The Ring Magazine top rated pound-for-pound fighter in the world today just stepped up in weight and completely dominated. Manny Pacquiao not only beat David Diaz—he made him look bad.
The HBO replay, which in past years would have been a full rebroadcast of the fight with analysis and the like, was simply an hour show to blow through the fight and move on.
Boxing just doesn't have the draw it used to.
Look at the history of boxing. The first ever nationally broadcast sporting event was on July 2, 1921, and it was a boxing match.
The so-called "Battle of the Century" between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier didn't live up to its name inside the ring (a lopsided fourth round knockout for Dempsey). But then the 80,000 plus on hand and the $1.7 million draw (both astonishing numbers for sports of the day) certainly made the fight one to remember.
To this day we are familiar with the phrase "The Great White Hope," which is in reference to any white fighter who would be able to beat Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. We have the "Rumble in the Jungle," the "Phantom Punch," the "Thrilla in Manilla," Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, Muhammed Ali, Rocky Marciano, etc.
Boxing has been a mainstay of American sports. Its professional ranks are older than football, than basketball, than hockey, and yes, even older than baseball. Its rules are simple enough for all to understand. It's accessible, exciting, and intriguing.
Why, then, is its popularity diminishing like never before?
There are several reasons for this. Each on its own could damage a sport, but in adding them all together one can see a promoter's worst nightmare.
The first is simply accessibility. It's not that boxing is less accessible today—it's in fact more so. Throughout most of the year there's boxing on ESPN twice a week and Versus often once a week, not to mention Showtime and HBO fights which often air a few times per month.
There is, however, more competition. When Howard Cosell was ringside during the careers of Cassius Clay, Joe Frazier, and others, he was in the sporting world's spotlight. Cosell was single-handedly the ESPN of his day, and he covered it all. When he was reporting on a fight, the world was tuning in. We have not had another Cosell, and perhaps never will.
Related to broadcasting, each of those channels mentioned are different, and not in a good way.
Versus' coverage is just flat out awful. I remember watching Kelly Pavlik when he was maybe 15-0 on Versus (OLN at the time, I believe), and they made him hard to watch.
HBO is a mixed bag. There are guys like Jim Lampley and Emmanuel Steward who are great at their craft and excellent in communicating the sport. Harold Lederman is also very good, if not a bit overzealous. However, it seems that more and more the ringside commentary is being done by Max Kellerman and Lennox Lewis, who are both terrible.
Kellerman has his upside in that he's more interesting than Larry Merchant (not unlike how a train wreck is more interesting than a toadstool) during interviews. But it seems that whenever Kellerman and Lewis are together, the conversation always just ends up focusing on Lennox Lewis (a very unexciting fighter during a very unexciting decade for his weight class).
This leaves the viewer outside the conversation at hand, which could be a huge turnoff to the pedestrian fan.
Larry Merchant needs to retire. Whatever the accolades of his career, today they are irrelevant. He simply cannot keep up with the show or hold anybody's attention, including that of the fighters he happens to be interviewing.
ESPN has Teddy Atlas and Joe Tessitore. Tessitore is clearly passionate about the sport and broadcasts well. Atlas knows his craft and knows the fighters.
The downside here is that it seems ESPN's boxing only draws the die-hard fight fans. The casual fan who would tune into a Tyson fight, or a Foreman fight, won't bother with people they've never heard of on ESPN (or, likewise, Versus).
Meanwhile HBO, even when they're on their game, carries an extra cost which fewer and fewer people are willing to pay, let alone Pay Per View fights (which, luckily, are still going strong).
It's not all the broadcasters' faults, however. I have been reminded by many about how we need someone as exciting as Mike Tyson to rekindle the public's interest in boxing.
People are saying that Pavlik, or maybe Berto, is the new spark. They aren't, sorry to say. If they were, the average Joe on the street would know who Pavlik is. After all, they all knew who Tyson was. But was that all Mike Tyson?
Tyson won his heavyweight crown in 1988. He was an animal in the ring, and even less cordial outside the ring. He was a fireplug that hurt everyone he faced. He got people to tune in. But they may have already been tuning in.
First off, Tyson's first championship win was only a mere five years after Muhammed Ali's final bout. A half decade separated arguably the most popular fighter in history and the last fighter to be immensely popular. I see a connection there, especially with the uneventful (as least, on the surface) reign of Larry Holmes.
