Boxing still has a fighting chance
BOXING
Mixed martial arts is rapidly growing, but the money generated by top-name boxers still dwarfs their rival.
Reporting from Las Vegas — Billy Baxter has won -- and lost -- millions wagering on everything from boxing and billiards to football and poker.
Yet there is one thing the 68-year-old Baxter, a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, won't wager on: mixed martial arts, the rapidly growing combat sport that encompasses a variety of fighting techniques.
However, if Baxter and other traditional gamblers are betting that MMA is a fad that will go away, they might lose their shirts. "I can see MMA supplanting boxing," says Jay Rood, director of the MGM/Mirage Race and Sports Book. "I can see an MMA fight being one of the biggest gates in Vegas history."
But that won't happen immediately, and certainly not this Saturday when Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao meet in a welterweight boxing match that will generate about $17.5 million in live-gate revenue in Las Vegas, plus an estimated 1.5 million pay-per-view buys worth more than $80 million.
Although MMA is growing fast, the money generated by big boxing matches still dwarfs their combat sport rival.
The De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather fight in May 2007 produced $18.5 million in Las Vegas gate receipts, plus 2.4 million pay-per-view sales worth $134.4 million, both records for the sport's most popular boxer. Meanwhile, the high-water mark for MMA was the Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz bout in December 2006, with Las Vegas gate receipts of $5.4 million and an estimated 1.05 million pay-per-view buys worth about $42 million.
And given the demographic differences between the two sports' fan bases, major boxing matches draw older, more established patrons who stay at the major hotels and spend more freely, boosting gaming revenue by as much as 50% on the weekend of the fight. MMA events, on the other hand, draw a younger, more frugal crowd that has a much smaller impact on the local economy.
"The MMA fan may come to the property only for the fights, a few beers and a meal at one of the restaurants," says Rood, whose MGM Grand is staging the De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight as well as three Ultimate Fighting Championship events this fall.
"The difference in crowds is a natural thing," he says. "Boxing is older, more established with more disposable income. As MMA grows the sport, they'll grow that income too."
Now with the 35-year-old De La Hoya closing in on retirement, boxing is being forced to contemplate a future without its biggest draw.
