Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
How many of you could have told me that Anthony Joshua of the United Kingdom and New Zealand’s Joseph Parker are currently boxing’s heavyweight champions?
I’m a marginal fight fan and I’ll admit that I had to look it up. Roy Jones Jr. and Lennox Lewis have been the most popular heavyweight champions to the average sports fan in the last 15 years. Even those names don’t stack up with Tyson, Holyfield and Foreman.
Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather/Conor McGregor spectacle proved two things:
- Boxing is in such a sorry state that Floyd Mayweather had to step in to the ring with an MMA fighter to generate interest in a fight.
- North American sports fans still have a massive appetite for a conventional fight. (Mayweather may have made as much as $200 million on this fight. McGregor may have made as much as $100 million
Those in charge of various boxing organizations need to brand stars. Saturday’s spectacle proved that there is an untapped market.
