When Joe Louis was World Heavyweight Champion the crowds stilled turned out to watch him beat fighters who were nicknamed “bum of the week.” Now however in order to get a fight it is all about bums on seats.
Floyd Mayweather told those who wanted to listen that there was no point him fighting Britain’s Amir Khan as no one had ever heard of the British fighter. Some would say that this was a stinging knock back for the boy from Bolton, but Mayweather for once may actually have a point.
The last time Amir Khan fought at the Las Vegas MGM Grand hotel when he defeated Devon Alexander the venue which has a capacity of 16,800 was only a quarter full.
Mayweather entered the Guinness Book of World Records last month at the WBC Convention where he received three awards. The first for being the best paid athlete collecting 105,000,000 dollars according to Forbes 2014 list.
The second was for the card he starred in along with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, gaining the most Pay Per View sells colleting 150, 000,000 USD as 2, 200,000 watched the event on September 14th, 2013. His third was for a similar feat in his fight against Oscar de la Hoya.
Many say this is not Mayweather running scared as he would be expected to win the bout, but simply there are bigger box office names ahead of Khan, such as Manny Pacquiao, with May 2nd being the date everyone believes the fight will happen.
It is in fact a sad reflection on British boxing that its top fighters are no longer draw cards in the USA. Heavyweight Tyson Fury is after tilt at Wladimir Klitchsko’s World title, but for the same reason as Amir Khan hoping for a crack at Mayweather, he is well doing the pecking order.
