A SLICE OF BOXING THIRTY THOUGHTS ON BOXING By Thomas Hauser
Watching two big punchers in the ring is like watching a fastball pitcher against a power hitter. If a boxing promoter thinks that everything is going smoothly during a promotion,
Whenever the ring announcer introduces a fighter as a “battle-tested veteran,” the chances are that he’s going to lose. New York is no longer the hub that everything in boxing flows through. Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao never fought in New York.
Very few parents say, “I want my son to grow up to be like Adrien Broner.” Animal Planet has been airing the “Puppy Bowl” opposite the Super Bowl since 2005. Last year according to Nielsen, the Puppy Bowl had 12.8 million viewers. By contrast, Top Rank’s final show on ESPN had 538,000 live viewers and HBO’s final boxing telecast had 379,000. Training should take a fighter out of his comfort zone. Because inevitably, that will happen in fights. In most sports, great defense excites fans. Chants of “Defense!” resound through the stands at NFL and NBA games. Baseball fans post a “K” for each strikeout by the hometown pitcher and rise to their feet in clutch situations when there are two strikes on a visiting batter. In boxing, a swing and a miss elicits yawns. Most fight cards aren’t what their promoters want you to believe they will be.
the chances are that there’s something
W hen I write an article, I research and organize my thoughts. But thoughts about boxing unrelated to what I’m working on at the time are always filtering through my mind. Some of these thoughts follow: Intimidation only works if a fighter can back it up with his fists. Mixed martial arts doesn’t have the beauty and grace of boxing. There are times when I watch a fight on television and I want to say to the commentators, “Hey, guys, there’s video with this. I can see what’s happening. And you’re not calling it the way it is.” It’s easier to make an enemy than a friend in boxing. Too many fighters today have belts but aren’t really champions.
I’ve been in a lot of dressing rooms after a fight. Almost always, the post-fight medical examination is cursory. The doctor comes in and asks, “How do you feel?” Almost always, the fighter says, “I’m OK.” Sometimes, the doctor checks the fighter’s blood pressure. And that’s for the loser. A winner’s brain can bleed too. When the United States Supreme Court was wrestling with the issue of how to define obscenity, Justice Potter Stewart said simply, “I know it when I see it.” Every knowledgeable boxing person knows when a fighter is shot and shouldn’t be fighting anymore. They know it when they see it. There are times when I think that Teddy Atlas is more like Cus D’Amato was than Cus was. A fighter’s ring record is written on his face. The motto “one for all, and all for one” had its origin in the 19th-century novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Too often in boxing, it’s “everyone for himself” (except when it’s “everyone for herself”).
Mike Tyson showed Trevor Berbick and Michael Spinks what it felt like to get hit by Mike Tyson. And Lennox Lewis showed Mike Tyson what it felt like to get hit by Lennox Lewis. Many athletes receive their earliest lessons in sports from a parent. But as they grow older, they have different, more sophisticated teachers at the high school, college, and pro levels. Too often, a father who taught his son the rudiments of boxing is reluctant to let go. Boxing – like most industries – is now globalized. The big money no longer comes overwhelmingly from the United States. And neither do the world class fighters.
I wish they’d play the blues in the arena on fight night instead
he isn’t seeing. There was a time when Sugar Ray
of hip-hop and rap. It would be easier on the ears and a better fit.
For fans, boxing is entertainment. For the fighters, it’s much more than that. It’s their livelihood; a constant threat to their physical well-being; their self- image; and the essence of who they are. Boxing is a business where, too often, criminals are thought of as charming rogues. Just because a guy is muscle-bound and big and looks tough doesn’t mean that he can fight. Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – The Most Honest Sport: Two More Years Inside Boxing - is available at Amazon.com. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor - induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler were fighting each
other. And nobody had to be told by publicity mills that it was a good fight. Three years ago, I watched a football game on television. It was 12 degrees with a 16 mile-per-hour wind and they were playing outdoors at night on Christmas Eve in Pittsburgh. Boxing isn’t the only sport marked by insanity. Counterpunching is more than a defensive act. It’s a way to deliver punishment. The same commissions that require professional boxers to use thumbless gloves sanction bare-knuckle fights. Am I missing something?
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