• by Karl Greenberg , Staff Writer, May 1, 2015

The big fight this weekend between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is overhyped and definitely superannuated. It's a given. With the miles on the fighters' odometers and the ridiculous sticker, this fight is a pre-owned car being hawked as new. It's my '98 Camry being sold as Money's white Bugatti. If the show were a doctor’s prescription, the pharmacist wouldn't fill it. He'd point to the date: May 2, 2010. One more for fun: It will be a meal at a restaurant on 45th and Broadway; overpriced and overcooked.

And, as often is the case, it will make some people very, very rich at the expense of the sport. Maybe there's a plus for another kind of movement art, and for culture in general. If it's a dog and the two fighters look their age on Saturday night, maybe the New York City Ballet will see some new faces next season. These two are fighting pretty near the age Muhammad Ali was when he fought his last fight, one that nobody remembers, against Trevor Berbick. 

To make matters worse, the undercard is pathetic. Typically, when you buy a PPV fight you will see four or five bouts, and very often the undercard fights wind up better than the main event. I have no idea why this is the case, but it happens a lot, especially when Floyd is in the red corner. On Saturday night? The sideshow comprises just two undercard fights and they are not, to put it mildly, scintillating. Vasyl Lomachenko? Yes, he's a great, exciting young fighter, and really, really fast and probably bound for greatness. But he's not a star just yet, and he's fighting someone most of us have never heard of, one Gamalier Rodriguez. 

It will be a brief affair, all to Rodriguez, and the viewers’ great misfortune. That's because as soon as it's over paying viewers will be getting even more promotional garbage for their dollars. Same drill for the penultimate bout, between two people I've never heard of. No, it won't go the distance either, and that means, yes, more portentous, nauseating encomia accompanied by slow-motion shots of Pacman and Money hitting things. It's PPV idolatry/reality TV for your C-note. If you are going to see the fight at a restaurant, prepare to pay. Evidently, Mayweather, et al. are charging restaurants $5,100 to broadcast the fight. A place down the street from me is charging $40 a head. I think not.  

Yes, folks, show business, as Irving Berlin said, is about everything the traffic will allow. I interpret that as "bilking," but my wife disagrees and she's in the theatre. But humor me. Boxing is show business marked by an especially deep commitment to my definition of anything the traffic will allow: short-term gain, greed, skimming, and cons that would make Damon Runyon proud.

All of which is very bad for boxing, partly because boxing does not benefit from advertising dollars the way the major leagues do, even with the deal on NBC inked by one Al Haymon, whom nobody has ever seen, and who may actually be a character from a Runyon novel for all I know. I think he was a card shark in “The Three Wise Guys.” 

With this "fight of the century," this effort by promoters to grab as much money as possible from suckers, boxing may traffic itself right into a ditch. While the short-term gains for Floyd, Manny, Haymon and Bob Arum and the other worthies are huge, if the fight is the cure for insomnia it will certainly be, people may be less thrilled about the idea of buying PPV next time. Well, Haymon at least gets credit for bringing boxing to regular ol' TV again, and we only (have to) watch Mayweather fight once more. Pacquaio won't be much of a draw either, as illustrious as his career may be, or may have been. In every business, loyalty is driven by a degree of respect and responsiveness between brand and customer. That's basic. Clearly, there is none for the fans by the players who put this absurd deal together.