Risk vs. Reward; The Highs, The Lows, and the Medium
- Filed under: Floyd Mayweather Jr
- Date: Mar 22,2008
In boxing, and life in general, the chances you take can often be described as a risk/reward ratio. More often than not, we hear of prize fighters accepting or declining fights based on this concept. The fighters refer to this as being “smart businessmen”; but fans experience it as “frustration.” The most common and unfortunate outcome is that the fights the fans want to see are frequently not made because the fighters can’t agree that the risk matches the reward.
For a prize fighter, the best-case scenario is a low-risk, high-reward fight, or as they call it, “easy money.” An example of this would be Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Henry Bruselles. These types of fights may line their pockets, but will not enhance their legacy. A second scenario is the high-risk, high-reward contest, a.k.a., the “payday.” This occurs when a fighter accepts a challenge with a dangerous opponent, perhaps even as a tune-up, but with the guarantee of a big financial reward. There are many examples of this throughout boxing history; the clearest example would be the upcoming De La Hoya vs. Stevie Forbes contest. Finally, there is the high- risk, low- reward fight when fighters put it all on the line, enhancing their legacy but for minimal financial gain. The clearest example would be the Israel Vasquez vs. Raphael Marquez trilogy. I can go on about the risk/reward concept in terms of highs and lows indefinitely, but a more frequent ratio, medium risk/medium reward, is seldom discussed. Read the rest of this entry »