Heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis may retire because he's run out of worthy challengers. Mike Tyson, who hasn't worn a title belt since 1996, is no longer feared.
That may be a bruising one-two combination for AOL Time Warner Inc's HBO and Viacom Inc's Showtime, which have generated a combined US$761 million in sales since 1991 from pay-per-view fights featuring the two boxers.
PHOTO: AP
While the channels reap most pay-per-view sales from movies and wrestling, big-name boxing matches have been profitable and provided a prime marketing vehicle. Now, Tyson's decline at age 36, Lewis's possible exit at 37 and the absence of marquee fighters to take their places have boxing promoters and pay-per-view executives concerned.
"There's no question [boxing] pay-per-view is a very troubled industry," said Jay Larkin, Showtime's senior vice president of sports. "There's not a lot of young talent in the US."
Athletes are pursuing pro football and basketball careers and "not getting their brains beaten in any more" in boxing, Larkin said.
Boxing and the networks that showcase the sport need a new generation of heavyweights to fill the void, analysts say. Top contenders Chris Byrd, David Tua and the Ukrainian brothers Vitali and Vladimir Klitschko might have the skills to be champions someday, but they aren't household names.
"People don't know any of the younger heavyweights, and you don't pay for what you don't know," former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield said in an interview. "Guys like Mike and Lennox and me don't come around every generation."
The pay-per-view industry had annual sales of US$2 billion last year, according to the Carmel Group, a California media research company.
Neither Showtime nor HBO, the only pay-per-view boxing outlets, reveals financial results. More than 90 percent of pay-per-view revenue typically goes to cable TV operators, promoters and fighters. Still, both business units have profited from boxing, according to Larkin.
Though pay-per-view boxing has been around for more than 20 years -- Roberto Duran's 1980 victory over Sugar Ray Leonard attracted 155,000 pay-per-view buys at US$10 apiece -- it didn't become big business until the 1990s.
The breakthrough took place in 1991, when Holyfield's 12-round decision over George Foreman generated US$53 million in revenue for HBO.
"Everybody saw the number and said, `Oh my God, what do we have here?'" said Mark Taffet, HBO's senior vice president of sports and pay-per-view.
Tyson, the onetime undisputed champion known for his devastating power and such outlandish behavior as biting Holyfield's ear, became the biggest box-office draw in pay-per- view boxing history.
His 10 telecasts generated US$587 million, capped by a record US$103 million from his knockout loss to Lewis in June, according to pay-per-view company figures compiled by Bloomberg News. That championship bout drew about 1.8 million viewers paying as much as US$55, a record price.
By contrast, HBO's Sept. 14 welterweight championship fight in which Oscar de la Hoya defeated Fernando Vargas generated US$46 million in sales.
Finding another attraction like Tyson, whose career was sidetracked by convictions for rape and misdemeanor assault, will be almost impossible for HBO and Showtime, Larkin said.
"Mike's been the mighty locomotive driving the train for pay-per-view," he said.
Tyson has tentatively scheduled at least two more fights: in February, on Showtime's regular cable channel, against Clifford Etienne, who took up boxing while in prison for armed robbery, plus a possible pay-per-view rematch with Lewis next June, said Tyson adviser Shelly Finkel. A decision on the pay-per-view fight may depend on his performance against Etienne.
Holyfield, 40, ranks second in pay-per-view revenue with US$488 million from 11 fights, while Lewis's seven pay-per-view bouts have generated US$277 million. The highest-grossing non-heavyweight is de la Hoya, whose 12 pay-per-view bouts have generated US$304 million.
To gain more fans, boxing may need to expand its audience from pay-per-view to over-the-air networks, former champion Larry Holmes said. The broadcast networks reach 106.7 million US homes, more than twice the potential pay-per-view audience of 48 million homes with cable connections.
Boxing probably won't return to over-the-air networks soon.
Finding competitive match-ups that appeal to a wide audience is difficult, David Hill, chairman of News Corp.'s Fox Sports unit, said in an interview. The four-fight card on Fox's last boxing telecast, in 1996, lasted less than two minutes, forcing the network to fill the planned two-hour broadcast with taped features and analysis, Hill said.
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