Worth the read, one of the best articles I have read in a very long time. HBO: 2008 By Thomas Hauser On January 22, 1988, former champion Larry Holmes challenged Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship of the world. That night, a staggering 53 percent of all homes with HBO tuned in to the fight. By way of comparison, only 35 percent of homes equipped with HBO had watched Barbra Streisand
Wow, what HBO pays for some fights when it doesnt have to is crazy. Does anyone know what 4.7 rating is and how many viewers that is on HBO?
Good read. Hauser is great at compiling readily available information and putting it into plain english so that even Joe Schmoe can get it. He's a quality writer, IMO. I mean, he's no Craig Medaris....but he's about the best of the rest.
boxing's changed for the worse. Me and a friend were discussing the impact of ali as a stylistic phenomenon. He changed the whole game from a finely crafted battle where both participants worked there asses off to defend and to score. After Ali fighters thought it was better to look cool, avoid the warfare and win with as little as possible to risk. This new conservativism is also a sign of the times, Americans just aren't as hungry as they were. It is dissapointing to hear of fight after fight which failed to live up to expectations because one or both of the fighters weren't in shape or didn't risk it all. The basic problem with the Ali influence is that none of these guys is Ali who won fights by slugouts when he had too and came to the ring in condition to fight hard for a whole fight. His punch output was fantastic and he was a pure warrior underneath the shine. It's great to go to you tube and see fighters I've never seen and to watch guys like Flash Elorde, Sandy Saddler, fight hard with passion and honor. There was lots of craft involved too, they missed lots of punches by way of solid skills being used in punching range and the fights were just plain more entertaining.
