Boxing now more than ever has pay per view events; in recent years we have seen  many fights broadcast on pay per view.  However, lately the quality of these pay per view fights, for the most part, has been abysmal.  Although we do occasionally see competitive and entertaining fights on pay per view such as this past weekend’s HBO bout between Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto, we also see many fights that are thought to be pay per view quality, even though in actuality they are HBO Boxing After Dark quality at best.   

Nevertheless we do see excellent events on cable, and they carry a lot of the usual hype despite the fact these events are not pay per view cards.  Jermain Taylor’s fight against Kelly Pavlik is a sure candidate for Fight of the Year and it was definitely a crowd pleasing affair.  Many expected a toe-to-toe war, which is exactly what transpired, with both fighters being hurt on several occasions.  This fight, although for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world, was broadcasted as a regular part of HBO’s programming.   

There are some fights on HBO cable that show up and coming fights or fighters who are little known.  There were over 1900 punches thrown in the Antonio Margarito – Paul Williams fight, which turned out to be a very exciting battle.  That fight along with Cintron vs Matthysse and Gatti vs Gomez were all part of an excellent live card that was broadcasted on HBO.   

Although these fights are great, we often find fights that have absolutely no reason for being on pay per view.  A perfect  recent example is the fight between Winky Wright and Bernard Hopkins, which was ironically dubbed “Coming to Fight.”  It would have made more sense if it was dubbed “Coming to Clinch” since reportedly there were 132 clinches during the fight, an average of about three or four 'hugs' per minute!  Even harder  to believe is the fact that both fighters combined for just over 300 punches during the entire fight!

Many criticize Winky and say that his style is not crowd pleasing; however, many can argue that the fight against Jermain Taylor was an exciting one, as well as his fight against Sam Soliman and his two fights versus Shane Mosley.  Hopkins, however is another story.  His last four fights have been on pay per view and neither was particularly crowd pleasing.   

So the question remains, why do fighters who are past their prime and obviously not pay per view material end up getting pay per view airtime?  And by the way, this criticism is not limited to HBO either. Next Friday night, Fernando Vargas will be fighting Ricardo Mayorga in a Showtime pay per view event.  Four or five years ago, this fight would have been a perfect match up.  Although Vargas had lost to De La Hoya he was still a very worthy contender in the division.  Mayorga had just exploded on to the scene by destroying Andrew 'Six Heads' Lewis in five rounds and then annihilating Vernon Forrest in three explosive rounds,  followed by a decision win in their rematch.   

Fast forward to November of 207 and this fight is senseless.  Since his glory days Vargas has had surgery and a fifteen-month layoff, along with two losses against Mosley, in neither one of which Vargas looked competitive.  Mayorga has lost three times since, including devastating knockout losses to both Trinidad and De La Hoya. 

This fight is not even a competitive fight either, and I do not say this with disrespect for either fighter, but as it pertains  to the catch weight of 166 pounds.  The highest either man has ever fought has been at middleweight, (160 lbs.),  and in my opinion, this catch weight arrangement simply shows that both fighters are in the contract simply for the money, for a large pay-day.  All things considered, how is this fight deserving of a pay per view time slot?   

Why are there even pay per view shows?  Every other major sport in North America, if not the world, does not broadcast its largest events on pay per view.  The NBA championships and the World Series of baseball are available on local channels in North America, while the Stanley Cup is not even on cable.  Even what could be argued as the biggest sporting event of the year, the NFL Super Bowl, is available to the masses, so those fans without cable are able to watch and enjoy the big affair. 

Boxing however, does not offer that.  Sure it is a combat sport where there is a higher demand for pay per view;  however, even Mixed Martial Arts has better ideas.  Although the UFC does have pay per view fights, the biggest event in the sport's young history was a unification fight between Quinton Jackson who represented the UFC and Dan Henderson who represented Pride Fighting.  This fight was not on pay per view, but was telecasted on Spike TV instead, (a cable television network), so even those who may have been on a budget could  afford to watch the major  happening. 

Boxing’s biggest event in the history of the sports, which was arguably this year's Mayweather vs De La Hoya fight, was on pay per view.  Although it was a pretty exciting fight, was it worth $49.95?