Sunday, May 29, 2011

Loz Rants #1: Boxing.


"The Sweet Science" has a long and fantastic history. It has ingrained itself in the pop culture collective of the world. Whether you remember characters like Muhammed Ali, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, more recent pugilists like Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar de la Hoya, or commentators like Larry Merchant and even the world's most recognizable promoter Don King, you remember it. Being a Puerto Rican through and through, I grew up watching boxing. I am not old enough to remember some of the biggest fighters of yore (only through film), but I still remember where I was when I saw Oscar de la Hoya lose to Tito Trinidad. What I'm trying to say before I begin my rant is that I like boxing. I enjoy the spectacle and most of all the 'science' behind it all. Or at least, I used to enjoy it.

Because to me, boxing is pretty much on its last leg.

Purists must be screaming at their monitors right now but if they calmed down a little bit and looked at the state of boxing in the world today, they would be hard pressed to say differently. So I will make a little list to enumerate the things that I think are causing boxing's slow and painful death.

-Too many IBFs and WBOs and whatever the hell they are with too many titles and too many weight divisions.

Who the hell can follow all of these governing bodies and all of these titles? It reminds me of the days of the pro wrestling regions. There are so many champions in the same divisions that it devalues the meaning of holding a title belt. You have a bunch of mediocre champions instead of a 'unified' champion that carries the weight of his (pardon the pun) weight division. The title fights are harder to follow since they happen all the time everywhere in the world with what seems to be no sense or reason. Also, the weight divisions... too many as well. Some of them only have 5 pounds between them... 5 pounds?? They can't make a 5 pound weight cut. Eliminate all the unnecessary weight divisions is what I say.

-Weak heavyweight division.

Gone are the days of Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazie, George Foreman and Sonny Liston. Even Mike Tyson's days are done and gone. So who is there to pick up the slack in the heavyweight division? The Klitschko's? I think not. While there have been amazing boxers in all weight divisions, there is one truism about boxing that really fits any combat sport. You are only as good as your heavyweight division. Sure, Oscar de la Hoya broke the mold in terms of PPV sales, but the truth is that it will never be as huge as a Mike Tyson... and talking about Tyson...

-Weak cards and early finishes.

You remember getting together with your friends and shelling out $10 each in order to be able to get the next Tyson fight. You get there late as you stop to get some pizza for the crew and a couple of brews. As you take the first bite, your bro tells you that the fight is about to start. You turn your back to the TV and then boom... the fight is over. That's ten bucks you'll never see again. This is something that happens all the time in boxing and its something that seriously affects all combat sports. Differently from most mainstream sports that have a strict time limit, a boxing fight can end in ten seconds. But you know what can be done to counteract that... a strong under-card. If you only have one main event and then a couple of up and comers, you have nothing to keep the person who payed $50 interested.

-Padding records.

I don't want to see mediocre fighters who are thrust at me because they have a 30-0 record when they haven't beaten anyone with a record better than 75%. It's fine to get a few fights under the fighter's belt, but 30 fights? Seriously. This way we get less of the crappy one sided fights and more of the well rounded and interesting ones.

-Pay-per-view or HBO... either way we gotta pay.

Sure, ESPN and Fox Sports en EspaƱol have recently started to show boxing in free TV, but its never anything really interesting. If you want to see boxing you basically have to pay up. What drives away more young fans than old rock and roller's on Super Bowl halftimes? Having to pay for mainstream sports. Basketball, baseball and football don't have this problem but boxing seems to have become so elitist and corrupt that putting on good fights on free TV is just completely wrong. A nice and interesting fight between contenders ever month on free TV would do wonders to bring about a younger crowd to the dying sport.

Last but not least...

-The surging popularity of MMA as a suitable substitute to boxing.

I can already hear the purists pump out their chests and put on their boxing berets. But it is true. Teenagers and up are becoming bigger fans of MMA because its more accessible, a PPV will almost always be worth the money that is being shelled out and its a more complete test of a person's abilities. I always find it hilarious to hear boxing fans claim that MMA is so much more brutal than boxing. Just because they have bigger gloves and can't throw elbows, knees and kicks doesn't make it more violent. Actually, the total amount of punches a person takes in boxing is much much higher (because of the totality of the rounds and the fact that bigger gloves make it more difficult to knock down a person). Also, you could win a fight in MMA without ever even throwing a punch.

Anyways, I'm getting off point. The fact is that boxing is in a lull that not even Manny Pacquiao can save. I'm not saying all of this because I hate boxing. Not at all. I enjoy it the same way I enjoy MMA and kickboxing. I just can't handle those things I posted above...


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