The 1960s and the 1970s saw a vast amount of excitement and controversy. Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Archie Moore, Don King, and others all kept the sport on the front page and in the front of our minds. Mike Tyson could be said to be the last pugilist to benefit from the heyday of the sport (the 1930s through 1981).
Mike Tyson has done more in his life than electrify crowds and help the sport. After all, he only held the heavyweight belt for a little over two years. Ever since his embarrassing loss to Buster Douglas in 1990 he has contributed nothing but a circus of negative press.
His behavior inside the ring, from attempted arm-breaking to ear-biting, as well as his behavior outside the ring, which really doesn't require examples, have not been good for the sport. Tyson didn't just retire in disgrace, but brought disgrace into the ring and to the sport.
There's another aspect to the fading interest in the sweet science. The last exciting fighter was Tyson. He was the last heavyweight (the most popular weight class) who garnered global recognition from the man on the street. What else accompanied his ascension (and the sport's popularity) until the 1980s? The answer is Hollywood.
The Rocky franchise, every bit as popular as Star Wars for much of the 1980s, was born in 1976, only 10 years before Tyson, and ended in 1990, the same year as Tyson's demise. Raging Bull was released in 1980. These are iconic films that are still seen today.
From Raging Bull it would take almost two decades to get another critically acclaimed boxing film (Hurricane, 1999).
In short, 1990 saw the beginning of the end of boxing's reign among the top American sports. It's going to take more than a Kelly Pavlik to rekindle our interest.
There is so much history that simply cannot be repeated. The roadwork has already been laid, and today the game's only action is to fix the potholes forming in that road.
As Mr. Cosell would say, "I'm just telling it like it is."
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3 months ago
good article chris, so I won't argue too much with your points. I will only say without going too in depth that too many belts, too many promoters, and fighters making way too much money ruined boxing.
having 4 major champions in each division confused people into not knowing who actually was the champ, too many promoters hurt boxing because promoters stopped letting their top fighter fight other top guys outta fear that they would lose. Too much money hurt boxing because fighters could make millions and therefore starting fighting a lot less, guys back in the day fought once a month or sometimes two to three times a month. Top guys now fight maybe 2 or 3 times a year if your lucky. that makes it hard to connect with the general public.
I fear, however, that MMA is gonna lead down a similar path, with all these new organizations and this new WAMMA rankings and stuff. I hope people can realize this before these same problems tear MMA apart, before it has the chance to build the rich history boxing has.
3 months ago
I plan on writing a completely separate article on these points, actually.
from 3 months ago
I look forward to reading it. I'll also tell you this, I actually hope boxing hits rock bottom. Then maybe an organization similar to the UFC can be formed within boxing, and we can have all the best boxers in one organization with one champion per class.
Its probably wishful thinking though.
from 3 months ago
and it also seems that boxing's popularity is only waning in the states. It is still hugely popular in other countries, I mean Calzaghe got 40,000 attendance when he fought Kessler. This was 2007!
UFC will not see that type of attendance any time soon, if not ever. The great Julio Ceasar Chavez once drew 100,000 fans to a fight in Mexico. The top boxers today still make upwards of 10 million per fight, so boxing still has a long way to fall.
3 months ago
Great article. I love boxing and fighting all together, I'm a boxer as a matter of fact. But boxing is just dying as much as I hate to admit it.
3 months ago
I like Larry Merchant. He brings something different to a telecast and you obviously don't "get" him. And I kind of agree with what you are saying but not really. You say that the reason boxing is dying is because there is not a figure like Howard Cosell covering fights. The people calling and analyzing fights have very little to do with whether or not someone will tune in.
What matters more is that there are major fights accessable to fans and that is not the case because every major fight with either on PPV or premium cable. Big fights not being shown on free TV is why boxing is dying. What Vs and ESPN show are equivalent to double A minor league baseball and even the most hardcore baseball fans would not watch that.
from 3 months ago
First off, don't give me the "you don't get him" nonsense. That's completely elitist and has never been a valid argument. There's nothing wrong with liking him, I happen to think that he's lost pretty much all the value he used to add to the telecast.
As for double A minor league: I've seen many upon many title fights on the cable networks. A Championship belt is a championship belt.
from 3 months ago
A championship belt is a championship belt??? Not in boxing. Not anymore. There are 17 weight classes with 4 belts in each. That makes 68 belts, and that does not even include the IBO, Ring Magazine or other organizations who are gaining acceptance. The belts are almost completely meaningless now.
