’s Elite XC MMA franchise…
Additionally, CBS and ProElite will collaborate on generating interactive content such as streaming of events and clips for both CBSSports.com and ProElite.com
And what of the sport that is in competition with MMA? What of boxing? Well, their most notable star, Floyd Mayweather Jr., will be wrestling in Wrestlemania on March 30th (with a $20 million payout) and the most recent heavyweight fight was so boring that even the trainer of winner Wladimir Klitschko was asking for more action. Things aren’t exactly looking up for the “sweet science”, while MMA only seems to be gaining in popularity. Maybe its because this new generation has an affinity for violence and MMA fills that need. Or maybe its the fact that boxing doesn’t have the high quality of boxers they had in the past? Or maybe they’re just lacking star power (does boxing have two boxers that are akin to Kimbo Slice)? Who knows. But whatever the reason, boxing better get its act together quickly, or else you’ll be finding it next to an 8-track player at your nearest yard sale.
MultiChannel News: CBS Inks Mixed Martials Arts Content Deal
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 6:54 pm and is filed under Fringe Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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There’s actually a study somewhere (email me if you really are interested) that shows that MMA and Boxing attract two completely different audiences. Basically, they aren’t really competing head-to-head, even though we like to think that’s the case. Either way, boxing is in trouble, because it’s done so much to alienate the general fan.
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