An American is fighting for the heavyweight title this Saturday night in a bout that will be televised in 110 countries worldwide ... but the United States is not one of those countries. How pathetic is that? 1,000 channels on TV and not a single one believes there's an audience for this fight. Sadly, their assessment is probably more right than wrong.
Challenger Eddie Chambers is in Dusseldorf, Germany to try to take the title from IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. Chambers, 27, is a competent boxer, with a 35-1 record and wins over Calvin Brock, Samuel Peter and Alexander Dimitrenko. Nevertheless, as a boxer (rather than a puncher) who will be giving up nearly six inches in height and reach, he's being given no realistic shot of dethroning Klitschko. Even worse, given their respective styles, it's hard to imagine this fight being the least bit entertaining.
In his prime, Mike Tyson could defend his title against challengers who had no shot of winning and it was still a must-see fight. Unfortunately for Wladimir Klitschko (and tragically for boxing's "glamour" division), there are no must-see fights out there for him. That's not only a reflection of the uninspiring crop of current heavyweights (outside of Wladimir's brother, WBC champ Vitali Klitschko), but also a function of the machine-like way Wladimir goes about breaking down his opponents. Sure it's effective, but it's also emotionless and entirely predictable. And that's the real reason this fight will not be televised in this country. Sports fans in the U.S. will tune in for a mismatch as long as there's a reasonable expectation of being entertained ... but they won't tune if they expect to be bored.
Comments
There is little or no commercial interest in this fight, and not much fan interest either. The Klitschko brothers are in my opinion dull, plodding, uninspired fighters and bad news for an already disappointing division. Their opponents are always carefully selected, always easily beatable and always one more example of a bad division. Until an exciting opponent is found, the division will continue to spiral downward and there will be even less enthusiasm for broadcasting Klitschko fights. In actuality, the Klitschko brothers really pander to a European fight crowd, and are not that intertested in the American market. Finally the Europeans have two heavyweight champions and don’t need to worry about real American challengers or someone with the talent and appeal of a Lennox Lewis.
Donald – well said and I agree 100%.
Unfortunately, Klitschko will never change, but then again – who cares?
There is little or no commercial interest in this fight, and not much fan interest either. The Klitschko brothers are in my opinion dull, plodding, uninspired fighters and bad news for an already disappointing division. Their opponents are always carefully selected, always easily beatable and always one more example of a bad division. Until an exciting opponent is found, the division will continue to spiral downward and there will be even less enthusiasm for broadcasting Klitschko fights. In actuality, the Klitschko brothers really pander to a European fight crowd, and are not that intertested in the American market. Finally the Europeans have two heavyweight champions and don’t need to worry about real American challengers or someone with the talent and appeal of a Lennox Lewis.
Name one fighter Wladimir or Vitali has avoided.Not two or three,but one-if you can.If you can’t maybe you’d like to apologise for saying something that is not correct.Lennox Lewis an American?Since when>
Face facts! Americans don’t care abot Russian fighters or any other nationality for that matter. If we’re not winners we want nothing to do with it. Just like soccer. If the American team ever won the W
Let’s face it! Americans couldn’t care less about some Russian champions or any other nationality for that matter. If we can’t win we won’t have anything to do with it. Just like soccer. If America would ever win the World Cup, soccer would become the biggest sport in America. Until that happens it’s just a foreign thing. Heavyweight Boxing has become just that, a foreign sport.
Sad but true!