Fighters’ future relies on promotional skills

The line of 7,000 wackos began forming at least six hours early Friday to watch two boxers wearing briefs stand on a scale for about five seconds each. Obviously they were aware Jose Luis Castillo wasn’t one of them, and chances were fairly great both would make weight.

Which makes this so ironic: The reason tonight’s fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden is so enormously popular is also why boxing struggles to keep us interested and itself from suffering total heart failure.

There is a potential cure, crazy as it sounds today. If anyone should be holding the defibrillators above the sport’s future, make it the two guys who have been as complimentary toward each other the past few months as Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell.

As much as De La Hoya and Mayweather have increased boxing’s status for one night — think of having the TV ratings of “Drive” one day and “American Idol” the next — they can do far more in coming decades.

Think of it as the next version of Bob Arum and Don King, only with better hair.

“We’re hoping they’re butting heads against each other for a long time to come,” said Leonard Ellerbe, manager and best friend to Mayweather. “We understand how successful (De La Hoya) has been with Golden Boy Promotions. He has already been able to develop young fighters. They have a very good company. But we think Mayweather Promotions will be better and all the top fighters will want to come with us.

“We want a totally different type of relationship with Golden Boy than King and Arum have had. We want to be able to sit down and do smart deals for both sides, to bring our best fighters against their best and do good business, to be the two most powerful promoting companies out there.”

Mayweather says it best. It’s not about black and white. It’s about green, and no one produces more cash in boxing than De La Hoya.

But there will come a day when Arum retires and King rubs against a rock to shed his skin one final time and De La Hoya will need a suitable rival promoter. He made tonight’s fight by agreeing to it and lighting the torch. Mayweather made it by superbly playing the role of villain and then carrying it to this point. He’s too smart and has surrounded himself with savvy enough people (well, Ellerbe is at least savvy) not to succeed when the promoting side kicks in.

“Floyd brings something different to the table,” Ellerbe said. “He has such personality. Charisma. It has helped him in his career and will once he retires. This fight became so big because you brought together the two biggest names in the sport. It’s more of an event than anything.”

That’s good for a few hours tonight. What then?

This is still a niche sport losing more and more of its audience. The negatives still rule. Still too much corruption. Still too many weight classes. Still too few corporate sponsors. Still little mainstream buzz about any fighter not named Oscar.

Not so long ago, tonight’s fight would be just another good one held every six months. Then again, not so long ago, an unbeaten heavyweight champion would lose and the story would be played higher than No. 6 on the local sportscast, or you would hear his name (Nikolay Valuev) and not assume he’s some Russian diplomat.

“There are a handful of promoters that keep pissing on the sport and disrespecting the sport and saying it’s dying,” Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said. “And they’re saying all these things and being negative because they don’t have the talented fighters to promote and they don’t have the big events and they’re jealous. They should go quit and retire and stop promoting.”

So it’s finally here. You know about the sold-out arena. You have heard about the projected pay-per-view dollars and closed-circuit sales. You have watched the reality television show. You understand the level of devotion females hold for De La Hoya and how incredibly important it was to tape everything Mayweather said the past several weeks, lest we be allowed to fall asleep.

Tonight is easy. Tonight is set. Tonight is guaranteed. Tomorrow, the heart begins to beat a lot slower again.

When it comes time for the paddles, hand them to De La Hoya and Mayweather.

Maybe if they can generate as much attention promoting against each other as they have fighting each other, things will change. Maybe one day soon, the news of an unbeaten heavyweight champion losing will be played above Little League results.

Ed Graney’s column is published Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.