You are trying to tell me that the universally recognized World Middleweight Championship held by Kelly Pavlik is just as important as the XYZ junior flyweight belt held by somebody that no one has ever heard of?
I repeat, the stuff shown on ESPN and free TV is the minor leagues and never showcase the best fighters in the world fighting each other.
3 months ago
SOURGRAPING.... coz there's no dominant american boxing as of today...
from 3 months ago
two of Ring Magazine's to ten pound-for-pound fighters are B-Hop and Kelly Pavlik, Americans both. Two more: Miguel Cotto and Ivan Calderon, are Puerto Rican (American territory).
There are Americans in the elite ranks of almost every division, let alone American arenas and companies are the only real way to earn money in the sport.
Your comment holds water like a colander.
3 months ago
I think all the different boxing organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF, IBO) holding their own championships lessens credibility of the champions and confuses the viewers. There should just be one champion per division to make the fights more meaningful, and thus more interesting to the viewers....
As usual where the money is, politics will inevitably follow....which is why there's no chance these organizations will merge. Now you even have promotions like Golden Boy and Top Rank being hostile to each other, which really just destroys the beauty fo the sport. Sad...
3 months ago
While boxing has taken a hit in recent years, it's popularity comes and goes in cycles. In Japan, Thailand, Germany, the Philippines and many other countries, boxing is as popular as ever, even more so. There is something to the argument that people think the sport isn't as strong because boxing in the US isn't doing as well as it once was.
Oh - and fighters can make money outside of the US. They may not however make the ridiculous paydays fighters fighting in the US are used to making but they're making 6 figure paydays regularly. What's funny is that at least in Asia, you rarely see people speaking of the fall of boxing. There is something to that...
3 months ago
look, the reason boxing is "dying" in the US is because Americans no longer dominate the sport. but the sport need not worry, since the US as a nation is in a decline anyway. boxing is well and alive and growing in other countries, with a combined population twice, if not thrice, as large as that of the US. the end of US-centric boxing is dead. long live boxing!
3 months ago
The author is just assuming that the U.S. is the only place on earth that people love to watch boxing. In fact, it is further from the truth. Like his title insinuates, nobody is watching boxing is a myth. Maybe in the U.S., boxing has not been as popular as before. But the world? Come on, where's your proof?I am from Missouri so show me the numbers. Even as hyphothetical as it may be. Where I am from, nobody gives a hoot about ring magazine because we can't afford to buy one and is owned by you know who. It's a sold out magazine, no credibility at all, in my opinion. But we watch boxing religiously so to tell people nobody is watching is uneducated guess. Try to research next time. I agree, the author is just sourgraping . Where are the American boxers? Thats the question that must be asked. And the answer is. they are all watching boxing lessons.
3 months ago
I read somewhere that while having so many champions/organizations dilute the meaning or importance to American audiences, it provides more opportunities for thousands of boxers to earn a living. Garnering an "interim", youth, regional or even a country's belt gives a fighter a better payday than his ordinary colleagues. Even then, it is a hard climb to the top for any aspiring boxer. What more if there is only one organization?
3 months ago
Hmmm, another "Boxing is Dying" article. What's with you, "media"? What is dying and stinking is the coverage of the sport. Look at what is happening in arenas worldwide: tens of thousands watching fight venues, millions watching in their homes. True, America is not the only place where boxing is held. Scott has got the idea that it is even more popular now in Asia, Australia, Europe and wherever.
As to the multiple organizations, somebody once said that it is not altogether bad, because boxers earn more once they get an "interim", youth, regional or even a country belt. Imagine the dire prospects for thousands of aspiring boxers if there is only one sanctioning organization.
3 months ago
nice article chris...do you think that the uprise of ufc has something to do with the downfall of boxing?
3 months ago
There needs to be 1 organization that gives away a belt for the light, middle, and heavy weight class. Like somone said before, it lessens the credibility of the sport. The casual fan will just get lost with all these organizations giving out different belts.
To get people interested in boxing again there needs to be a great heavy weight fighter agian. The sport has been dead since the Tyson, Lewis fight years ago. After that Tyson was done and a joke and Lewis retired a few years later.
3 months ago
Boxing is very alive!! .....and still extremely interesting and exciting. PPV numbers is not the real gauge. A household that subscribes a PPV will have an average viewers of 14 people(especially Mexicans & Filipinos} who at the same time are partying not to mention those people waiting to watch in HBO, youtube, etc...In other countries, coliseums, theatres, and other public gathering facilities are full with people watching Boxing.
