Call from Simon Kean on Sunday. He was still in Tampa Bay on Florida’s west coast.
The tall Mauricie cowboy had accompanied one of the fighters to a competitive gala in the large lighting arena.
A hall full of floor with 16,000 spectators. Fighting in front of 16,000 people is a dream for a professional heavyweight boxer like Simon Kean.
His protégé was knocked out after 1 minute 31 seconds of the first round. Big rock star mane, the guy looked gorgeous despite some subtle rolls at the waist. After his defeat, he put on a good show and shook up his fans.
Still, for a guy from Montreal, it’s something.
HARLEY PLAYS
Well, I’ll tell you right now, don’t look on BoxRec for the Montrealer’s record. Harley Plays is not a real professional boxer. He is a youtuber. And the 16,000 fans had paid top dollar to cheer and cheer on their favorite YouTubers competing in Tampa.
The next day, Simon Kean turned philosopher: “I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I tell myself that when 16,000 people come out to cheer on YouTubers and real boxers who fight hard in front of 600 people in the casino, my sport is doing bad and damn bad,” said the grizzly.
“Then I tell myself on the other hand that these young people might discover real boxing for themselves and become the fans of tomorrow,” philosophizes Simon.
Harley Plays is called Harley Morenstein. He’s an actor, host of a cooking show on YouTube, big mouth, bearded and hairy. And he attends celebrity boxing matches that get the crowds going wild.
With Simon, we spoke about Jake Paul getting paid $18 million to compete against Tommy Fury, Tyson’s cousin. The Paul brothers have amassed a fortune worth 160 million Canadians from their shows and fights that they promote on YouTube.
Simon, a privileged Quebec boxer, is now licensed as a contractor.
THIS IS THE REVOLUTION
But what exactly is going on? My colleague Jean-Charles Lajoie speaks bluntly of a revolution in promotion. According to him, the traditional methods of mass media promotion no longer work. Young people have their noses on their phones and that’s where life happens.
He’s probably right. But the Canadian consistently turns to TV and radio without neglecting social media and continues to fill the Bell Center despite a mediocre and at times ridiculous team.
In the same tirade, Jean-Charles adds that boxing doesn’t offer the fights that amateurs really hope and want. And there he joined Camille Estephan, the country’s most active promoter.
“Boxing is struggling to sell tickets and attract fans, and it’s boxing’s fault,” says Estephan.
He explains that when we present fights that people want to see, tens of thousands fill the stadiums and TV viewership explodes. Examples abound.
“And that also applies to us. Once our boxers have access to those stakes, we will fill, we have already done it,” he said.
TOO MANY OBSTACLES
But boxing is too scattered. There are five major associations. The Mexico-based WBC, the WBA, the New Jersey-based IBF, the Puerto Rico-based WBO, and halfway between the American League and the National League, the Miami-based IBO.
These five associations have their world champions. And to please the TV stations, they add interim and regular champions. How complicated it is to organize unification fights because the federations make a fortune off the penalties of a championship fight, imagine when you have to add DAZN, ESPN, Showtime, the UK and European networks, the Asian networks, the unsolvable riddle, this is going to be the presentation of a fight involving all these beautiful people.
And I haven’t talked about Bob Arum, Top Rank, Eddie Hearns, Matchroom, Al Heyman, PBC, Oscar de la Hoya, Golden Boy, Frank Warren and Camille Estephan from Eye of the Tiger management aiming to make that happen level international.
The perfect example is at hand. Hundreds of thousands of fans around the world want to see Alexander Usyk vs Tyson Fury. The TV stations have to make a deal. Then the two promoters. Select a country and a city. And in the end both boxers have to get a taste for it. Then hundreds of millions are at stake.
In the end it doesn’t happen.
So Simon should start his YouTube channel…
Poor Kim Clavel
The gala on April 28th at the Place Bell is postponed. The developer now speaks of May 12th. Kim Clavel loses another fight date.
The first time was COVID.
The second time it was the flu.
The third time would be because of a possible Laval Rocket game.
Impossible
This time the organizer may have made a hasty decision. According to my colleague Anthony Marcotte, Rocket game descriptor at BPM Sports, it’s absolutely impossible for Rocket to play in Laval on April 28th.
“Either the rocket gets eliminated or they’ve won their streak. So his already decided opponent will be Toronto. And in Toronto, the Marlies have already announced that their first two games will be played on April 27th and 29th.
It’s too bad for Kim.
