God of NBA point guards

Chapter 497 Triple Crown

On this day, good news came from Philip, who reached an agreement on a unified war with Herbie Heide.

Herbie Head's agent and promoter Eddie Hearn will not participate in the promotion of the unification fight. The promoters are composed of Bob Arum, Don King, Roger Philippe, and Lou Duva, who invested 6 million and 4 million respectively. and US$3 million, US$2 million, and promotional funds reached US$1.5 million.

15% of the income of both boxers is distributed to the promoter.

Zhou Quan's appearance fee remains unchanged at US$5000 million.

Herbie Heide's salary is as high as 2000 million U.S. dollars. His previous appearance fee for a title defense game was only 800 million U.S. dollars, a sharp increase of 2.5 times.

The prize is $2000 million.

In terms of PPV revenue, we still cooperate with ESPN. The PPV sales price is US$100, with ESPN occupying 45%, promoter 5%, Zhou Quan 35%, and Herbie Hyde 15%.

In terms of box office and advertising, the promoter is 70%, Zhou Quan is 20%, and Herbie Hyde is 10%.

After Philip informed them of these contents, he said with some reluctance: "They made a lot of money. Herbie Hyde has no appeal at all. The most profitable boxing match in the past only earned 700 million US dollars. This time He can get at least [-] million."

"Everything is for the unification war." Zhou Quan comforted.

Philip added: "The negotiations with Lewis have also made progress, and we should be able to reach an agreement soon. Zhou, what do you think about the time of the boxing match?"

Zhou Quan thought for a while and said, "Don't delay for too long. I have no objection to the specific time."

Philip thought for a while and said with a strange expression: "Why not arrange the unification battle with Herbie Hyde on the NBA All-Star day."

"Pfft!"

Zhou Quan burst into laughter instantly.

Philip added: "The match with Lewis will be scheduled in the finals."

"Ha ha……"

Zhou Quan laughed, then shook his head and said: "Actually, it can't affect the NBA. We are rich TV, and they are wireless."

"Even if it doesn't affect their ratings, it can still disgust them. At least it can crush them in terms of influence." Philip smiled.

"By the way, Zhou, this year's NBA All-Star Game will be held in Madison Square Garden in New York, so which city do you want the boxing match to be held in?" he asked later.

Zhou Quan’s first city came to mind: Las Vegas, then Los Angeles.

He finally chose Las Vegas because Los Angeles was half of his home court and Herbie Heide probably wouldn't agree to it. Las Vegas was a neutral city and was the most suitable.

Three days later, promoters consisting of Bob Arum, Don King, and Roger Philip held a press conference in New York to announce the unification battle between Zhou Quan and Herbie Hyde.

The venue was the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas, and the date of the boxing match was February 1998, 2.

"On February 2, the Iron Fist King will target the NBA All-Stars." New York Times.

"On February 2, the 8 NBA All-Stars will compete with the Iron Fist King in terms of influence and appeal." Los Angeles Daily News.

"On February 2, Michael Jordan will join hands with 8 other All-Stars to compete with the Iron Fist King again." Seattle Post.

This date immediately caught the imagination of the media and started all kinds of hype.

"What does Iron Fist want to do? Is he still angry?" This date also made David Stern's heart feel cold.

Magic Johnson said in an interview: "I don't know why the Iron Fist King chose February 2, but his boxing match is a paid TV model, and our All-Stars is a wireless free model, so I don't think so. Maybe it's just a coincidence that his boxing matches will affect All-Star ratings."

"Erwin, do you hope that the Iron Fist King will return to the NBA?" the reporter asked.

"Of course, I hope he comes back to the league today."

Magic Johnson's answer was without hesitation, and he said with emotion: "The league is in trouble and needs a knight to save it. He is the king of the NBA. I think he deserves to return to the league. He is the knight who saves the league."

"I don't know if this date is intentional, but I don't think it means anything. I know the league is very difficult right now, but I believe we will get through it." Jordan said in a media interview.

"Michael, do you hope that the Iron Fist King will return to the NBA?" the reporter asked again.

Jordan nodded and said: "The NBA without Iron Fist has lost its strongest competitiveness. We all hope that the honors we receive have the highest gold content, but without Iron Fist, there is no such thing as high gold content."

Many media want to interview Zhou Quan. There are a lot of reporters outside the villa every day, and occasionally he will come out for interviews.

"Iron Fist, why did you set the boxing match on February 2th?"