In America, we just need a great talented American Boxer to rekindle the passion in Boxing. It is a childish behavior to say Boxing is no longer interesting in America because back in your mind Americans no longer dominate Boxing. Come on, eliminate that supremacy or domination type of mentality. After all, the Proud will be humiliated and the humble will be exalted.
3 months ago
Boxing is dead right now to the majority of the public, like it or not.
3 months ago
I agree with Scott. He's got a good explanation in there.
Maybe, it is just the growing change of fashion, passion and cultural shift in the new generations liking of any sport that is readily available or accessible.
perhaps, American viewers/audiences have lost enthusiasm in the sport of boxing, except the die-hard boxing fanatics...
There must have been some reasons for such distaste. I think, the quality fights are getting lesser and lesser. Plus the continued over-protection of Promoters to their fighters, and the arrogance of individual promoters to negotiate with one another to make a fight happen, regardless if his fighters win or lose...
3 months ago
nobody's watching? we are in asia. thanks to pacman.
3 months ago
wooooooooooaaahhhhh, your analysis is good but not quite relevant for me. i am a boxing fan. and i know why boxing is somewhat dying right now... actually it isn't. i don't gie a damn wether it's heavy weight, light weight, featherweight etc. etc. i dont agree with you that the heavy weight division is the most famous among it's different weight classes. any division as long as you have a pacquiao, duran sugar ray leonard, hagler in it... it's gonna be a blockbuster. the reason why ppv sales are going down is because it is not free, compared before that when a major boxing event will be shown, it is free, that simple, understand. or maybe it's cheaper. but now if you want to watch a fight, you will have to pay for it and it is expensive. and with the economy of most countries are going down, how can everybody pay for it. even if you are a die hard boxing fan... if you don't have money to spare for it. you cannot watch it live.................................... maybe this explanation is more understandable. BOXING FANS ARE STILL HERE MA MEN. large ppv companies just makes it hard for us to suppot BOXING OK.
3 months ago
BOXING DEAD? ARE U CRAZY?! WHEN PACMAN FIGHTS, ITS LIKE NATIONAL HOLIDAY IN THE PHIL! NO TRAFFIC, ZERO CRIME! AND WHAT ABOUT THE MILLIONS WATCHING AROUND THE WORLD! AMPF KA!
3 months ago
boxing is dead? no way. just because heavyweight is deserted and is a ghost town, don't take the whole weight classes with it buddy. you are just talking about american boxing but mexican, filipino and other countries' boxing are still flourishing. let's face it, heavyweight is DEAD!!! but until another figure which has the traits of tyson the way he fights, heavyweight is gonna spring back to life... but yes, not so much if the guy ain't american! trust me, though fighters are making moolah in the US, bosing is still one hell of a sport to US even if american fighters don't wanna fight anymore and rather eat fries and corndog watching PACMAN make a name, no no no.. not in the US but the world baby!
from 3 months ago
Im sorry, boxing in america is dead. The heavywieght division is dead and to the casual fan that is the most appealing division. Nobody really wants to see a bunch of 5,8" one hundred fifty pound men hitting each other. For the majority of the public, we want to see a couple of 6,2" two hundred fifty pound men slugging it out.
All the great boxers for the majority that we have heard of are heavyweights, Tyson, Lewis, Hollyfield, Foreman, Ali, Marciano, Liston, Frazier, and Dempsey.
3 months ago
Boxing isn't the same for reasons stated (too many belts, corruption within the infastructure, too much money) but there simply isn't a truly captivating boxer available. Floyd Mayweather Jr was the closest but he still wasn't Tyson, Holyfield, Foreman, Ali or Frazier. Boxing needs a figure who transcends the sport and appeals to the masses. And there just isn't one there.
3 months ago
so maybe the title should be why america is not watching boxing anymore, but everyone else still pretty much is. lol
3 months ago
There sure are a lot of comments here referencing my description of boxing being dead. Problem is, I never made that argument. I never said boxing is dead. I never said it's dying. I stated that it's popularity is diminishing and that it's greatness is imishing when considering it's popularity today versus it's history.
from 3 months ago
Chris the defention of a sport dying is exactly what you just said.
"I stated that it's popularity is diminishing and that it's greatness is imishing when considering it's popularity today versus it's history."
When nobody is watching a sport anymore and it's popularity and greatness is diminished that means the sport is dead.
That's is until it becomes popluar and great again.
