TheLounge
05-07-2007, 11:51 PM
Critics say the sport of boxing is on the verge of irrelevancy. The explosive popularity of Ultimate Fighting and other mixed martial arts competitions is increasingly putting boxing on the backburner. The Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight over the weekend was billed as a fight to save boxing.
It came up disappointingly short of expectations. For true boxing fans, it was a Mayweather clinic. The pound-for-pound best boxer in the world showed it Saturday night with a clinical dismantling of De La Hoya.
Notice I said, best “boxer,” not best “fighter.” There is a difference. A boxer uses quickness and guile to prevent getting hit, as opposed to a fighter who is willing to stand toe-to-toe with an opponent and slug away. Because of Mayweather’s boxing prowess, many believed the bout Saturday was boring. Only true boxing fans can appreciate Mayweather’s style.
I consider myself a boxing and fight fan. I can enjoy the way Mayweather used his stick-and-move techniques and speed to keep himself out of danger against De La Hoya. But if boxing is ever to regain its status, fighters like Mayweather are not going to do it. His style is considered too “boring” by the casual boxing fan. People want action, they want fighters willing to stand there and trade leather for as long as possible. Knockouts are lusted after. That’s what makes mixed martial arts so popular.
I’m not a big fan of mixed martial arts. It can be — and is often — just as boring as a clinical boxing match. An MMA match can mainly be one guy on top of the other, dropping elbows on a basically defenseless opponent. While there is plenty of blood, there is not a lot of action.
Not my idea of exciting.
Boxing needs to find those exciting, entertaining fighters willing to mix it up with opponents. The first preliminary bout Saturday before the Mayweather/De La Hoya contest was between a 20-year-old kid from the Philippines and a 25-year-old slugger from Argentina. The two pounded on each other for 12 rounds in the best match of the night. Promoters need to promote those type of fighters if they want to save their sport. I can’t remember a more boring era of fighters than we have now. Many top fighters now are over the hill and living on their legacies. The next big bout on the horizon is between Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright. It will not save boxing. The heavyweight ranks — considered to be premiere class in boxing — is in shambles. There are four champions who would not stand a chance with the champs from a more proud by-gone era — can you name them? Larry Holmes was an underappreciated heavyweight fighter but defended his title 20 times. Holmes in his prime would wipe the floor with any heavyweight out there right now. Heck, he could probably do some damage right now.
You can’t blame the fighters for boxing’s demise. They do what they do to get paid and they use whatever style they have to accomplish that. It’s up to the promoters to find those promising, exciting fighters and push them to the top of the fight game.
A few years ago, there was a show called “Tuesday Night Fights” on the USA cable channel. While it didn’t feature champions, it did highlight the up-and-comers. Many a fight did I watch of a relative unknown become a “known” guy a few years later. The boxing game needs to expose more good fights and fighters to the public if it wants generate fan interest. Boxing is so far off the radar right now that people only tune in when they’re told to. The hype leading up to the De La Hoya-Mayweather was incredible. The fight was not.
The boxing powers-that-be, not the fighters, need to change that.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.
It came up disappointingly short of expectations. For true boxing fans, it was a Mayweather clinic. The pound-for-pound best boxer in the world showed it Saturday night with a clinical dismantling of De La Hoya.
Notice I said, best “boxer,” not best “fighter.” There is a difference. A boxer uses quickness and guile to prevent getting hit, as opposed to a fighter who is willing to stand toe-to-toe with an opponent and slug away. Because of Mayweather’s boxing prowess, many believed the bout Saturday was boring. Only true boxing fans can appreciate Mayweather’s style.
I consider myself a boxing and fight fan. I can enjoy the way Mayweather used his stick-and-move techniques and speed to keep himself out of danger against De La Hoya. But if boxing is ever to regain its status, fighters like Mayweather are not going to do it. His style is considered too “boring” by the casual boxing fan. People want action, they want fighters willing to stand there and trade leather for as long as possible. Knockouts are lusted after. That’s what makes mixed martial arts so popular.
I’m not a big fan of mixed martial arts. It can be — and is often — just as boring as a clinical boxing match. An MMA match can mainly be one guy on top of the other, dropping elbows on a basically defenseless opponent. While there is plenty of blood, there is not a lot of action.
Not my idea of exciting.
Boxing needs to find those exciting, entertaining fighters willing to mix it up with opponents. The first preliminary bout Saturday before the Mayweather/De La Hoya contest was between a 20-year-old kid from the Philippines and a 25-year-old slugger from Argentina. The two pounded on each other for 12 rounds in the best match of the night. Promoters need to promote those type of fighters if they want to save their sport. I can’t remember a more boring era of fighters than we have now. Many top fighters now are over the hill and living on their legacies. The next big bout on the horizon is between Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright. It will not save boxing. The heavyweight ranks — considered to be premiere class in boxing — is in shambles. There are four champions who would not stand a chance with the champs from a more proud by-gone era — can you name them? Larry Holmes was an underappreciated heavyweight fighter but defended his title 20 times. Holmes in his prime would wipe the floor with any heavyweight out there right now. Heck, he could probably do some damage right now.
You can’t blame the fighters for boxing’s demise. They do what they do to get paid and they use whatever style they have to accomplish that. It’s up to the promoters to find those promising, exciting fighters and push them to the top of the fight game.
A few years ago, there was a show called “Tuesday Night Fights” on the USA cable channel. While it didn’t feature champions, it did highlight the up-and-comers. Many a fight did I watch of a relative unknown become a “known” guy a few years later. The boxing game needs to expose more good fights and fighters to the public if it wants generate fan interest. Boxing is so far off the radar right now that people only tune in when they’re told to. The hype leading up to the De La Hoya-Mayweather was incredible. The fight was not.
The boxing powers-that-be, not the fighters, need to change that.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.