Interesting article on last nights Showtime and HBO cards
http://www.examiner.com/boxing-in-l...-showtime-and-strikeforce-own-bradley-and-hbo
Fight Night Trends - Showtime and Strikeforce own Bradley and HBO
January 29th, 2011 9:51 pm
The fighting pride of Palm Springs, California, Timothy Bradley might has won a unification bout against Devon Alexander Saturday night, but the World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Council junior welterweight champion went straight Rodney Dangerfield by getting no respect on the Internet.
At 5:30 P.M. Pacific Time, I fired up the computer 90 minutes prior to the HBO World Championship Boxing telecast featuring Bradley and Alexander. A look at Google’s hottest searches revealed that the 140 pound fight was not registering any major heat on the world’s most popular search engine.
Interestingly, HBO’s rival premium broadcaster Showtime was running a Strikeforce mixed martial arts card on the same night and same time featuring future boxing hopeful Nick Diaz in a bout with Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. The term “Strikeforce” was already ranked at the 17th hottest search term on Google.
When you consider that HBO spent much more money on the Alexander - Bradley event than Showtime pumped into Strikeforce, and that HBO has more subscribers, the mere fact that Strikeforce was registering as a hot topic on Google is a big victory for Showtime.
Take into account that Strikeforce is UFC’s ugly little mixed martial arts sister, and you start to seriously wonder about the overall health of boxing as a form of entertainment in the United States.
Over at Twitter, there was no trending representation for the HBO boxing card in the United States, or in Detroit (where the card was being hosted), or Los Angeles (a few hours away from Bradley’s hometown).
At Yahoo, neither the boxing card, or Strikeforce had broken their ten hottest topics and they would not crack it the entire night.
Half an hour later, at 6:00 P.M. Pacific Time, “Strikeforce” had moved up to #14 on Google’s trending topics.
At 7:20, as the ring entrances had ended for Bradley and Alexander - nice red rug at the Silverdome by the way - “Devon Alexander” was trending within the United States on Twitter. There was no trending for the event iin Los Angeles or Detroit.
Timothy Bradley’s name was no where to be seen as a trend on Twitter, a dynamic that would not change all night.
At the end of the 3rd round, Don King had joined Devon Alexander as a trending topic within the United States on Twitter. Interesting that a fading promoter with an incredible self-brand and history within the sport can get moving on Twitter, while a young, respectful, and world-class fighter could not stir the hearts of the World Wide Web.
After six round of action, and fight fans realizing that Bradley - Alexander was not exactly the barnburner some expected, Devon Alexander had dropped as trending topic in the United States - though Don King remained and was trending in Detroit.
Things on Twitter remained the same at the end of the 9th round, but over at Google “HBO Boxing” was now the 17th hottest search term while “Strikeforce” had moved into the 13th spot.
Meanwhile, former National Football League star and mixed martial arts hopeful Herschel Walker was riding a first round knock-out victory on Showtime and trending on Twitter in the United States, Los Angeles, Detroit, and several other markets.
At 8:10 when the decision had been rendered in favor of Timothy Bradley - following an early stoppage due to Alexander’s inability to keep his eyes open after one of many head-butts during the course of battle - all references to the HBO Boxing event that had been trending on Twitter were gone. No Don King, no Devon Alexander, nothing, but Herschel Walker remained strong; and over on Google, “HBO BOXING” had disappeared from their top 20 hot searches.
It is a shame that Timothy Bradley is not more popular. He is a hard working fighter, who takes his craft seriously and respects the sport by staying in tip-top shape between fights. His lack of a big punch undermines his in the ring determination and perfect record.
After his victory over Alexander, Bradley stands at 27 wins, no losses, but at least on the Internet, nobody seems to care.
And for the record, by 9:00 P.M. Pacific Time, in the midst of Nick Diaz’s victory over Cyborg, both men’s names were trending on Twitter in the United States.
http://www.examiner.com/boxing-in-l...-showtime-and-strikeforce-own-bradley-and-hbo
Fight Night Trends - Showtime and Strikeforce own Bradley and HBO
January 29th, 2011 9:51 pm
The fighting pride of Palm Springs, California, Timothy Bradley might has won a unification bout against Devon Alexander Saturday night, but the World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Council junior welterweight champion went straight Rodney Dangerfield by getting no respect on the Internet.
At 5:30 P.M. Pacific Time, I fired up the computer 90 minutes prior to the HBO World Championship Boxing telecast featuring Bradley and Alexander. A look at Google’s hottest searches revealed that the 140 pound fight was not registering any major heat on the world’s most popular search engine.
Interestingly, HBO’s rival premium broadcaster Showtime was running a Strikeforce mixed martial arts card on the same night and same time featuring future boxing hopeful Nick Diaz in a bout with Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. The term “Strikeforce” was already ranked at the 17th hottest search term on Google.
When you consider that HBO spent much more money on the Alexander - Bradley event than Showtime pumped into Strikeforce, and that HBO has more subscribers, the mere fact that Strikeforce was registering as a hot topic on Google is a big victory for Showtime.
Take into account that Strikeforce is UFC’s ugly little mixed martial arts sister, and you start to seriously wonder about the overall health of boxing as a form of entertainment in the United States.
Over at Twitter, there was no trending representation for the HBO boxing card in the United States, or in Detroit (where the card was being hosted), or Los Angeles (a few hours away from Bradley’s hometown).
At Yahoo, neither the boxing card, or Strikeforce had broken their ten hottest topics and they would not crack it the entire night.
Half an hour later, at 6:00 P.M. Pacific Time, “Strikeforce” had moved up to #14 on Google’s trending topics.
At 7:20, as the ring entrances had ended for Bradley and Alexander - nice red rug at the Silverdome by the way - “Devon Alexander” was trending within the United States on Twitter. There was no trending for the event iin Los Angeles or Detroit.
Timothy Bradley’s name was no where to be seen as a trend on Twitter, a dynamic that would not change all night.
At the end of the 3rd round, Don King had joined Devon Alexander as a trending topic within the United States on Twitter. Interesting that a fading promoter with an incredible self-brand and history within the sport can get moving on Twitter, while a young, respectful, and world-class fighter could not stir the hearts of the World Wide Web.
After six round of action, and fight fans realizing that Bradley - Alexander was not exactly the barnburner some expected, Devon Alexander had dropped as trending topic in the United States - though Don King remained and was trending in Detroit.
Things on Twitter remained the same at the end of the 9th round, but over at Google “HBO Boxing” was now the 17th hottest search term while “Strikeforce” had moved into the 13th spot.
Meanwhile, former National Football League star and mixed martial arts hopeful Herschel Walker was riding a first round knock-out victory on Showtime and trending on Twitter in the United States, Los Angeles, Detroit, and several other markets.
At 8:10 when the decision had been rendered in favor of Timothy Bradley - following an early stoppage due to Alexander’s inability to keep his eyes open after one of many head-butts during the course of battle - all references to the HBO Boxing event that had been trending on Twitter were gone. No Don King, no Devon Alexander, nothing, but Herschel Walker remained strong; and over on Google, “HBO BOXING” had disappeared from their top 20 hot searches.
It is a shame that Timothy Bradley is not more popular. He is a hard working fighter, who takes his craft seriously and respects the sport by staying in tip-top shape between fights. His lack of a big punch undermines his in the ring determination and perfect record.
After his victory over Alexander, Bradley stands at 27 wins, no losses, but at least on the Internet, nobody seems to care.
And for the record, by 9:00 P.M. Pacific Time, in the midst of Nick Diaz’s victory over Cyborg, both men’s names were trending on Twitter in the United States.
