By Gerardo Granados: Why is it that the boring boxers get the big money and the brave fighters often get cents? The Valhalla fighters doesn’t only fight for money, most of them fight to change their life, fight to achieve pride and glory and also to be able to do what most think that they can’t. The way of life of a Valhalla fighter is the way of life of real men and women, no, it is not a low moral disgusting reality show shown in the TV.
Have you notice how in the past the best American boxer was a world attraction and how now he is perceived as boring – protected worldwide?
Courage is praised by true fight fans, but for some reason the ones who run the business behind the curtains seem to try to get soft fans to increase by hyping the cold numbers, statistics and earnings of the Divas.
On times the Valhalla fighters get to fight two men inside the ring. But incomprehensibly the Divas are kept protected and are allowed to bend the rules in many different ways. Have you wonder why are rules applied differently according to the fighter status? For sure a mistake can take place, but it is quite evident when a boxer is being favored.
When an experienced referee chokes under pressure it really worries me, because this man is in charge of the actions on times also has the life of the fighters in his hands. How can a referee not notice a late punch landed after the bell? Even worst how can he not know what to do? How can a professional referee not know the rules and how to enforce them?
If I wanted to see average efforts or average courage then I would just watch another thing instead of prize fighting. I am not a hypocrite or suffer from cognitive dissonance, I do know the risks the fighters take and the brave men and women who climb into the ring know it too.
Maybe the readers do remember these fights in which real fighters were involved, Danny Williams vs Mark Potter, Yuri Foreman vs Miguel Cotto, John David Jackson vs Locomotora Castro, Rafael Marquez vs Israel Vazquez, Ray Mercer vs Tommy Morrison, Erik Morales vs Marcos Maidana, Joe Frazier vs Muhammad Ali III, Dennis Andries vs Jeff Harding and Micky Ward vs Emanuel Augustus.
Now a day the wicked philosophy of “why fight a real threat if you can fight a Salka” has spread among Divas and even worst there are boxing fans that tend to agree with it. Now a day a boxer quits because he is not willing to risk his health, but isn’t a boxer getting paid to risk it in the first place? Now a day a belt holder rather vacate or pay a step aside agreement to avoid a dangerous mandatory challenger, but some fans seem to see nothing wrong by doing so. Now a day a Promoter and a Diva duck a fighter and wait on two years so the opponent slows down, but the major sports media puppets dare to thank the promoter and the diva for making the fight.
Talking about bullfights – Toreo, the ones who hug run pot punch aren’t Matadores, as some of they have misled their self to believe that they are, because a real Matador always stays close to the bull moving just the necessary, without the constant need to run away from danger.
What happened to part of the fight fans? A friend calls them the “boxing accountants”, those who look for PPV numbers, the earnings of a boxer, the ones who argue the A side nonsense and focus in all business minded crap. But what about watching a merciless fighter to utterly destroy his opponent and not just run – hug and patty punch to a point decision, or what about to simply see if a ring warrior can dig deep into his soul to pull off the canvas to retaliate and win a fight.
What the hell happened to the real World Champions who had a heart bigger than their chest that wouldn’t quit under any circumstance? There is not even a macho attitude inside and outside the ring anymore among most the so called big names, cash cows and even less among the boxing Divas. Many even behave politically correct, instead of act like prize fighters.
This isn’t prize fighting anymore, this is something that looks like it, but is just a phony copy of the original.
Yeah, fortunately there are still real prize fighters out there and there are even more anonymous fighters around the world who show pride in being a ring warrior but the Divas, the incompetent referees and blind fight judges keep on multiplying.
The dilution on quality, be it the technical ability or the heart and hunger shown by the ones who earn million notes purses is evident, the inside fighting now is called to brawl and to tie up an opponent or to apply tactical clinching is supposed to be a smart move and not a foul anymore. Well that is utter garbage.
Why a fighter is constantly being deprived from going to the inside to work at a distance that suits him better. It is not enough to cut off the ring on a runner, to get tagged more than once by a boxer moving out of range using his jab and countering to finally get in a range so now you can take the advantage and then get fouled and to be submitted to this systematic clinching without the referee enforcing the damn rules.
Inside fighting is a lost art and no it is not to brawl. How is a short fighter supposed to fight against a taller opponent? Is he supposed to fight all the damn fight at a distance that benefits the taller foe? Not only the fighter who takes the risks isn’t equally protected by the referee but also the fight judges don’t favor him. Is it fair? Is it smart for business to not favor the boxer that fills the seats?
Weeks ago both the greatest female boxer undisputed undefeated welter Champion Cecilia Braekhus and the contender a former two division Champion Erica Farias showed a shocking poor inside game. On times during that fight both boxers just waited patiently for the referee to break them apart, it was disappointing for me to see two Champions to show such lack of inside fighting skills.
Have you wonder why a fight of the year involves two brave fighters and not pure boxers? Which type of fighting sells better, the pure boxing chess match or a fight in which no matter how skilled or one dimensional the fighters involved are but willing to entertain the audience? Many disliked Tyson Fury boxing schooling of Wladimir Klitschko and also didn’t notice how the referee favored Wladimir thru 12 rounds, allowing him to head-butt, throw and land elbows and of course a systematic clinching.
It is like someone is trying his best to ruin a tradition of courage and bravery. It is like someone doesn’t like testosterone and rather waters it down so the masses are able to consume it. Please tell me which is the prize fighting essence? Is it to run hug pot punch? Is it to fight till the end? Does watching a boxer run and hug makes you feel like when you are about to throw that first punch or like when you get hit by that first punch?
How can fighters with a fan friendly style not been paid their worth? How come the biggest star in boxing is the TBE (the best earner) but he is a pure boxer who has a pure counter puncher defensive style? How can a circus fight attract so much attention but at the same time an amazing boxing card can go unnoticed by average fans? If the reader is eager to watch the farce of a circus fight, well then it is perfectly clear why we are into such decadent spiral.
Ladies and gentlemen this is not just about mere prize fighting, this goes beyond the boxing arena and the boxing gyms, and if you can’t see it then I prey to Hades so you can open your eyes. It is time for all of us to stand up for the Valhalla fighters while there is still is time left. I stand for the Valhalla fighters, but what about the readers?