"This is the date set by the promoter, I did not provide any input." Zhou Quan replied.

"You must have paid attention to the NBA, so what do you want to say about the current situation of the NBA?"

Zhou Quan said: "Oh, of course I focus on boxing and golf. I don't pay much attention to the NBA. I also don't do much basketball training. I just play in my free time and don't have much time.

I know a little about the current situation in the NBA, but I don't want to say anything. I have retired from the NBA. "

"How long do you want to knock out Herbie Hyde?"

"Haha, I'm sorry, sir, discussing this issue now is disrespectful to my opponent. In fact, he is a very strong world boxing champion, and I need to prepare for the fight with all my strength."

Two days later, on January 1, the NBA announced the All-Star first week voting.

Jordan won the first-week votes, with 25 votes, which was 2 fewer votes than last year's All-Star first week, which was 27 votes.

This number of votes has once again hit the NBA league.

Because of last year's All-Star voting, Zhou Quan received 101 million votes in the first week, a total of 441 million votes. Based on the analysis of Jordan's first week voting this year, I'm afraid it would be difficult to miss a million votes.

Sure enough, January flew by, and at the end of the month, the All-Star voting ended. Jordan became the vote leader, but only received 91 votes. The league's record of over one million votes as the league's All-Star vote leader for many years was interrupted.

By this time, Zhou Quan had arrived in Las Vegas.

Zeng Li didn’t have time to come because the launch of fine coffee has entered the final stage.

The company has established a listing advisory team composed of company executives, investment banks, legal advisors, accountants and other elites. It has high work efficiency and has completed preparations for listing. It was registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on February 2, and on the same day A public prospectus is released to the public.

The company has a registered capital of US$6000 million, 6000 million original shares, estimated at US$2.5 million, and plans to issue 6000 million shares publicly at an issue price of US$15, raising funds of US$9 million.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will review the gourmet coffee listing application within thirty working days.

The time soon came to February 2th.

At Madison Square Garden in New York, Jordan led 24 NBA All-Stars to give their best and received 1550 million viewers.

This rating is far behind last year's All-Stars, which had 4710 million viewers, only one-third.On the same night, Zhou Quan knocked out Herbie Hyde with a heavy punch in the third round, winning the WBO heavyweight belt and becoming the WBO, WBA, and WBC triple crown champion.

The PPV sales of this boxing match did not break the record of the boxing match and Tyson, nor did it reach 500 million, but it was still as high as 424 million, exceeding the PPV data of Zhou Quan and Holyfield.

The box office of the boxing match also reached US$0.91 million, plus US$0.812 million in advertising revenue, a total of US$1.722 million.

Several promoters were very excited about the huge advertising sponsorship revenue, which was even higher than the one with Tyson. This shows that Zhou Quan's boxing matches are becoming more and more attractive to advertisers.

Zhou Quan earned US$2.528 million from this unification battle.

Among them, appearance fees and bonuses are 0.7 million, box office advertising is 0.3444 million, and PPV revenue is 1.484 million. Excluding the promoter’s 15%, the amount is 2.15 million US dollars.

"Money-making time! The Iron Fist King is getting further and further away from the broken NBA." New York Times.

"The Iron Fist King crushes the NBA All-Stars!" Seattle Times.

"Looking forward to the Iron Fist King becoming the first super king to complete the unification battle of the four major boxing organizations." Seattle Post.

"Lennox Lewis, the last stone on the way to the top of the boxing world." Los Angeles Times.

Some media had doubts about this boxing match, thinking that Tyson was knocked out in the first round. Why could Tyson of the UK last until the third round?

"Perhaps Iron Fist King allowed Herbie Hyde to fight two more rounds because of PPV sales?" The New York Times persisted in openly expressing doubts about Zhou Quan.

On February 2, Don King accepted the media in Las Vegas and said excitedly: "I have begun to look forward to the unification battle between Iron Fist King and Lion Lewis. I have decided that I will personally invest at least 9 million US dollars in promotion. funds."

At noon that day, while Zhou Quan was still sleeping, Tang Jin started negotiations with Arum, Philip, and Lou Duva.

"I offer 6000 million." Tang Jin said excitedly, waving his fist.

"I can also spend 6000 million." Arum said calmly.

The remaining Philippe and Lou Duva looked at each other, and Philippe said: "I don't have your strength, so I'll give you 3000 million."

