By: Headline Heavyweight

When it comes to boxing, the whole point is for two people to get in the ring for however many rounds they agree and duke it out to see who is the better fighter. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from or how much money you have; if you work hard and study the game, you’ll have the opportunity to become a champion. That is what boxing stands for. But today, when social media carries everyone away, it’s not the skill that defines a champion.

Influence Over Skill

Back then, the formula for success was simple: just win fights, move up the ranks, and keep beating everybody until there’s only one—the champion. Boxing has now gone past its primitive age and is living in a time when influence is as significant as skill. A key example is the new age of influencer boxing. “So these people, with followers in hundreds of thousands if not millions, are now signing contracts, training for about a couple of months, getting inside the ring, putting up a cringey performance,” he joked as the audience laughed, “and making millions of dollars— opposite to a real fighter who spends all his life inside that boxing gym, and he wins every single fight only to have that one chance to get that break one day in his life.”

This has left many boxers frustrated and feeling overlooked. Especially while they are watching these fights, knowing that both fighters will take home 100x times their pay even though you can knock them out on the same night. All because influencers know how to get likes on Instagram. 

The Frustration of Being Overlooked

Understandably, this has left many of these boxers outraged. They are people who gave up time, relationships, and, at times, their own health just to get a chance to be placed on the big screens. Yet all of that is ignored, while people would rather watch some famous gamer get out of their chair for the first time in years and lace on some boxing gloves.

Even with legit fighters, most of the time, the fights you witness are not dependent in any way on skill; they come down to the influence and ability to sell tickets. The logic is that if somebody is a great fighter but cannot sell tickets, then the promoter does not want his cash cow to lose, even if that means the great fighter never becomes a champion. This has turned boxing from being a sport of gladiators into a popularity contest and also means that today’s age of boxers consists of a lot of great talents that we will never hear of. Not getting enough followers on Instagram to start with. 

The Silliness of It All

The worst part is that this often makes champions opportunistic about other fighters’ influence.

Now, champions usually don’t fight very competitive contenders who would put up an intense opposition; instead, they target the promising up-and-comer with a shiny, unbeaten record, who would be an easier fight and sell the same, if not more, tickets. On the bright side, they get a nice knockout reel to go on Instagram and satisfy all the casuals. But real fans of the sweet science can’t help but ask themselves: Is this guy a fighter of his era, or is he just a great salesman? Moreover, this trend threatens to weaken the tenets of boxing. When fighters are selected for high-profile bouts based on their Twitter following instead of their abilities in the ring, it is a tacit statement that talent and effort will take a back seat to celebrity. This doesn’t just demoralize truly talented fighters; it lowers the sport’s stock in the eyes of its most ardent fans.

Striking a Balance between Influence and Skill

This is not to say that influence should not have a place in boxing.

Nowadays, marketability is indeed of enormous importance. Fighters that can attract a great number of people to watch them fight are making their sport more marketable; thus, it also attracts sponsors and earns from pay-per-view views. This, however, cannot and should not sacrifice the quality of skill. History’s most successful boxers have been able to do both: attain the highest ring level and score interest and attention from the audience outside the ring. There will always be needed that balance if boxing is to remain honest and if true champions will continue to be born.

Influence via social media is, of course, beneficial to life as a fighter. However, it should not be the only key to success. Campaigns designed to bring latent talent to the ring should not discount a fighter who has put in the hard labor, established himself within the fight and earned the chances that come with being dedicated because they do not have enough followers.

Hit N Move: Innovating for Fighters

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Published by: Khy Talara