Response to Simon Hirst on negatives in Boxing

By Robert Elmore: Simon Hirst wrote an excellent article about the negativity in boxing. He touched on some great points citing that most of the fans call themselves experts and that articles are not well thought out before writing. I would like to piggy back on that and add these points.

I really don’t think boxing is declining. I think the fighters in boxing are killing it. For one, there are very few American champions in the sport. They are sprinkled throughout the game. For example; you have Steve Cunningham, Tavoris Cloud, Tim Bradley, just to name a few; while the rest of the titles belong to other nationalities.

Here’s where the problem kicks in. The foreign fighters do not know how to promote themselves and are not as flamboyant as some of our American brethren. People are not exactly flocking to see a Beibut Shumenov who is the WBA light heavy weight champ or WBC middleweight champ Sebastian Zbik. But why not? It’s not that they are bad people. However, they just seem content to have a belt and fight. They have no mass appeal. The Klitschko brothers do most of their fighting in Germany. And if they do fight in the States, it’s not televised nationally (unless you have a computer you can click on ESPN site and watch them then or have every sports channel known to man). Sergio Martinez is just now breaking ground and it will be interesting to see what he does with his fame. As for Tavoris Cloud and Steve Cunningham; what are they doing to separate themselves from the pack? Can’t be too much because I don’t see nobody knocking down their doors trying to get a fight. Good fighters, no mass appeal.

Two of my favorite fighters Larry Holmes and Marvin Hagler had everything that came with being a great champion. There was one thing lacking though; mass appeal. For Hagler, he chose not to deal with the public, but rather drub his way to the top. At one point in time, he had a chance to leave the Petronelli’s, instead he stayed. I believe he could have found a better promoter and got the recognition early on instead of getting it two fights before his retirement.

Source: Marvin Hagler SportsCentury

For Holmes, while his resume is outstanding, there were only three BIG fights that the seats were packed to capacity; and they were Tyson, Spinks, and Cooney (although he did pretty good against Ray Mercer and Evander Holyfield). Even when he fought Cooney Holmes said “I fight 4 black guys and make no money. I fight one white guy and make all the money” (Legendary Nights). Even some of the back in the day fighters had skill, good success, but no mass appeal. Example; “The Original Magic Man” Marling Starling , Buddy McGirt, Mark Breland, Donald Curry, Milton McCrory, Livingston Bramble; Johnny “Bump City” Bumphus, Tony “TNT” Tubbs and Tucker, and some of our foreign brethren; Simon Brown; Mike McCallum; Jeff Fenech; Dennis Andries, Again, great fighters, but how would they fair in today’s economy marketing wise?

Face time: Boxing isn’t going any where. I believe its going through major changes. Many of the critics don’t take the time to know or do research on these foreign fighters therefore the negativity comes. If they are not American fighters, a lot of people’s eyes are automatically shut. I think it’s just a mere case of wanting American fighters to reclaim the glory of yester-year and bring the titles back to American hands. As for the growth of MMA, they don’t make nearly as much as boxers. They basically fight for skittles and frozen cokes. So it only makes sense that they fight any and everybody. But I guarantee this, if MMA/UFC begins to get bigger and capture bigger audiences, and start getting paid more money, changes will indeed take place. This will cause yet another search for another to watch and negative comments to fly.

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