Land of the Free and the home of the…….

By - 03/30/2013 - Comments

The famous quote on the statue of Liberty,  proudly standing in the harbour of New York to welcome new arrivals says  “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”.

Perhaps however it should say “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”.

A little drastic and over-dramatic some might yell, yet this would at least provide an accurate image for foreign boxers to the US’s shore for what lies in store for them.

It`s a well documented fact that some American fighters are very reluctant to travel, indeed most probably don`t know what a passport is, and would suffer a meltdown trying to understand the concept of foreign currency. This is due to a mixture of money being higher in the USA than some places because of overcooked TV deals, and the excuse they put about that they will not receive fair treatment from foreign judges if they dare leave their own borders.  This claim when reversed causes American fans to yelp about fighters being “stay at home Joe’s”.

Though in all seriousness, US fans, the governing bodies, promoters, TV networks, and any non-American thinking of fighting in the states needs to start looking at the way that boxing is conducted in the USA, and think about whether what is being served up there is fair, and if not why nothing is ever done about it.

John McCain suggested a federal commission, a suggestion which has been bandied about for decades – well, where the hell is it?

The list of shame in recent times in America is extensive, and almost exclusively in favour of the American fighter such as:

Abril – Rios: There was more of an argument for declaring this fight a shutout for the Cuban than giving it to Rios, but the American got the nod in a disgraceful split decision.

Sturm -De La Hoya: The unheralded Felix Sturm controlled, and dominated De La Hoya over 12 rounds.

Cloud- Campillo:  Overrated American puncher Cloud was given a lesson by the unheralded Campillo, a guy who has been robbed more times than a Boston Bank. Were the judges fair – well what do you think?

Lara –  Williams: Another Cuban left wondering if he perhaps would be treated better by Castro, after having been unable to miss Paul Williams for 12 rounds, utterly dominating, he finds himself hearing completely fabricated scorecards.

Bradley –  Pacman:  The big robbery of last year, Bradley was battered and forced back for 90% of the fight.   Listening with the sound off doesn`t help Bradley’s case, and it can only be assumed he was awarded a 6 round head start simply for being an American.

Alexander Matthysse :  Matthysse lost this fight the moment he left Argentina, as he spent 12 rounds pounding Alexander, the judges were busy putting on ski-masks and sawing off their shotguns for a massive robbery.

Matthysse- Judah: Lucas must be wondering what it is Americans have against him, another victory stolen away from the foreign fighter by unbelievable scorecards.

Holyfield-Lewis: A few years ago now, but just WOW. The whole world press was shocked to the core at just how blatantly the away fighter was robbed again having landed almost 3 times as many punches as the home guy. The shock of this fight should have provided the impetus for some kind of reform.

Khan- Peterson: Strange things go on in Washington (which unfortunately doesn’t seem to include forming a federal commission for boxing), and the murk surrounding this fight was on several fronts. The refereeing of the clinch was entirely inconsistent with how we would see it if the home fighter were not the pressure fighter, the away fighter docked EXACTLY enough points to swing the decision, and finally a positive drug test for the home fighter being whitewashed when the fight should be changed to a NC.

Though the whitewashing of the drug test is no way atypical of how it is viewed when a popular US fighter fails one, it isn`t just Peterson who can attest to that but also Jones Jnr, Toney, Mosely, Holt, Bey Jnr, Berto, and Evan Fields.

Fighters from the rest of the world have to look at this and wonder about the wisdom of fighting in the Land of the Free and the home of the robbery.



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