Sunday, March 16, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
THE CROWDS may have been greater in the 1920s.
Jack Dempsey's fourth-round KO of Georges Carpentier on July 2, 1921, in Jersey City drew 90,000 paid customers.
Gene Tunney's 10th-round win over Dempsey on Sept. 23, 1926, in Philadelphia had 135,000 witnesses.
Tunney's repeat victory over Dempsey on Sept. 22, 1927, in Chicago was performed in front of a staggering 150,000 boxing fans.
And the major television networks had their peak interest in the sport in the early 1980s, when the Big Three of ABC, CBS and NBC all had monthly series. It wasn't out of the question for a big fight -- such as Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks, on Feb. 15, 1978, in Las Vegas for the heavyweight championship -- to be on network TV.
Yet the reality is this: In the long history of professional prize fighting, there has never been a better time to be a participant than right now.
For anyone with ability and a little charisma, the money and the potential exposure have never been greater.
The reasons: a renewed interest by the major networks and the proliferation of cable networks in the United States, as well as television networks in Europe and Asia; the acceptance of pay per view; a widespread desire among casino-based properties for exposure; and, relating to the previous item, the incredible sprawl of gaming at Indian resorts and in riverboat settings.
"I don't know how long it's going to last, but it is different," said boxing promoter Art Pelullo, whose Banner Promotions of Philadelphia will do a record 26 national TV dates in 1997. "I've never seen anything like it. It's almost like a dream come true."
No one does more shows than Las Vegas-based Top Rank Boxing, which is on a 60-date pace this year. While Top Rank did 80 shows when ESPN was desperate for programming after it came on the air 16 years ago, this year's 60 dates marks an exceptional increase over the 38 Top Rank handled in 1996.
"Everything starts with TV," said Top Rank Vice President Todd duBoef. "There's a worldwide proliferation of networks and they all need programming. Boxing is cheap by their standards and it brings a good, solid rating."
Two other promotional firms, headed, respectively, by Cedric Kushner and Don King, also maintain steady TV schedules. Kushner is particularly active in Europe, while King has a virtual monopoly with the Showtime cable network. (Another major promotional firm, Main Events, has intermittent shows through assorted outlets.)
Showtime's rival, HBO, is a big player in the sport and now a satellite-service company, DirecTV, is doing a monthly boxing series and has announced plans to be a competitor to Showtime and HBO. Cable networks like ESPN, ESPN2, Telemundo and Univision also feature boxing on a regular basis, as does the emerging Fox network.
"There's a buzz in boxing again," duBoef said. "I think part of it is the result of the (Evander) Holyfield-(Mike) Tyson outcome, and part of it is what might be called the Oscar De La Hoya Express. The networks are saying, 'Let's try this out' and their (ratings) numbers have been good."
ABC reached a mildly astounding 3 million homes for a March 1 fight from Paris that, on the surface, should have had only marginal interest. Neither of the competitors, Stevie Johnston or Jean-Baptiste Mendy, was known beyond his hometown.
If the networks are happy, so, apparently, are the many casinos in the country that have found boxing a means to national publicity.
"They figure it's a way to get customers," duBoef said. "Whether it's the Tropicana in Las Vegas or the Foxwoods (Indian casino in Connecticut), boxing brings exposure."
The Indians are gung-ho when it comes to boxing, Pelullo said.
"My whole world has changed because of Indian gaming," he said. "The Indians have sovereign-nation status, so they don't pay any taxes. They're paying bigger site fees than someone like me is used to, and they're booking boxing as if it was simply entertainment to them.
"When I went down to the National Indian Gaming Convention (in Arizona), I was amazed that a number of people there were seeking me out. They all wanted boxing for their properties."
Site fees have always been a promoter's guarantee that a given show will achieve financial solvency. Last year in a SUN story, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum gushed as he related how he was regularly receiving $40,000 site fees just a year or two after "having to beg some of these casinos to give us $20,000 for an ESPN show."
In the past few months, those site fees have continued to escalate.
"I'm getting $40,000 to $100,000 as site fees from the Indians," said Pelullo, "and they're also throwing in everything else free."
While boxing promoters aren't generally known for their generosity, it's inevitable that some of the increased money they're taking in makes it to the fighters themselves. For instance, at Pelullo's most recent show, March 4 at the Aladdin, main event participants Lonnie Bradley and Otis Grant were paid $64,000 and $20,000 respectively. Two years ago they may have settled for $10,000 apiece for the USA cable show.
"If the fighters are in tune with what's going on, they'll see some of this money," Pelullo said. "They should notice that there's money to be had that wasn't there not too long ago."
Top Rank's duBoef, however, said the money isn't just piled there on a table. He said a fighter needs to consciously market himself in whatever way possible, if he's to capitalize on this boxing boon.
"We tell the fighter to invest in himself and his future," duBoef said. "There's more opportunity for money now and there's more opportunity for exposure, but it's up to the fighter to not only produce but to make himself available for promotion."
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