3 months ago
MMA is the new hot commodity
from 3 months ago
People are tuning out boxing to watch the Massachusetts Municipal Association?
:)
3 months ago
for people not to be watching boxing, they sure are reading this article. lol
3 months ago
I'm not gonna lie, ever since Lennox retired, I haven't seen a match.
from 3 months ago
me neither
3 months ago
Merchant and Atlas are the best at what they do. Merchant is a blessing in that his well-reasoned analysis is delivered with professionalism and style. By contrast, the audience would benefit greatly, and enjoy the contest more, if someone would equip Mr. Lampley with a "pause" button. C'mon Chris. Do you not weary of Lampley's endless, blabberastic stuff? "Well, you saw it. You saw it. The champ hit him. Now we will see if the challenger can hit the champ. That's what he needs to do tonight. He can't just get hit and wait for the champ to get tired, or maybe break his hands. Not tonight! Oh, no. The challenger is going to have to him back ...." I am always grateful when Merchant replies appropriately ... "Yes, Jim. Each fighter needs to hit the other. Hard and often usually works best." And, there is no one who provides commentary and analysis as useful as that which is offered by Teddy Atlas. If you listen to Atlas, before and during a fight, you will gain knowledge of the sweet science and, with it, be better able to enjoy it. Kellerman? A knowledgeable guy. He just needs to relax a bit. Finally: Give Hispanic fighters credit for doing the lion's share of work in keeping the sport alive. They aren't the biggest of men - but they go at their work with five forward gears, and virtually no reverse.
from 3 months ago
Oh, no objections to Teddy Atlas here, I love the guy. he and Tessitore are probably the best two ringside announcers around today, when working in tandem.
3 months ago
Boxing goes in cycles. It will come back in the US...
Between Louis and Ali boxing was rift with corruption and graft. "The Harder They Fall" Bogart's final film is a fined look at boxing in decline. The movie has several real life champs acting in it. Including Max Baer the Cinderella Man's nemesis...
A great heavyweight is a tremendous draw for the sport. That heavy is likely in the NFL or NBA where ya don't have to cracked in the face as often.
Way to many titles and weight classes. Not much free fighting TV to build up the fan base and the PPV start post midnight and are over priced and usually flops.
And live boxing at the casinos has been priced out of the average fan's reach, most of the tixs are pawned off to High Rollers.
Greed.
Don King's, and to a lesser degree Arum's, greed screwed the sport and so many fighters.
King wholly negative impact on the perception of boxing should not be underestimated.
Lampley is a shallow company shrill. Sides talking constantly through the action he is always so blatantly in favor of the fighter HBO wants to win that I can't stand listening to his big, freaking mouth.
Merchant, though aging, has an appreciation for the history and lore of the game.
Stewart is excellent.
Max I mute.
Tex Cobb said, after his brutal, bloody decision loss to Larry Holmes which made Cosell quit boxing, that if he did nothing else for boxing at least he made Howard shut up...or something like that
3 months ago
Instant classic alert, Diaz vs Katsidis, Sep 6th, on HBO. If you haven't been watching boxing, watch this fight and tell me what you think of boxing after.
from 3 months ago
That will be a great one. They both lost their last fights, so both will be desperate to bounce back.
3 months ago
The real reason??? Boxing is now dominated by white fighters. From heavyweight down to middleweight, 16 of the 20 belt holders are white. Klitschko, Sturm, Abraham, Calzaghe, Pavlik, Kessler, Malignaggi, Duddy, and Hatton (despite his loss to PFW) to name a few, are all dominating. Hence bc of the white faces, the liberal media turna a blind eye to it and doesn't publicize these fighter like they should or like they WOULD do if they were black/hispanic...therefore the dumb sheeple out there don't know what's going on in boxing, and have less interest.
3 months ago
Nice article. You're right that it is accessible - but only to a fan who is looking for it specifically. Until I got interested in boxing I had pay no attention to stations advertising their bouts and consequently never had any idea that they were on. But your other points may or may not be correct - I don't know, I'm just a casual fan at best.
3 months ago
I don't watch boxing, basically because if I wanted to see two people beat the crap out of each other, I can go to a family reunion
3 months ago
Great article - but I would add one more reason to your list: the growing sense that boxing was a sport "controlled" by a very small cadre of promoters (King, Duva, Arum, the Goosens). The Arcane alphabet soup organizations that oversee the titles don't help the situation. After watching Lennox Lewis pummel Evander Holyfield and then lose the decision in a Don King controlled fight, it was hard not to feel that Boxing had simply become like Wrestling - A wink here that you don't win but instead get another shot in a rematch that makes everybody more money.
