Bob Arum’s now proven, tried and tested, track record and consistent established pattern of failing to turn pound for pound rated elite level black fighters into stars strikes again.
This has been going on for years now. Floyd Mayweather, Terence Crawford and Shakur Stevenson — who now has thankfully got bloody shot of them. Good riddance.
And let’s be real, anyone could have promoted Muhammad Ali back in the day. He didn’t need any promotion, the guy was a straight savage in the ring and in life, and undeniable genius.
Much of the boxing world is awake now to Top Rank’s inability to transform their incredibly talented, pound-for-pound black fighters into the global superstars they deserve to be.
A familiar frustration echoes through the careers of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Terence Crawford, and now Shakur Stevenson – three undeniable talents who’ve seemingly been held back by the very promotion meant to elevate them.
Mayweather, a generational talent, famously split from Top Rank early in his career, citing promotional disagreements and a lack of financial recognition.
His subsequent rise to superstardom with Al Haymon, and fuelled by his own promotional savvy and boxing brilliance, seems to validate his decision.
Terence Crawford, a switch-hitting virtuoso with a claim to the welterweight throne, languished under Top Rank for years.
Despite his dominance in the ring, Crawford’s star power remained muted, leading to a bitter separation that many saw as inevitable. Crawford finally got the Errol Spence when he left Top Rank.
Now, Shakur Stevenson, a young phenom with Olympic pedigree and undeniable charisma, is gone as of the weekend.
The pattern is clear: Top Rank struggles to elevate their black fighters to the same level of stardom as their white counterparts.
Is this due to a lack of understanding, an unwillingness to invest in proper marketing, or perhaps something else?
Whatever the reason, the consequences are undeniable, for them too, as well as the fighters.
Fans are deprived of the chance to see these fighters reach their full potential, and the sport of boxing misses out on the revenue and excitement that come with true global superstars.
Bob Arum is good at making and holding on to a buck but that’s just not enough, the next level after that is building worldwide stars and brands (Dana White, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, etc.).
Boxing deserves better and Top Rank frankly deserve better from ESPN, ESPN kind of suck lately. They are no longer the “Worldwide Leader In Sport”.
They suck for quality of production lately and like America is burning to the ground on the markets, companies that try to tie themselves to the burning corpse that is America will, too, America still has much good but it is toast at some point.
Alas, no good, must be more international and less reliance on America, Americans etc that’s it for them unfortunately.
This year the US federal government will spend $892 billion on interest payments alone on government debt. That’s just interest.
The US National Debt is nearly at $35 trillion (that means game over for America soon, guaranteed) and if they default on the Chinese parts of that, Chinese will hit US bad and wipe out their infrastructure cyber wise with ease with their 50-1 ratio of more government cyber employees than the US capabilities have at this particular time.
What does this all mean for boxing? Good things believe it or not.
Boxing and most professional sports (not the NBA, NFL or MLB who if they continue to tie themselves to burning USA, they are screwed shortly too), in many ways, like the UFC too, are some of the most international sports and industries. The more victory industries, per se.
It will work to boxing and the UFC’s advantage within the combat sports realm.
That’s why Saudis, Hearn, Warren, UFC and so on will be fine, they are all getting more international than ever and cutting ties in appropriate ways finally with reliance on the now defunct and going out of business parts of their countries.
The West in fact is coming to an end in many ways, a depraved crap hole now, alas. It is just as bad if not worst than the East in many ways. The West is turning into peasentville of the Earth, too much bad people, not enough good, East is much better.
The UK in particular is nothing more than a small fringe country in the world, who no one takes seriously anymore, anywhere. As we predicted, they are now gone as any sort of force or influence in the world by 2024. That is now reality and complete. Good people in the UK too but anyone with a smart brain who is young has got out of places like the UK, US, Ireland etc. a long time ago.
At least the US in their spiral to hell this year and next, and in the years ahead, were at least smart enough to make some powerful international friends in the time ahead in different countries. The good people in the East know it too.
Alas, amid all the mayhem and shootings in the world, it suits many now international professional sports and many other industries down to the ground. They are always the last man standing at the end of the day.
Don’t mind that false prophet fake Pope in Rome and all these political men. They are nothing.
The Pope Francis is garbage and that Argentinian new President knows it too. A stain and waste on the country of Argentina (and Italy) that old scumbag is. Waste of oxygen. Crooked old idiot. Nothing more. Evil garbage. Of no consequence, importance or significance.
Good and evil, right and wrong. That’s it. That’s what it all comes down. It’s as simple as that. Jesus Christ is King of all Kings and bosses of all bosses, in all places and in all times.
In the end, as for sports fans and professional sports, during all the upheaval and wars in the world, not a bother to them of course. Plenty of action to look forward to, of course. Easy.
Great survivors, investors, commodity holders, builders, achievers, and often quiet success stories that little ever know about and ultimately, thrivers. No worries.
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