By Eughine Dunnion: With the farce of a Heavyweight title fight that was Haye v Harrison and the underwhelming undercard on the Pacquiao v Margarito bill, it is high time that boxing pulls out all the stops and repays it fans sometimes blind faith in the sweet science. Now this is not a knee jerk reaction of the Saturday night and Sunday morning (GMT) title fights of the before mentioned fighters but a multitude of factors over the last couple of years. One massive factor being the power that the boxers in this day and age have over the boxing game as a whole. Now while I am all for fighters having a bigger say in their future than that of shady promoters and I know the horror stories of yesteryear about Professional boxers retiring near broke due to poor management of their careers from a monetary point but their needs to be a shake up in the sport we love before it loses more and more fans to the world of UFC & MMA. My article was not set out to be a Boxing v UFC discussion but it was inevitable that in the comments section this debate would have arose so I might as well break down my 2 cents worth on the matter.
First off, my point about the power boxers hold was made as a comparison to UFC fighters. Boxers and their promoters, trainers & agents can haggle with each other about who deserves the lions share of a title fight through the media and other avenues and fights are made and broken through this process. It seems absurd that professionals who are at the top of their game, that make their vast fortunes in a sport that is made purely off the back of the general public, albeit boxing fans, who are willing to pay for tickets to watch these fights, mostly involving traveling, at added expense, to where the fight is staged or be one of the millions of fans who shell out for PPV fees can make or break a fight because of a dispute on how a money split is divided on a title fight. Fighters can actually dodge an opponent for years for fear of losing and going down the rankings. While I think that someone who has the guts and courage to step into the squared circle deserves to have the biggest say in their career I think that their needs to be massive shake up in the way fights are made and more importantly, lost. Just look at the Pacquiao-Mayweather debacle. Two boxers at the very top of their sport, both in the prime peak of their career, both claiming to be the pound for pound kings, bickering and squabbling publicly, completely undermining the federations of boxing, who seem to have no control over the issue, about blood testing issues.
Where are the powers that be I ask?. A sport that is so universally recognized, not to have any sort of power to give strict guidelines about issues such as blood testing, is a complete and utter nonsense. Both Pacquiao and Mayweather should not even have to have this discussion. There should be, especially in title fights of such magnitude, mandatory testing, that leaves no doubt as to a boxers right to step in the ring. If a boxer refuses, strip them of the title and let the question of the boxers nobility who refuses the test, hang over them for the rest of their career. This is not a dig at Pacquiao (I am a fan) but a mere point that this should have been in place a long time ago, therefore, nulling any petty squabbles such as this.
Another point about the power boxers hold is their allowance to cherry pick opponents. I am not silly enough to suggest that young fighters, fresh into the ranks should have to fight whoever the federations and councils put in front of them. I understand that some boxers peak and progress at different rates and the quality of their opponents should be monitored closely to enable their development. I am saying that when they reach the upper echelons of their division, top 10 or maybe top 5, that their match-ups should be handled by a governing body, giving the fight fans the bouts they want, and deserve to see. This is where UFC trumps boxing all ends up. UFC continually stage top class title fights and most times, even better undercards. Boxing is losing more & more die hards to the world of MMA solely because of this. Recent attempts at gathering a huddle of world class fighters for one event have not actually lit the blue touch paper (anyone still excited about Super Six?) and while the Prizefighter series is a gallant attempt at providing a well needed jab (excuse the pun) of excitement into the fight game, it is not actually boxers of top class quality that are competing in the tournament. The UFC’s ability to give the fans the exact fights they want is a massive reason to why the sport of boxing will need to up their game in order to stay ahead of Dana White and co.
This article is merely an outlet for my frustrations about the sport I love. When I think of boxing I think of Rumble In The Jungle, Thriller In Manila, The Fabulous Four, Tyson eating through the Heavyweight Division, the sheer thrills and excitement of fights like Hagler v Hearns, Morales v Barrera I, Coralles v Castillo I, Ward v Gatti I. It is saddening that when the general public hear of boxing nowadays they only hear about illegal hand wraps, boxers committing suicide, pathetic wars of words over blood tests, bickering between two camps about who deserves the more millions of the profits from gullible fans willing to fall for the latest war of words between two “arch enemies” of the ring and the complete and utter debacle of a world heavyweight title fight that had one boxer who doesn’t deserve to put the gloves on in a world title fight (Harrison) and another one who is only marginally better (I must remind you that I am writing this while in a seriously downhearted mood. Haye did all he could against a slowly moving plank of wood). I am also writing this while waiting for the Pacquiao v Margarito bout and I am hoping that this fight will at least give me some reason to be cheerful about boxing and maybe that will stave off the interest I have in UFC and reignite my love for the great sport that is boxing, fingers crossed eh.
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