3 months ago
If you combined the article with a lot of the points in the comments, you have the whole story. Boxing is dead in America though maybe not other parts of the world. Boxing is no longer the stuff of Hollywood but I think that Hollywood no longer makes boxing movies because it's lost its popularity rather than it having lost its popularity because Hollywood quit making movies about it. UFC is a big reason. I personally think UFC is barbaric but I will admit that I am not the demographic that they are going for. Greed and promoters are a big reason too. Confusion of titles is also a big reason. And the fighters themselves had personality back in the day. Cassius Clay (later Mohammed Ali), was brash yet clever. George Foreman was affable and funny. Holyfield was such a technician with his unique blend of both power and finesse in the same fighter. Tyson was at least very interesting with that slightly crazed streak (and it didn't hurt that he had a celebrity marriage to Robyn Givens for a short time). There is way too much competition for the sports fans eyeballs on tv these days. And there is a lot of political correctness that refuses to seen any sport that involves fighting as anything but "lowly." For these reasons, I don't see a return to "mainstream" for any of the fighting sports.
3 months ago
Great article, five stars! Boxing's demise is obvious to me. It's all fixed. I have been watching fights for a long time, and right at the stare-down, I pick a fighter based on his body language and ability to look his opponent's eyes.
I remember the Buster Douglas fight...turned to my boy friend and said, Buster will win. Got laughed out of the room by six guys...several rounds later, the room was silent. I'm batting around 90%, and yes, if I'm in Vegas, I make a wager.
Here's the thing...when watching Lampley, I get the feeling that he's watching a different fight than I am. I remember one De La Hoya fight where I thought he clearly lost, and Lampley thought he clearly won, and so did Lederman. Oscar lost on a split decision.
To me, it seems contrived and fixed. Tyson'e ear-biting incident, some boxers taking a fall when it's obvious the fix is in anyway...it lends to serious credibility in the sport. It's too bad.
No one watches it as much because you pay 50 bucks to see a bout end in the third round. It's no longer worth the value.
Great article...I really enjoyed it. :)
2 months ago
Whee, another article from someone who doesn't appreciate boxing, let alone do any research about anything before they write. I can't say that I'm surprised, but laziness seems to be next to godliness anymore.
Max Kellerman lives and breathes boxing, and he has for years. It's refreshing to see young life breathed into the boxing commentary scene like that, and you can tell that he's smiling ear-to-ear during every match, whether it's a couple of previously unknown Mexican fighters on an undercard, or Margarito-Cotto.
Larry Merchant is painful to listen to. I'm not a Zab Judah fan, but to paraphrase him, "Larry Merchant always sounds like he just woke up and is trying to figure out where he his." He has a blatant disregard for the sport as a whole, and absolutely ruins the "Winning Moment" during the post fight interview. Yes, you can almost see the proverbial wheels a-turnin', but they're covered in honey, molasses, and Ensure.
Emmanuel Steward is beyond horrible. He's an awful trainer, and he's even worse during commentary. I've seen countless fights where he was Lampley's color guy, and I've yet to hear him give ANY insight whatsoever. He adds so little to the conversation, Lampley might as well be talking to a wall.
I like Lampley, though. His voice "just sounds like boxing," just like Madden or Michaels' voices sounds like football. I don't think he's a shill for HBO, because he never has any issue going against refs' rulings or calling out stupidity, which seems it wouldn't be in the best interests of HBO.
I despise Lewis, but I didn't like him as a boxer either.
Boxing is going nowhere... As long as there are Margarito-Cotto fights, as long as someone can still challenge ODLH, as long as there's some semblance of a hint of a possibility that Mayweather Jr. will come out of retirement at the ripe age of 14, The Sweet Science will always draw an intelligent, die-hard and respectful fan base.
from 2 months ago
You just (rather ignorantly, but not surprisingly so) said that I don't appreciate boxing and and don't do research.
Then made several points that agree with me...
Maybe you should stop drinking so much before leaving comments.
After all, if I didn't appreciate or love boxing the way i do, then why would I waste my valuable time on writing an article about the sport?
2 months ago
I feel that their is still alot to look forward to in boxing and that many people in those golden era's of boxing didnt trully love the sport but it was more of an infatuation with what the sport once represented.
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