My husband likes boxing. Like REALLY likes boxing. Like I had to fight him to keep a poster of Muhamed Ali from adorning our bedroom wall (it didn’t go with our color scheme). As a result, I am subject to hours of boxing commentary and re-runs. Through all this, I’ve begun to see some interesting marketing trends that dominate this brutal and seemingly nonsensical sport.

First of all, the real fight is already done months before the bell rings. It’s all about the hype. The anticipation. It’s almost like a reality show the way fighters and their promoters talk trash and heighten the drama between each fighter’s entourage. It’s all in an effort to increase ticket sales which is why the boxers with the biggest mouths tend to draw the biggest numbers.

You’ve probably heard about the Mayweather and McGreger fight. If not, Google it. This matchup between a retired champ and a foreign novice to boxing made more money than any other fight in middleweight history.

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