Is Boxing Dead?

By Boxing News - 07/23/2012 - Comments

Image: Is Boxing Dead?By Mohammed Abulkhair:This is my first article so I hope all will like it and comment thank you.

I believe boxing is in a state of terminal illness right now and the past fights of 2012 have not been so kind to boxing. This year boxing fans have seen incredible outlandish decisions that make fans think twice about ever watching the sport, or make fans anxious when they hear the score cards. Boxing still does have a chance to revive but it’s up to us fans to speak up and do something about it; because the sport that I have been watching for about 16 years and the sport I have grown to love is crumbling. However, there have been some fights this year that were good to the sport, but there were more fights that were not so good. Here are a couple fights that I believe take the cake for the worst decisions of this year.

1. Brandon Rios vs. Richard Abril: This fight really takes the prize of the worst boxing decision of the year. I have watched this fight twice once with the commentating then again on mute; because you know how they say watching it on mute can change the outcome. However, the outcome did not change on both. I had Rios only winning 2 rounds maybe 3 if you were being generous. This fight was supposed to be an easy fight for Rios, because Abril was a replacement for Gamboa. I knew it was not going to be easy fight for Rios due to Abrils awkward boxing style, and I thought Rios was going to win. Abril boxed absolutely spectacular, his defense and offense were exceptional he really made Rios look like a one dimensional fighter in there, really showed his flaws. However the only thing that was really flawed was the score cards. Abril only won on one score card I think 117-111 or 116-112. Rios won the remaining two. This fight really made me question the integrity of the sport, and made me wonder if there was possibly corruption.

2. Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley: As soon as I heard this fight being made I became a little worried for Pacquiao and I thought it was a perfect time for Bradley to fight him. I thought Pacquiao was losing his desire and fire for the sport and there is no problem with that because he has already cemented his name in the sport. I am a fan of Bradley and I have seen many of his fights; his previous fights he showed he was a hungry fighter that was no pushover and had tremendous desire and heart. However, Pacquiao showed that Bradley does not even belong in the same ring as him. One thing that Bradley does have is heart but heart alone cannot win you fights. I do believe though that if it was an earlier version of Pacman he would have knocked out Bradley in the 5th round. This was not even a close fight I gave Bradley three rounds 1,3, and 12. To be generous you can give him four rounds HORRAY!! The score cards however had Bradley winning on two judges, and the thing here is all the judges had close scores. The look of Bradley’s face after the fight was of a defeated fighter; the look on his wife’s face was that my husband just lost. Judge Duane Ford on Jim Lamprey’s show said Pacqauio won the first six umm so that means that Bradley won 6 also and it should have been a draw. As a fan I would not want to see a rematch because there is no need, and millions of other also believe that pacquiao won. I was dumbfounded when I heard the scores and I just felt that the sport I have grown to love is falling right in front of me.

3. The third worst decision is a tie between Tavoris Cloud vs. Campillo and James Kirkland vs. Molina: Tavoris Cloud is a rugged powerful brawler and Gabriel Campillo is a pure boxer. I really believed that Cloud was going to knock this guy out as evident from the first round with the straight right hand that knocked Campillo down. But after that knock down Campillo really showed his boxing skills and was winning rounds left and right with his beautiful combinations and made Cloud frustrated. I had Campillo winning 8 rounds in the fight.

3. James Kirkland VS Molina: I knew this fight was going to be tough for Kirkland because he is not used to fighting boxers who move. Molina really put a beating on Kirkland and even two of the judges had Molina winning at the time of the DQ one by the score card of 88-83. The DQ really caught me off guard even the referee looked confused and that’s who waved the fight off. I felt really bad for Molina because this was not his first time where he experienced decisions like this. Hopefully his day will come because even though he is not powerful he has the skills.

Well that sums up the fights that I believe were the worst of 2012 . The year is not over yet and the boxing calendar is actually looking really good. Maybe it took for these bad decisions to happen for boxing to shape up again. The fights that remain this year are mouthwatering fights here is the list:

1. Roberto Guererro Vs. Aydin: A real toss up fight.

2.Cloud vs. Pascal: also a toss and a fight that both really need to win.

3.Chad Dawson vs. Ward: Definitely will be good to see two boxers the best in their divisions fight. I believe Ward will win because of his work rate.

4.Sergio Martinez vs. Chavez: I believe Sergio will win, but Chavez has the chance to win because of his size and he has also been doing a lot better as was seen with his knockout of a good boxer Andy Lee.



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