How NOT to sell pay-per-views: Two 40-year-old fighters against young studs
The undercard for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto pay-per-view on May 5th is shaping up, and while it has big names, it also has absolutely terrible match-ups.
The first fight that came to the forefront was Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Shane Mosley. The Alvarez vs. Mosley bout has been officially announced, and it’s beyond a head-scratcher.
Mosley is 0-2-1 in his last three fights – over a period of two years by fight night against Canelo – including the two awful, lopsided losses to Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Sandwiched in between was an unwatchable draw against the unwatchable Sergio Mora.
Canelo, meanwhile, is a “champion” at 154 lbs, who has already made three “title defenses” (ProBoxing-Fans.com has him ranked at number 6 at junior middleweight).
At 39-0-1 and with that belt around his waist, what in the world is he doing facing 40-year-old Sugar Shane? Especially considering that Mosley is coming off an absolutely miserable stretch which signals nothing to boxing fans besides “I should retire now before it’s too late.”
The second fight for the Mayweather vs. Cotto undercard which is being discussed is Peter Quillin vs. Winky Wright. This one isn’t official yet, although Fightnews reports a verbal agreement is in place.
Winky, who like Mosley is also 40-years-old, hasn’t even fought in almost three years. His last two fights were lopsided UD losses. Now he gets the PPV treatment against a hot, young prospect?
At least for his part, Quillin, now ranked at number 10 in our middleweight division rankings, isn’t a “champion” making “title defenses”, and he hasn’t fought many top-tier guys yet. But still, a 40-year-old, faded name coming off three years of inactivity and two losses before that isn’t exactly proving your contender status.
In my opinion, Mayweather vs. Cotto is a worthwhile match. I’ll buy it on pay-per-view. But Canelo vs. Mosley and Quillin vs. Winky as the supporting bouts stink. These fights aren’t not adding value to the card, and they aren’t going to attract either casual fans, or penny-pinching hardcore fans – the same ones who were already absurdly forced to fork over $100 collectively to see Mosley get battered by 24 rounds by Mayweather and Pacquiao already.
As much as I love to complain about Top Rank’s ridiculous in-house matchmaking, Golden Boy pulling out the most retreads of all retreads here, and continuing to feed their young prospects bogus competition, is awful, and is the exact sort of kicking-yourself-while-you’re-down shortsighted decision that does nothing but hurt the sport.