"Then I'll take out 5000 million." Luduva said excitedly.

"Two hundred million, this is the highest promotional fund record in the history of professional boxing." Tang Jin said excitedly.

Arum smiled and said: "Do you have such high expectations for Lewis?"

"Of course, he should be stronger than Tyson." Luduva said.

"We haven't reached an agreement with Frank Warren yet. He also wanted to join us last time. What do you think?" Philip asked.

Tang Jin said dissatisfiedly: "Why should you share it with him if you are making a sure profit?"

Arum shook his head and said: "Let's talk again. If it doesn't work, let's focus on a unified war. Each of us will give up part of the quota."

"Then, OK."

Tang Jin thought of the unification fight that King Iron Fist was looking forward to. If he affected the unification fight, he would be kicked out of the promotion team, so he had no choice but to nod.

At two o'clock, after lunch, Zhou Quan accepted an interview with the media.

"Iron Fist King, the New York Times cast doubt on last night's boxing match. They thought you made Hyde fight two more rounds for the sake of PPV sales. Do you agree with their doubts?" the reporter asked.

"The New York Times is bullshit! Their attitude towards journalism is questionable."

Zhou Quan gave the answer first, and then explained: "When Michael Tyson was at his peak, he could KO his opponent in just a few seconds. Does that mean he could KO his opponent in just a few seconds in every boxing match?

Obviously not, he can't do that, and I can't knock out my opponent in the first round every time. This is a smear campaign against me by the New York Times. I ask them to remove this article. "

He then analyzed last night's boxing match and said: "Anyone who watched the boxing match last night knows that Herbie Hyde's tactics are guerrilla warfare. I am the one taking the initiative to attack. He hugs me a lot. I can Seizing the opportunity to KO him in the third round is already very good, otherwise it may have to drag on for more rounds.

By the way, the New York Times doubted me. I guess they didn't watch last night's boxing match. If they had, they wouldn't have such doubts. "

On February 2, negotiations with Lewis were reached.

Lewis' agent and promoter Frank Warren joined the promotion of the boxing match and invested $3000 million in funds.

However, the entire promotion fund is still [-] million, and the other four people each allocated a part of their quota.

This was the last unification match, and Zhou Quan’s appearance fee set a historical record, reaching a terrifying US$8000 million.

The reason why the five promoters are willing to pay Zhou Quan so much appearance fee is for one purpose, which is to use this to increase Zhou Quan's influence in the professional boxing world and maximize the influence of this unification fight. thereby producing the greatest benefit.

This is actually very cost-effective, because part of the publicity funds is given to Zhou Quan as appearance fees. Even if the money is not given to Zhou Quan, it will be given to the media.

Lewis received an appearance fee of US$3000 million, reaching his highest appearance fee record. His previous highest appearance fee was US$2000 million.

The prize pool is set at $4000 million.

Originally, Philip wanted to set the bonus at US$5000 million, but unfortunately Frank Warren disagreed.

Of the remaining US$5000 million, [-]% will be used for publicity, and the rest will be used for organizational and other expenses.

The boxing match will be held at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas and will be held on June 98, 6.

On the 16th, the five major promoters held a media conference in Los Angeles and announced the news of the unification war, which immediately caused a sensation all over the world.

"If Iron Fist wins the boxing match, he will earn more than $3.5 million from this unification fight." New York Times.

"With an appearance fee of US$8000 million, King of Iron Fist is indeed the most powerful money-making machine!" Los Angeles Times.

"On June 6, the Iron Fist King will face off in the NBA Finals." Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

“Iron Fist will unify boxing.” Seattle Times.

"After this unification fight, the professional boxing world will give birth to the first four-time champion of the four major boxing organizations." British BBC.

"The greatest fight in professional boxing is about to begin!" German newspaper Bild.

"The King of Iron Fist, the greatest crossover king! The greatest yellow man in sports." Tokyo Daily News.

"If the Iron Fist King unifies the four major organizations' heavyweights and becomes king in both basketball and professional boxing, he will be the greatest athlete on the planet, if not one." Agence France-Presse reported.

Next, as the NBA regular season enters the second half, the unification battle between Zhou Quan and Lewis has also entered the promotion stage.

Tens of millions of publicity funds were spent, and coupled with the influence of Zhou Quan and Lewis, the publicity effect was overwhelming. Media from all over the world joined the battle, and the powerful publicity was overwhelming.

(End of this chapter)