a show similar to wrestling

The evening 5 It was finally celebrated This last Saturday, and as expected, he was not exempt from controversy: of all the fighting, no doubt one of those who generated more expectation for the characteristics of the combatants was that of Abby against Roro. More than a confrontation, almost a declaration of intentions of the event and the response to many doubts about what the evening has in common and what not with traditional sport.

The fight. The two boxers appeared to combat after notable sacrifices: Roro in a spectacular physical form and Abby forced to get off the 57 kilos to compete. The stature difference forced Roro to go back to Abby to corner her, while he made a first and third higher assaults, connecting more blows to his rival. In addition, Roro fractured the leg with which he had already had problems during his training. Finally, The jury failed in favor of Abbywhat generated boos for the winner, who had already been booed at her entrance to the ring. Because here not everything is related to sport.

Sport theft. The real battle had begun long before they both climbed into the ring. From the first instant, the public made clear his preference for Roro, plasma some live some previous surveys of the organization that gave 78% support to this. Abby’s boos were constant, even at the time she was declared winner. The perception of “theft”, one of the many inherited attitudes of traditional sport and serves the fans of a team to justify their defeat, in a perfectly normalized vocabulary between the press and specialized journalists.

Inevitable politicization. They end in this way of configuring the papers that the two boxers have played since the combat was announced and that transcend the merely sports: Abby had criticized Roro In different interventions to foster the conservative role to please a man and call it “anti -inferable”while his rival has become the last year in Spanish symbol of the “Tradwife” movementa vision of the traditional woman subordinated to her husband.

Each one has found their audience niche in the opposite extremes of the ideological spectrum, and the evening offered them the opportunity to settle their symbolic differences in a format with great media attention.

A round business. At this point, it is clear that the evening business model goes far beyond the mere sports confrontation: it is not a sporting event that is monetized, but an entertainment product that uses sport as a narrative vehicle. With 80,000 carduja attendees (5 million euros of benefitonly on that side) and a large number of first -line sponsors and with very clear intentions (Revolut, Fintech aimed at young people; Spotify, which dominates digital musical consumption; Grefusa, who wants to rejuvenate his image), to which he adds An extra million euros Arriving from Twitch.

Sport as narrative. With those figures, it is very clear that the evening’s proposal has to go far beyond a mere boxing combat: to begin with, unlike other sports, the result matters less than the process. Boxers are rewarded with about 100,000 euros For combat, much more than an amateur boxer charges: they are being paid for their value as entertainment, and because each of them contributes their own narratives and their own conflicts, as it has happened with Abby and Roro and a confrontation that came from before.

And it will continue to be like that: exposing yourself in the evening provides content for months, stories to tell, narratives to exploit (Abby has already published a video that recorded a month before combat, In a especially low mood). The combat lasts three assaults, but the media value extends throughout the following year.

What comes from sport. Although it might seem that all these dynamics are pleased with professional sport, nothing farther from reality. Above all we have the very clear influence of American wrestling, also More Varietés show than technique exhibition. But on the other hand, there is having found a reef in sports controversies, something that specialized media knows perfectly that it sells more than the numerical result of the Derbies.

Training matter. Ibai knows very well the springs that move passions in football and has transferred it to the evening: customize athletes and turn them into fallible heroes with a narrative that also polarizes the public. All this is present in traditional football, and that is why training in the narrative of the evening acquires so much importance: months and months of physical evolution followed by heartwith innumerable previous meetings between The rivals that they primed a story not scripted, but almost.

The technique is the least. In the digital age, personalities sell more than skills, and the evening has understood it perfectly. The public prefers to see someone known doing something they do not know how to do, as with most of the Streamers They participate, before a stranger being excellent in his specialty. Success and international copies which is generating Ibai’s invention are the perfect proof that the evening is much more than a few boxing fights between fans.

Header | The evening

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