Keeping boxing in the news

Have you noticed that with Pacquiao-Morales III two weeks away, it seems like all boxing fans are already aware of all the details about the fight? Well ok, this is expected of a fight of this magnitude with only two more weekends left. We can even go back to the day after the Pacquiao-Larios fight in July or the formal launch of the Grand Finale. If you do a survey among boxing fans on their awareness of the Grand Finale somewhere between then and today, you'll surely get high awareness rating level.

While the fight was a product that may not have needed any introduction, it still needed a machinery that would keep fans reminded and up to date about the fight. Not that fans would forget about the fight easily. The fight's promoters and producers just wanted to be sure that it would be the "only" event that boxing fans would be talking about so that promoters could maximize everything out of the event, i.e. the business of boxing! This is where I take my hats off to the marketing communication / awareness campaign being implemented for the Grand Finale. For the record, and before you think that something is fishy with this column, I am not being paid for this and neither am I part of the awareness campaign. In general, boxing promoters and producers have the crucial task of keeping fans on their toes and reminded about the big ticket fights especially when there is an"idle" time before the actual date of the fight.

This is where the PR practitioners come in and do their jobs. Their goal is to ensure that all fans are kept up to date with the latest about upcoming fight(s). But it's easier said than done. The simple release of straightforward news stories may end up being boring and without excitement. A PR man's strategy is to build up from pre-fight drama by providing fans with stories filled with twists of curiosity and a touch of controversy here and there.

In the Pacquiao-Morales fight, the biggest story about the pre-fight period is about the prospect of Morales not being able to go down to 130 pounds on the day of the weigh-in. No other story is coming out of the Morales side except this battle with the scales. And it seems to be working. Everyone is talking about it and forgetting how Morales is a slightly better technical boxer than the Pacman. In the end, this main theme will continue to be an issue that will keep fans tuned in until the day of the fight. My worry is that Morales will take the underdog's role, and we all know how everyone loves the underdog.

From the Pacquiao side, all seems to be rosy and easy. The main story is that he's a big favorite in the Vegas betting circles and is on track to make the weight. There are reports about how he's peaking at the right time; how other boxers can't keep up with him in his morning runs; and how he's battering his sparring partners. Everything seems to be in cruise control, and neatly fused into all the "good" news is his signing up with Golden Boy, the birth of his daughter and the construction of his mansion in Gen San. I just hope this doesn't turn into complacency on the Pacman's side.

On another front, we already have an endless dose of commentaries, pre-fight analysis, forums and other similar stories in newspapers columns and boxing websites (e.g. philboxing.com and mannypacquiao.ph). Even the chit-chat down the street and barber shop talk will be all about Pacquiao-Morales especially when November 19 draws near.

But this isn't the only news we're getting from Philippine boxing. We're also seeing an info campaign about the country's other top boxers, albeit on a smaller scale, but this time, the boxers' managers are at the forefront of this campaign. Boxing fans have been given regular updates on an on-off, now on again title fight of Jimrex Jaca against Juan Manuel Marquez on November 25.

And who can miss out the ALA Boys? Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and Z Gorres have been very much in the news lately with their upcoming fights on December 2 and 9 (or 15?), respectively. Bautista's story is expectedly about how he has recovered from his broken clavicle and is now deep into training with Freddie Roach. For Gorres, which is which? Is his WBO world title fight on December 9 or 15?

The ALA management has done a good job at providing the local media with regular updates about their activities, for both their top world-rated boxers and their young prospects. But I have a little unsolicited advice. Would it be possible to send different versions of the main story to the different media outlets? The stories in the different newspapers all sound the same, from Manila to Cebu. On the other hand, the challenge from the journalist's side is how not to treat the press release with a copy-and-paste mentality, and be more creative and resourceful to pick up the story's juicier and more salient points. I don't receive a copy of these press releases, but if you read the stories that come out in the newspapers, you can tell where it's from and how it was written.

That's what being in the loop of boxing is all about. A fight is just a one-day event, and is "just" a climax to a massive pre-fight info campaign that keeps all fans glued and updated. And the best of them have us fans loaded with news all year long.

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Time-out: We're requesting all La Sallians and all our readers to pray for the soul of Bro. Rafael Donato, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of ASMC La Salle (formerly ASMS).

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