lpinoy
10-16-2010, 01:03 AM
http://satfix.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=6073&stc=1&d=1287191065C/P
by;Tim Smith
If you are wondering how relevant the heavyweight boxing championship is to the American public, consider that there is a title match between Vitali Klitschko, the WBC champ, and Shannon Briggs, a two-time former champion from Brooklyn, taking place in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday night and it is not being broadcast live on TV in the U.S.
You can watch it live on the Internet. But if you want to see it on TV you can catch it at 2 p.m. on Sunday - about the time that most of the NFL games are well into the second quarter - on ESPN.
HBO and Showtime have washed their hands of the heavyweight championship fights, ceding the live broadcasts to the European countries where the champions are major attractions.
The last time Klitschko fought in America was against Cris Arreola in Los Angeles on Sept. 26, 2009. It has been even longer since Wladimir Klitschko fought in the U.S. He defended his WBO and IBF titles against Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 23, 2008.
Vitali and Wladimir are major attractions in Germany, selling out large arenas and drawing upwards of 13 million viewers on television when they fight. They can make significantly more money fighting in Germany than they can in the U.S.
So you can't blame them for choosing to fight before large crowds for massive purses rather than fight in the U.S. where their matches would go largely unattended and draw little interest from the sporting public.
For the most part the Klitschkos have been fighting a string of contenders that don't really excite the American public, so you can't blame U.S. television executives for taking a hands-off approach. They are in the business of putting on programming that people want to see, particularly since they make their money from subscriptions.
The one fight that would have moved the needle on the heavyweight excitement meter - any Klitschko against David Haye - can't be made, because Haye keeps ducking them. Haye, the WBA champion, had agreed to fight both Vitali and Wladimir, after chasing both of them for months, and has pulled out of both fights.
If they didn't fight guys like Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Ruslan Chagaev and Samuel Peter, then the Klitschkos would never get any fights.
Still it is hard to believe that the heavyweight championship, once the crown jewel of boxing, isn't even important enough to rate a same-day, tape delayed airing on U.S. television.
There is little chance that Briggs can dethrone Klitschko, but it would be nice to see him try. That is the thing about boxing - you never know what's going to happen.
by;Tim Smith
If you are wondering how relevant the heavyweight boxing championship is to the American public, consider that there is a title match between Vitali Klitschko, the WBC champ, and Shannon Briggs, a two-time former champion from Brooklyn, taking place in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday night and it is not being broadcast live on TV in the U.S.
You can watch it live on the Internet. But if you want to see it on TV you can catch it at 2 p.m. on Sunday - about the time that most of the NFL games are well into the second quarter - on ESPN.
HBO and Showtime have washed their hands of the heavyweight championship fights, ceding the live broadcasts to the European countries where the champions are major attractions.
The last time Klitschko fought in America was against Cris Arreola in Los Angeles on Sept. 26, 2009. It has been even longer since Wladimir Klitschko fought in the U.S. He defended his WBO and IBF titles against Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 23, 2008.
Vitali and Wladimir are major attractions in Germany, selling out large arenas and drawing upwards of 13 million viewers on television when they fight. They can make significantly more money fighting in Germany than they can in the U.S.
So you can't blame them for choosing to fight before large crowds for massive purses rather than fight in the U.S. where their matches would go largely unattended and draw little interest from the sporting public.
For the most part the Klitschkos have been fighting a string of contenders that don't really excite the American public, so you can't blame U.S. television executives for taking a hands-off approach. They are in the business of putting on programming that people want to see, particularly since they make their money from subscriptions.
The one fight that would have moved the needle on the heavyweight excitement meter - any Klitschko against David Haye - can't be made, because Haye keeps ducking them. Haye, the WBA champion, had agreed to fight both Vitali and Wladimir, after chasing both of them for months, and has pulled out of both fights.
If they didn't fight guys like Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Ruslan Chagaev and Samuel Peter, then the Klitschkos would never get any fights.
Still it is hard to believe that the heavyweight championship, once the crown jewel of boxing, isn't even important enough to rate a same-day, tape delayed airing on U.S. television.
There is little chance that Briggs can dethrone Klitschko, but it would be nice to see him try. That is the thing about boxing - you never know what's going to happen.