Last week I wrote about the future of the sport post-Canelo. The question was: just who would be the next generation of boxers who would take up his mantle, or at least become a foundational piece of the boxing business moving forward? The reality is that this is an industry that is reliant on recognizable stars and bankable franchises.
In response to what I wrote (which is linked below), I got an email from Bruce Trampler.
https://snac.com/blogs/k-9-kims-corner/whos-next-1
As most of you know, Trampler is the long-time matchmaker for Top Rank, where he mapped out the careers of Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather and basically every other boxer that was promoted by the company. 'the Golden Boy' has flat out stated that Trampler was the most instrumental person in his development as a fighter. Miguel Cotto told me the same thing directly a few years ago.
Bruce Trampler
I consider him to be among the wisest men in the game. Trampler is a true sage. Lunches with him are like going to graduate school for the boxing business. Not only do you learn about the history of the sport, but how the business really operates. I cherish those moments. Boxing isn't just what he does, in certain ways, it's who he is. Trampler has a deep concern about the overall welfare of the sport, but is the ultimate pragmatist.
So when his email hit by inbox, I was curious to see what he had to say. Here was his message to me:
"Steve, you just repeated my recent concerns to friends with this column but you missed a few issues by not completing your thoughts or not seeing the big picture.
First, you can’t “create” the next superstar. They’re born, not made. But they can be developed … or at least once could be developed, but not anymore under today’s conditions and circumstances. Some guys have that “it’ factor, most don’t. Marciano had it, but succeeded titleholders Patterson ad Liston didn’t. Then came Clay/Ali, and at times in succeeding decades, so did Tyson and Leonard and a few others. In ’76, SRL had it but no matter what you did, you couldn’t create Howard Davis into a superstar. Nor today can you create aSakur or Haney into one. We had a slight chance with Teofimo or Gervonta, but they self-destructed.
Crawford has the talent and ability, but no marketability. If he fought Zhanibek for yet another title, very good fight but not a big event. Not a superstar despite upsetting Mario’s pick against Canelo. Itauma might become a star, but Boots won’t. Too many stars have to align and we learned decades ago that just because you beat the man, you don’t become the man. At least for very long (Fury was after beating Wilder, but faded). Joshua was, until Andy Ruiz exposed him.
But all that aside for the moment, not only can’t we create stars anymore, but we also can’t even develop them. Here’s why:
TV boxing stopped in I believe 1964 when Gillette or Pabst stopped sponsoring Fight of the Week. Everything reverted to non-televised club fights and the occasional closed-circuit telecast of a Liston or Ali fight. It was a down cycle for several years. Then I remember seeing “live from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada” with Howard Cosell and ABC, and Ali was on network television. Then we started seeing other fights on network TV, mainly ABC and CBS. Then HBO started doing telecasts of big fights which meant more exposure for boxing. Then ESPN and later USA Network began televising what were really club shows, but occasionally we saw a Mancini or Antuofermo or Leonard or Hearns or Arguello, who graduated to the networks and eventually to HBO and Showtime and then to PPV and we had a golden era of TV boxing.
Until we started losing all the TV exposure that showed fans the Tony Ayalas and Tommy Morrison's and Johnny Tapias and Michael Carbajals and Kelly Pavlik's. Or Mayweather or De La Hoya or GGG? Or countless others?
First USA, then HBO, then Showtime, and now ESPN are gone, and why is that? Ask yourself: if you were hired to put boxing back on HBO, who would you propose to use? Look at the world ratings today and vomit, then be thankful that Turki is overpaying to keep some fights on TV while the Saudis and DAZN are losing billions, yet the fighters all feel that boxing owes them fortunes. People got tired of the self-entitlement seen from the Charlos and Broner and Danny Garcia and that era of overpaid and overrated guys. Fans wanted entertainment and have found it in Jake Paul and WWE, and only vaguely remember Bud who had fought like twice in four years.
Lack of activity, unappealing personalities and shady personal lives, and minimal name recognition eventually turned off fans and networks. Where we are now is bad, but it’s about to get worse, and here’s why:
It’s great that kids like Abdullah Mason and Brian Norman and Emiliano Vargas and Inoue and others are getting fights and holding on to a shrinking boxing audience, but they all started making their names the old-fashioned way: on TV. On undercards presented by us and Haymon and other promoters. That’s a time-proven blueprint that suddenly is no longer open to young fighters. It took years to build Crawford into what he became, but if Bud was fresh into the pro ranks now, who would get to see him? Who could afford to develop him? Who would ever know what a good fighter he could become?
Canelo benefited from fighting on shows in Mexico, as did Erik Morales or Juan Manuel Marquez or Rafael Espinoza or even Pitbull Cruz. Mexicans support their fighters with hundreds of shows each year below the border. But how will American kids develop? How will boxing audiences in an increasingly niche sport continue to grow and discover favorites in the US? There are no TV fights for the to watch, no prospects to follow, and ultimately no room for growth in talent or viewer appeal.
Maybe TKO will be able to revive interest. Maybe Top Rank will get a new platform and do what we’ve done for many decades. But as of right now, boxing’s future is at ground zero and beginning all over. American promoters are on the same starting line. Without TV to grow the next generation of fighters and create or develop or nourish or incubate young talent, the sport’s garden can’t and won’t grow. Top Rank has earned a great reputation for bringing along young fighters, but who will see them and pay for them without TV?
That’s it from me. Good column today. Loved 'Desert Storm' and you and Mario the other 3KD Rule show. Take care."
Bruce said a lot, right? And quite frankly, I agree with all of it. He filled in many of the details that I didn't mention. He painted a more detailed big picture look at how we got here. It's greatly appreciated. He didn't even get into the fact that the Olympic boxing tournament -- which was once the greatest launching pad for American boxers -- for decades has not been featured on prime time by the networks. Where have you gone Howard Cossell?
To go even further, amateur bouts (from duel meets involving America and Cuba, and national tournaments would actually be televised nationally. So going into the Olympic Trials, you had an idea of who might be representing our country in the Summer Games. Again, there was a real ecosystem that allowed stars to be developed organically.
A few people on X/Twitter pointed out to me that we still have some very talented young guys like Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez, Jaron Ennis and the aforementioned, Vargas. But that was not the point of my column last week. I don't disagree that there are still boxers with high level skills. The question was, who would be developed into a true star? There's a big difference between the two.
DAZN
To further my point, and to expound on the one Trampler made, look at the recent upcoming October ledger of fights. It's a relatively light schedule, but there are three cards that do stand out to ardent followers of the sport.
This upcoming Saturday from Philadelphia, 'Boots' Ennis faces the relatively unknown Uisma Lima from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on DAZN. On October 25 an interesting heavyweight match-up from England takes place between contenders Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley. This card is actually a pay-per-view offering on DAZN (where pay-per-view lives!!). Then later that night from Las Vegas there is a Prime Video pay-per-view offering from PBC that is headlined by Sebastian Fundora facing Keith Thurman.
Now, lets be honest about this, how many of you out there have DAZN? OK, how many of you know somebody that isn't a hard core fan of boxing that has a subscription? Then how many of you are actually planning to purchase either of those pay-per-view cards on a day when college football is taking place?
Ring
This isn't exactly like being on 'Wide World of Sports' on a Saturday afternoon.
There's no doubt that fights are taking place with talented performers. The question is at this point in the States, how many people are actually watching?
