Too Many Chefs Spoil Boxing’s Stew
A recent story on a boxing website caught my eye as I scanned global fight results. The writer was of the opinion that the ever decreasing attention spans of today’s youth is a deterrent to growing a fan base. The writer suggested that maybe boxing could shorten fights to half their current amount of rounds, as well as mandating the use of smaller gloves. The idea behind these moves was to get the fight over with as quickly as possible with a conclusive/concussive ending. I see a few holes in these type of “better mouse trap” changes. Boxing is a game that has maintained a consistent protocal for centuries. A big part of watching a match was to see which combatant could adjust or persevere under duress over the course of a period of time (36 fighting-minutes). There are actually many examples of boxing tournaments that use 3 or 4 round matches to push along a one night format such as Britain’s PrizeFighter events. PrizeFighter is an entertaining tournament that provides middling boxers an opportunity to go to a bigger stage. You would not likely find any global top-twenty boxer in these one-night elimination contests. As far as taking padding out of boxing gloves, I am of the opinion that these striking specialists should not be striking with the type of knuckle pads employed by mixed martial arts’ fighters as well as drivers of MGB convertibles. State/provincial boxing commissions would hardly endorse any dangerous changes to equipment, in the pursuit entertainment value.
The beauty of a great boxing match is seeing how a pure boxer tries to subdue a stronger pure puncher, which was evident when Ali tired-out and defeated Big George Foreman in Africa. Ali would have lost a decision if this was a six round title fight, whereas he had the time to wear down and slay his assailant in the eighth round. I would not think that Ali would have seen the fourth round if Big George was wearing smaller/ less padded gloves. There are plenty of shorter fights as it is with swarming punchers like Manny Pacquiao and Yuriorkis Gamboa who titillate the concussive-ending advocates. One thing is clear, boxing enthusiasts are a more sophisticated fight fan who would not tolerate a title fight shorter than twelve rounds. Boxing fans need to see if a skilled technician like Juan Manual Marquez can adjust/come back to dominate a swarming puncher like Manny Pacquiao. Marquez was down three times and many points by the end of round one, but saw a way to counter Manny and earned a tough draw six years ago. I believe that an other old European game like soccer could capture more American fans if they made the nets bigger/or smaller ball to ramp up scoring. You might appease some fringe sports fans, but you could lose millions of educated fans who won’t tolerate the “Arena Footballing” of their sport. Ditto boxing fans!
Bawdy Shots:
I was in New York to catch HBO’s Gamboa/Lopez double-header January 23 with Lennox Lewis and friends. The place (MSG’s WaMu Theatre) was sold out with rabid fans who wanted to see these two great young featherweight titlists; who will meet in the next year. Sitting ringside beside me was former welterweight sensation Felix “Tito” Trinidad and his amigos. I eventually gave up my seat so that Miguel Cotto could sit with the group…
It was a treat to watch lightweight champ and knockout sensation (27-0, 27 KOs) Edwin Valero battle through a reach/height disadvantage to retire Antonio DeMarco in Mexico last night. An errant DeMarco elbow sliced open a hideous gash on Valero’s forehead,but he refused to entertain any thought of pulling out or leaving the ring without knocking out his opponent…
I saw the pictures of actress Hayden Panettiere and heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko. Reminds me of a father standing beside his six year old daughter. It is funny that Hayden’s last name means the”bread-man” in Italian; I believe that she is quite enamoured with Wlad’s roll of dough…
Lucian Bute has signed to defend his crown against the always tough Edison Miranda. A good stay-busy fight but Miranda has a lot of miles on the odometer and will be stopped because of Bute’s speed and superior skills…
All Content © 2011 by Fight Media Inc. | Site Developed by Nautical Progressions
