Only wealthy people can afford to go to boxing matches as it stands. You have cleverly undermined my premise, imaginary reader. And you've made a more poignant remark than I set out to. Jones-Michael Marrone doesn't sound like the kind of bout likely to generate ratings that could satisfy even a fledgling network or a bout that would generate much more enthusiasm for boxing in a new audience, but anytime the sport's fans have options, I vote "yea. Quick JabsLight heavyweight champ Bernard Hopkins has a fight this weekend, so there are some tidbits surrounding him. On Ring Theory, B-Hop was actually lured into a discussion about his wife's Sex Toys -- no, really -- and he was wildly funny about it. There's a lot to be said for B-Hop's candor, sometimes. I shouldn't say "there's a lot to be said for" it, because it doesn't require much elaboration -- it just should have gone said, is all. Lastly, a fight on the undercard involving a pro debut is getting more attention than anything else on the card combined. The Time Warner "synergy" probably has something to do with Hopkins having been a top story on the CNN. How long would you wait after his death to sue his estate for more money. Top Rank also underbid by nearly half the original amount. Baffling purse bid, part two: The next highest bid for Vyacheslav Senchenko-Brad Solomon's welterweight title bout was $200,000. So why did an outfit called "Union Boxing Promotion" buy it up for 1 point 1 freaking million dollars. Holy Christ boxing is a weird netherworld where the kind of Ayn Rand-ian rational self interest exhibited by businesses is tossed right the hell out the window. The pound-for-pound king, Pacquiao, is now #24 on Bloomberg's list of powerful athletes. Steward says his former junior middleweight pupil, Cotto, dumped him for someone who was $50,000 cheaper. If true -- and it's just one side of the story -- this is the old boxing story of people being short-sighted rather than looking at the big picture. If Cotto loses to Antonio Margarito in December, his next paycheck is going to be significantly more than $50,000 lighter. He better hope he wins, or he'll be second-guessed for the rest of his life about whether Steward would've gotten him the victory and kept up his marketability. The exact number hasn't been released, but nobody's disputing that it would be Martinez' biggest payday, even without HBO money. Pirog's people are also saying that Martinez has demanded $5 million an absolutely absurd figure that Martinez' side hasn't denied. Let's say a Pirog fight would only get Martinez a little more than his previous career high, and wouldn't guarantee him more HBO exposure, and would be a fight on Pirog's home soil. The fact is, all of these signs point to Martinez' team not really wanting the Pirog fight. I wish it didn't seem that way, but if you want more than a career high payday and as much as $5 million for a fight like that, you aren't interested. Since Goodman hasn't examined him, I'm more inclined to go with the "he can fight if he wants" view of Nevada based on his clean medical exams, even if Goodman is usually reliably and appropriately concerned about boxers' health. But if his promoter, King, is (as reportedly is the case) demanding options on a fighter like Jean Pascal who can make plenty of money NOT fighting Cloud, the calling-out is all for naught. But this helpful list of statistics shows how badly ALL television ratings have declined in recent years, which certainly mitigates the implication of the declining televised boxing ratings. In context, they look like a lot of other television number trends. But based on appearance alone, let's put Haye in context. At cruiserweight, he was terrific, becoming lineal champion and establishing himself as one of boxing's biggest, most exciting punchers. At heavyweight, he also was often a big, exciting puncher, but the big, humorous talk he directed at the Klitschko brothers was maddening for years. Then, when he finally got in the ring with champ Wladimir, he disgraced himself with a lackluster showing and a bad excuse about his pinkie toe being injured. On the balance, Haye was a really good fighter, particularly at cruiserweight, and provided a lot of entertaining trash talk and fights. If he's gone, he should be remembered for more than just the flame-out that we all wish would have been either a knockout of Wlad or a gutsy defeat. For a longer explanation of belt politics, click here. This site is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Sex Toys