The New in Ringing in the New

29.12.03 – By Keith Terceira: This is the marketing I am talking about when I wrote Ringing in the New. A lot of comments are coming in about bias in my article. And a couple about where’s the new. I can only imagine what the new year can bring with the full spectrum of boxing not even registering in peoples minds yet. Can you even fathom a Night of Championship Boxing From Around the World.

Lets imagine this, Six Continents and Six Championship matches. It would be a logistical nightmare to pull off but possible. We have the fighters in place. We have the fans in place. For the first time in the history of the sport all the cards are being held by boxing.

How about Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko from London, easily possible and probable this year. Unless Lewis announces his retirement the fight needs to be made in the next 90 days or so. You could also find a neutral site in Europe for it to take. Or Vitali- Sanders from Prague or Paris or Hamburg for the vacated belt.

From Australia you could easily pull off Green vs. Mundine, for that to draw crowds I guess you would hope the German judges are not controversial in calling the Green -Beyer fight in February. Even if they are you could go with Beyer in Sydney for the rematch. Australia has several stars with increased drawing power including Kostya who is now reminding us he is Australian.

From South America you could have several different match-ups that would be huge draws. Even a Mayorga- Spinks rematch

Out of Asia can you picture Pacquiao fighting Chi or Brodie in the Philippines. It would be a National Holiday celebrated by mega-millions in Mindanao. The viewer ship alone for that fight would be in the hundreds of millions.

In America the match-ups are endless, if you stayed with the Heavyweights you could pit Tyson -Jones Jr., Toney- Byrd, Ruiz-Mesi, on and on. As I was reminded as the heavyweights go so goes boxing.

Again the same dozens of choices exist for great fighter out of the continent of Africa. it’s a pickem situation. But you can figure in the Heavies, Sanders vs. Dokiwari for a huge draw or even Henry Akinwande or Samuel Peter.

How about a first time ever all Latino championship between John Ruiz and Juan Carlos Gomez from Rio or a venue in Panama.

What would be the total gate, if in one day , on one evening you could pull it off. What promoter is big enough to do that. Six Continents and six title bouts in one night. Imagine the upside for boxing. The publicity for the sport could be huge. It’s not about race I said before its about marketing and pinpointing an audience. Would Vlad fight Bakhtov in Moscow for the WBC international Championship.

The Timing would need to be worked out but possible for a weekend fight. Never before has the interest in the lower weight classes been so high as to be able to pull a night like this off. Never have so many fighters from around the entire globe been so high a drawing power. The technology has never before been available. What would prevent it from happening? What could the total numbers be? How much would you pay to see it happen?

KeithTerceira@aol.com