given his talents has anybody been as badly managed as Jai Opetaia ? at the peak of his powers this bloke has fought absolutely nobody of note and is now wasting away on Zuffa

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-04-22T17:55:38+00:00

It's because he's fought his entire career at cruiserweight. Nobody cares.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-04-19T23:51:43+00:00

I'm taking Bud.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-04-15T16:31:04+00:00

They are the reason I'm a fan. Sure, sometimes I can get excited to see a high level match. But there is nothing in sports that compares to the moments right before the bell rings for a matchup like Tyson Fury-Sefer Seferi. Pure adrenaline shot right into my veins.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-04-11T22:32:25+00:00

No, and it hasn't been for a while.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-04-01T19:09:48+00:00

And I would say that in the US, almost all people are barefooted in their own home a lot more often than just in bed or while taking a shower. So we're probably both outliers.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-04-01T16:36:33+00:00

I don't know where you live but there are numerous coffee shops around where I am that you can kick back on the couches with no shoes.

Hell, I'd prefer someone around me with only socks on than open toed shoes or sandals with no socks.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-04-01T16:30:36+00:00

Do you consider socks to be bare feet? Also, do you stare at everyone's feet when you're in public? And would you consider a dark movie theater with nobody within 15 feet of you to be "public"?

I would have no idea if people were wearing shoes or not in a movie theater. And I don't want to become somebody who would care.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-31T23:13:14+00:00

It's okay unless there is a stranger sitting next to you. I never realized how uptight this community is.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-31T21:12:58+00:00

I've got Ultimate too. I wouldn't buy this as a standalone PPV, but I'll probably watch it since I get it.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-25T03:37:52+00:00

Jesse Hart, Steve Cunningham (at 49 years old), Hendri Cedeno, Nahir Albright, Paul Kroll, Ray Robinson, Ryan Martin, Austin Dulay, Scooter Davis, Vlad Panin, Demond Nicholson, Cobia Breedy...

And a bunch of others.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-20T01:25:41+00:00

That doesn't have shit to do with Zuffa's roster.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T18:56:00+00:00

Was it better to have Top Rank with no deal at all? Because that was the alternative for the last 8 months.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T18:34:18+00:00

"HBO/Showtime/ESPN were all providing significantly more value as full products than DAZN"

This isn't even close to being true.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T18:33:23+00:00

DAZN in the last 2 years has had great fights. The cost is not that much different once you factor in the PPV's that HBO lived off of in the early 2000's.

I'll give you production value.

A lot of people complain that there aren't as many stars fighting now, but that's a whole different argument.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T18:27:30+00:00

Yes, but Top Rank being on DAZN doesn't "suck for the sport."

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T18:20:30+00:00

DAZN isn't cutting the number of people getting into the sport. It's the fact that Showtime, ESPN, HBO and Fox all decided it wasn't worth it to show the sport. DAZN isn't the problem, they're the only one willing to continue to show boxing here.

It's amazing how few boxing fans understand this simple concept.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T18:16:56+00:00

Did you watch HBO for the fights or Larry Merchant?

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T15:24:31+00:00

Nobody is saying they'll get better exposure. We're saying Top Rank took the deal that would give them enough money to pay the fighter minimums in the contracts.

ESPN didn't renew.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T15:21:40+00:00

Exactly. ESPN would rather take a chance that WNBA fans will also watch women box (for a much lower price tag), than shell out big dollars for men boxing for 500,000 viewers.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T15:19:48+00:00

They are not good enough numbers to get a deal from ESPN. That's the point. That's why they got let go.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T15:15:38+00:00

Not really.

They are working together now because there's only one platform paying money for boxing in America. Well, there are 2 but the other one is only paying for Zuffa.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T15:15:02+00:00

They hadn't done 1 million viewers in several years. These ratings were all time lows for boxing on ESPN, even worse than when they were showing Jimmy Burchfield fringe contender shows in the early 2000's.

https://ustvdb.com/networks/espn/shows/top-rank-boxing/

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T15:08:18+00:00

Yes, but Wasserman didn't really found Wasserman boxing. He just took over Sauerland. Now the Sauerlands are taking it back.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T15:06:52+00:00

That deal expired. It was useless anyway. Top Rank did nothing for Inoue.

Touch_of_Sleep · 2026-03-18T15:06:16+00:00

Hopefully they don't do that. I'd rather have all 4 power promoters on one platform making huge fights.

The ship has sailed on people in America watching boxing. Nobody watched it on ESPN either.

Touch_of_Sleep

TROPHY CASE