Chad Dawson not a hot ticket
by Scott Christ on May 14, 2009 8:40 AM EDT
in Boxing News Analysis
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26-year old light heavyweight titlist Chad Dawson may have HBO behind him, but as of right now he is far from being a viable star, and a fight with superstar veterans like Bernard Hopkins or the retired Joe Calzaghe is simply not going to happen.
Robert Morales reports that even though the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas reported about 2,100 in attendance for the Dawson-Tarver rematch last week, the actual number sold was 1,426.
Add that to the pitiful 991 tickets sold for their first fight in Vegas (at The Palms) last October, and you have a combined 2,417 tickets sold for two fights. Let's just say this wasn't the biggest rivalry in the sport.
To be totally fair, Dawson-Tarver could have outdone the two-fight number with one fight at Foxwoods in Connecticut, where Dawson is from, or likely even one fight in Tarver's native Florida. Since Dawson wouldn't go to Florida and Tarver wouldn't go to Connecticut, everyone lost money.
Dawson won't be landing a fight with Hopkins, and he doesn't have anywhere near the juice to bring Calzaghe out of retirement. That leaves precious few options, especially given that HBO Sports apparently wish to make him a star. He may well have to fight Glen Johnson in the rematch that both he and promoter Gary Shaw seem deathly afraid to take, or he might have to make a fight with someone like Roy Jones Jr., who failed to sell much at Madison Square Garden against Calzaghe last November. Dawson-Jones would be destined for Vegas, too, most likely, and it'd be another probable gate flop.
Dawson simply is not a star, at least not yet. There's no getting around it.
On another note, the same Morales article says that cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek turned down a $1.2 million offer to fight Hopkins. Consider me skeptical.
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Seems that boxing matches rarely do well anymore, at the gate or on pay-per-view, without a viable international star on the ticket. Boxing is just taken much more seriously outside the US. Before Margarito’s disgrace, he was huge because of Mexican fight fans. These same fans will make the Mayweather/Juan Manuel Marquez fight big. It’s why Hatton/Pacquiao was so big. On the horizon, Cotto/Pacquiao would be big as well (though not as big as his last two). And I think Juan Manuel Lopez could be developing this kind of following in Puerto Rico.
I have yet to find anything exciting about him
Shit… I have yet to bother watching the fight from Saturday.
"Penelosa is not human." -Max Kellerman on Gerry Penelosa during the Juan Manuel Lopes-Gerry Penelosa bout.
You won't find too many thrills there either
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
first fight 991 tickets
2nd fight 1,426
Progress……slow progress but still the fact that more people went to see this after how the first one panned out is a win in my view :-)
This one had HBO promoting it. The same source also said that he/she (anonymous source) had rarely seen an HBO-backed fight in Vegas that was so poor at the gate. I mean like it or not HBO (especially in the sports area) is way bigger than Showtime and they paid $3.2 million for this fight.
by Scott Christ on May 14, 2009 9:51 AM EDT up reply actions
Not that I’ve seen (but I don’t go looking for TV ratings often). I think there might be an artificial bump because of the Hatton-Pacquiao replay, though.
by Scott Christ on May 14, 2009 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions
Very bad return on the price that they(HBO) paid…
I am glad that both Max and Jim mentioned in the telecast… and didn’t bullshit us.
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
I don’t know about this Chad… he’s not bad
but he’s also not “Bad”, and partly a fad,
dangling when he should be mangling
cautious when he should be mad.
He fought the Gentle Journeyman,
And the crowd shouted ‘Dammit, that’s sad!"
“We’ve been had!”
“He just lost to a dude who’s older than his dad!”
No rematch was signed,
Chad declined,
took the Magic Beans instead
to spar The Talking Man,
in a casino that was half-dead.
So I am not a fan.
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
by jrok on May 14, 2009 11:53 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
A pug picked by Floyd
is one to avoid.
Rec’d
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
T-2 was the same old song.
Chad be dangling,
straight up strangling his ding-dong all the live-long.
when he should come on strong.
It’s just wrong.
Chad’s skills were still less than mad,
still more ills than thrills,
still more notepad than gonad
still less poppin’ than sleeping pills.
After seven or eight bells are tolled
even old Clinton Woods looks Foxier
than this here Connecticut boxer.
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
Personally
I love Chad. He seems humble (lives in a normal CT suburb not a mansion) and focused. Stylistically who would want to fight him? Hes a fast hard hitting mobile athletic south paw.
Stylistically who would want to fight him? Hes a fast hard hitting mobile athletic south paw.
Glen Johnson. Tavoris Cloud. But mostly: Glen Johnson.
He seems humble (lives in a normal CT suburb not a mansion)
When you draw 990 people to what is then the biggest fight of your career, you don’t live in mansions. This speaks to his bankroll, not his character.
by Scott Christ on May 14, 2009 7:07 PM EDT up reply actions
FWIW
Everyone on the Adamek side immediately called bullshit on the $1.2M number.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
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