I don’t know if it was a lack of creativity or just the promotion opted for the simplest and most profitable formula to sell a long-awaited but long-awaited fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
‘Don’t think about it so much. It has to be sold as La Baralla de l’Segle ‘, I imagine those responsible for naming the event said. And so they did.
But to them did not belong the “reserved rights” of the phrase. In the past others used the same strategy. And to be fair, they deserve credit. I still doubt that Floyd and Pacquiao were very interested in the originality of the name when they both left with their accounts full of millions of dollars.
It is necessary to go back to 1910 to find the first fight promoted as ‘La Baralla de l’Segle’. Then the Americans faced Jack Johnson vs. James Jeffries. Just 11 years later, promoters of American Jack Dempsey and Frenchman Georges Carpentier would use the same promotional hook.
It took 50 years, the first fight of the trilogy between the Americans Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1971, to see again in newspapers – and already on television – the belt of the Fight of the Century in a promotion boxing.
Four Fights of the Century in a span of 105 years. Too much for my taste. It looks too much like the four bodies that govern boxing (CMB, OMB, AMB and FIB) that each has their world champions, as if there were four parallel worlds.
Here I leave you with my ranking of the four fights that were promoted as The Battle of the Century.
MORE: How to watch the Ali-Frazier trilogy on ESPN +
Fourth place: Jack Dempsey v. Georges Carpentier
division: full weight
date: July 2, 1921
place: Boyle ‘s Thirty Acres in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
Famous promoter George ‘Tex’ Rickard exploited the totally opposite qualities of the protagonists. Despite being a foreigner, Carpentier became the pampered of fans because he had fought in World War I with his country and was a well-built and elegant man. On the other corner was Dempsey who was accused of evading military recruitment.
It was simple: Hero vs. Antiheroes. Two champions face to face. For the boxer he did not meet expectations because Dempsey, full weight champion, was 16 pounds heavier (188) than his opponent (172), who was a monarch in the light heavyweight division.
Dempsey won by knockout in the fourth round of a bout that by the standards of the time was quite an economic and social event. It was the first boxing fight to generate revenue in excess of $ 1 million ($ 1,789,238). Dempsey left home with $ 300,000 and Carpentier $ 200,000, a real fortune for the time.
Third place: Floyd Mayweather v. Manny Pacquiao
division: welterweight
date: May 2, 2015
place: MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
I will not speculate on the controversy of who fled to whom. The concrete and real thing is that the fight we all wanted to see was postponed for one reason or another until we got tired. And once it was done it left a very bitter taste in the mouth.
Pacquiao came injured in a shoulder to a fight, and apologize for the cruelty, which never happened. Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson summed up in a tweet people’s feelings: “We’ve been waiting 5 years for this … #underwhelmed (disappointed).” In Mayweather Jr.’s monologue. the Filipino simply made up for his defeat to cash the check (which sparked a demand from fans who felt cheated).
In short: The fight generated $ 600 million in gross revenue and 4.6 million PPV purchases, in addition to breaking other boxing sales records. Floyd left with about an additional $ 250 million in his bank account and Pacman added more than $ 150 million, according to reports.
Second place: Jack Johnson v. James Jeffries division: full weight James Jeffries, a white American, came out of retirement to face African-American Jack Johnson. ‘Tex’ Rickard – yes, the same one that organized the Fight of the Century in 1921 – was the promoter and officiated as I referred of the combat for which a sand was constructed – according to Boxrec which was attended by 15,760 people. A phrase from Jeffries during the promotion is enough to understand how this fight was sold: “I enter into this struggle for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a black man.” Despite Jeffries leading the way in the bets, Johnson managed to knock out in round 15. Ed ‘Gunboat’ Smith, a former boxer who sparred with Johnson in 1909, said Johnson could finish the fight from the first round. The fight was a success in sports and economics. Unfortunately there were racial riots in various parts of the country, including large cities. The Chicago Daily Tribune counted at least 11 dead nationwide, and many others were injured. While The New York Times listed 10 dead. First place: Joe Frazier against Muhammad Ali 2:43 Monday, March 8 marks the # 50 anniversary of the Century Fight division: full weight It was not very difficult to sell Ali-Frazier as The Fighter of the Century. It was the third fight of undefeated and former world heavyweight champion Ali after his return from punishment – his boxing license was suspended – for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War. On the opposite horse was the reigning monarch, who also kept the box of defeats immaculate. The controversy between Ali and Frazier over promotion further fueled the enmity between the two. Ali insulted Frazier immoderately, even though Frazier had held out his hand to him during the time he was without a fight and had even openly supported the lifting of the sanction. To annoy him, Frazier called all the time Cassius, the baptismal name of Ali, who had changed him to join the Nation of Islam. In the end the champion unanimously defeated the Rector. Both fighters secured $ 2.5 million, the highest payout of all time. Fifty countries bought the television rights. It was broadcast from the ringide in 12 different languages. According to Boxrec, an estimated 300 million people worldwide watched the fight, being the largest audience for a television broadcast to date, even surpassing those who tuned in to the two-year hiatus. before. The fight raised between $ 18 million and $ 20 million.
date: July 4, 1910
place: Reno, Nevada, United States
date: March 8, 2021
place: Madison Square Garden, New York, United States of America
See The Fight of the Century Ali Vs. Frazier I