Carbazel on π
I'm a writer and podcaster who writes a lot about combat sports, martial arts culture, and entertainment. Subscribe and join over 1,000+ newsletter readers every week!
Sep 15Β β’Β 1 min read
The cost of doing fight business
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This past weekend in combat sports, something β funny happened. On or close to Mexican Independence Day (September 16, for those who aren't aware), boxing often celebrates the culture by featuring a prominent Mexican boxer, currently Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. He went against and lost to Terrence Crawford on the card held in Nevada. It was the first card promoted by TKO and had Dana White's name attached to it. The other name attached was Turki Alalshikh. He has Saudi money and is the main promoter for Riyadh Season events that have been going on since 2019. He's got so much money that there is a life-sized gold statue of Muhammad Ali's win over Sonny Liston in his home. He's got more than "F-you money", that's money in the realm of having so much of it, you could burn it to light a cigar like in the old cartoons. Which brings me to the point of this post:
Talking TurkiIt seems to me that working with Turki is unpredictable. He doesn't care about profitability or what fans want because he is enjoying himself. Because he can. More power to him. But if you aren't him, and someone is looking to make money and do business with him, just forget how you do things. Once he's your backer, it's all his way, or no way. Go into it knowing that, and you're fine. You'll make your money, but you probably won't gain a lot of fans. You may even lose some. When he first arrived, I thought he was good for the business, because with pockets as deep as his, he could make the fights everyone wants to see. But that's not what we've been getting. What we get are the fights he wants to see in a presentation that is played out to everyone, but him. I don't know where we go from here in the fight business, but every business has its ups and downs. I think we're down now, but we gotta get up soon. β β‘Follow me on π: @Carbazelβ β π My book: Bow and Arrow Mysteries (my fiction writing) β π© Mixed Martial Answers on Substackβ β π Fight Night Card Companion: on Gumroadβ β π₯ My YouTube channel: The Blogboard Jungleβ β πΈ IG: @Carbeerzelβ β β β β β |
I'm a writer and podcaster who writes a lot about combat sports, martial arts culture, and entertainment. Subscribe and join over 1,000+ newsletter readers every week!