by James Le Blanc: Recently on the show Pardon the Interruption Michael Wilbon stated that after Floyd Mayweather retires, it’s over for boxing. Boxing journalist Dan Rafael took to twitter to imply that anyone that says the sport of boxing is dead is just ignorant and lazy. I myself thought the year of 2013 would be a year full of unwanted rematches and dead on arrival mismatches but I couldn’t be farther from the truth.
While the HBO and Showtime networks have split talent and promotional companies have refused to work with each other, we have seen a number of top matches, and excellent fights.
Boxing is thriving, and while most casual fans only know two names in the sport, actual fans are getting quality fights and matchmaking. Floyd Mayweather will receive a record breaking 41.5 million guarantee, not Tyson, Foreman, Oscar De La Hoya, or any other big name boxer you can think of has made this much money. Who is Floyd beating out to make this record number, himself.
I started to think that ESPN does not support the sport of boxing like it does the others but one can argue that it supports the sport more than others. ESPN is committed to Friday Night Fights, a 2-3 hour segment showcasing top prospects and up and coming contenders. But none of the main slotted shows on ESPN (First Take, Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, Numbers Never Lie, Dan Patrick, Mike and Mike) give their support. They work like the casual fan only covering information about the top two boxers in the sport today. ESPN’s First Take regularly has Manny Pacqauio on their show to help him promote his fights. PTI talks about Floyds upcoming match while Wilbon shows utter classless distaste for Floyd Mayweather repeatedly calling him a “coward.”
But if a sport is clearly not dying, why is it not getting that much support in America? Boxing has many issues that have not been addressed, Steriod use is rampant in the sport, Judges continue to rule bogusly in favor of the hometown guy, and top promotional companies refuse to work with each other matching their best against another’s best. There is no Roger Goodell or David Stern to police these issues. The backlash, the assumptions that the sport is dying may not be true, but it is warranted. These issues have not been fixed, they have not been policed, and when fighters like Floyd Mayweather attempt to clean up the sport and require simple blood and urine samples to ensure his opponents are clean, he is called a “coward” for it. Other fighters are taking this stand, Nonito Donaire has committed to all year testing, but a few fighters here in there are not enough, as other fighters continue to pop positive for banned substances, including a stable mate of Floyd Mayweather.
Judges are still scoring fights blindly. Just a few days ago a reckless decision went out for the Burns vs Beltran bout, but I am slipping out of the casual fans range right now. No one is exempt from horrible scoring; even Manny Pacquio had to deal with it just last year in which he lost his title to Timothy Bradley. Boxing writers are still scratching their head every time Bradley speaks about that win and says that he feels he did win….the lack of honesty in the sport is hard to swallow and who is to say that Mayweather won’t get robbed should his fight with rising star Canelo Alvarez go to the cards?
Mayweather vs Pacquio is a huge stain on the sport, but this isn’t the first time a big match did not take place. Regardless of who you thought was wrong for this fight not happening, it is a shame it did not happen. As an actual fan of the sport I am still upset about it. But Boxing is unique, and no one could force two guys to fight each other if they didn’t want to, if the money wasn’t right, if one was afraid of needles. Who would have thought the heavy weight division would be ruled by non-Americans this long. And how many casual fans know and support the up and coming Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder, a man that is not at a physical disadvantage from the Klitschkos and won the Bronze medal in the Olympics. I don’t see Stephen A Smith expressing how excited he is about this guy, or Michael Wilbon or any of those shows mentioning this guy. And I don’t blame them; they are not fans of the sport like I am. When they talk down on the sport, I still don’t blame them…I learned to understand where these comments come from. Going back and forth with a guy like Stephen A Smith on twitter does not changed the fact that he is not an actual fan of the sport, but a fan of Floyd Mayweather an intelligent boxer and even smarter business man. People like Stephen A. and other casual fans get this mixed up. Being a fan of one guy in the sport does not make you a fan of the sport. A NBA fan knows there is more in the sport than just LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, an NFL fan knows there is more to the sport than Tom Brady and Russell Wilson (Biased Seahawks fan plug). So an actual boxing fan knows there is more to the sport then Floyd Mayweather and continue to look for good fights after Mayweather leaves the sport.
I don’t know a thing about golf, but I know who Tiger Woods is, I respect the fact that he makes a lot of money, but I don’t call myself a Golf fan because of this. Casual fans need to chill on their lazy assessment of a thriving global sport. The sport of Boxing needs to continue to move into the right direction of cleaning up its many flaws. And boxing fans, actual boxing fans, will continue to enjoy the sport for years and years long after Mayweather…just like they did when Ali left the sport, just like they did when Sugar Ray left the sport, and just like they did when Tyson left the sport.
Follow me on Twitter @James_theGrad
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