50 Cent: Boxing could benefit from WWE-style theatrics

LAS VEGAS -- Boxing has myriad issues. There are too many champions. The heavyweight division has been in the doldrums for years. There are too many weight classes. You have to subscribe to a premium network to be a fan.

50 Cent, whose first foray into boxing promotion comes to fruition Saturday when his exciting young fighter, Yuriorkis Gamboa, fights on the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez IV pay-per-view telecast, thinks a major issue with the fistic sport is that there is too much emphasis on the main event and not enough focus on the show as a whole. The music mogul, whose real name is Curtis Jackon, believes that integrating music and entertainment with the show would be a boon to the sport, not to mention better undercard fights.

"You have to merge music culture with (boxing) and develop cards that are exciting for more than 36 minutes maximum," said 50 Cent. "We should take away the main event, say the whole show is the main event. They should make cards that are exciting enough for us to watch the entire show. You see arenas that you sit down and you feel like it probably didn't sell out until 36 minutes before it's over, then the whole place is full.

"(We should) use some of the theatrics that you see in WWE and bringing them into a sport that doesn't have a question mark -- we know boxing is real. We don't say 'is that real?' like wrestling. If you add those different elements to it you can offer something that would be entertaining enough to watch the entire show."