The Fallout from Floyd Mayweather’s Exhibition With Logan Paul

Preliminary indications are that somewhat more than 600,000 people in the United States coughed up $49.99 to watch Floyd Mayweather Jr take on Logan Paul in their 8-round exhibition. The bulk of the PPV buys came in late causing Showtime’s server to crash. The bout also aired on “Sky” in the U.K. and was available on streaming devices in other parts of the world.

Those that purchased it didn’t get much bang for their buck, but at least they weren’t gouged like those attending the event in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. Seats sold on Ticketmaster were scaled from $150-$1500. On the so-called secondary marketplace, where many of the best seats are hoarded, prices were much higher. An agency called Ticket Smarter quoted prices from $237 to $8085 with an average ticket price of $1454.

By the looks of it, the scalpers took a bath. On social media, one of the most often-heard observations as the event was unfolding was how empty the stadium looked. Perhaps everyone was huddled under a canopy at a concession stand to get out of the rain.

Who goes to an event like this? Gossip columnists for one thing. Daily Mail reporter Erica Tempesta was there with a cameraman and centered her “ringside report” around Tiffany Trump who was there with her fiancé. Ms. Trump, the daughter of The Donald and his second wife Marla Maples, “had fingernail and toenail polish that matched her dress but only some of her fingers were painted, suggesting she may have suffered a beauty malfunction before the event.”

Journalist Tempesta — and I use the term journalist loosely — found Tiffany’s toenails more interesting than the fight. Me too.

Of course, this is a minority opinion. A fellow named Zaid Bando, who writes for Fansided, called Mayweather vs. Paul “an entertaining spectacle” and “a unique occasion in combat sports history and one that the public won’t forget.” But Bando also thought that the ramifications of the spectacle were “not good for the sport long-term and will only tarnish the respected reputation (italics mine) that boxing has had throughout the years.”

There’s a difference of opinion as to whether events like this will become the new normal in boxing.

“Like it or not, it isn’t going away soon,” wrote Brady Langmann in his pre-fight story for Men’s Health. As for Logan Paul, in Langmann’s opinion he achieved much more than a moral victory by lasting the distance with Mayweather. He kept his dignity while roping in a lot of money and, opines Langmann, he left the ring with a promising future for his fighting career.

A dissenting opinion comes from Yahoo’s combat sports reporter Kevin Iole who believes that celebrity boxing is a phase destined to recede into the shadows before it pops up again as a curio for a new generation.

Sooner or later, says Iole, those shelling out money for these kinds of events are going to tire of it. “The overwhelming majority of the You Tube/celebrity bouts have been farcical and not at all entertaining,” he says. “And that’s why this will soon come to a thankful end.”

Iole buttresses his opinion by evoking Butterbean Esch and Mia St. John, contemporaries who had their day in the sun despite marginal skill sets. Both took advantage of their looks, cartoonish in the case of Butterbean and fetching, to seize upon an old word, in the case of Mia. But Iole’s analogy is labored as Esch and St. John were not headliners like the Paul brothers, but merely window-dressing.

Showtime’s next venture into celebrity boxing comes on Aug. 28 when Jake Paul opposes former UFC fighter Tyron Woodley. Jake, who has legitimate power in his right hand, is better than Logan.

Woodley, 39, was an All-American wrestler at the University of Missouri where he was a teammate of Ben Askren. One of the greatest collegiate wrestlers of all time, Askren was Jake Paul’s most recent opponent and made a very poor showing.

Photo credit: Amanda Westcott / Showtime

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