Boston's Dana White Says "Boxing Has Fizzled Out"
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White recently announced that his organization will venture to Boston for a card that is tentatively scheduled for August 28 at the TD Garden.
White, who as a young adult lived in South Boston and worked as a bouncer at the famed Irish pub “Black Rose” near Quincy Market, made his announcement just weeks after Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill into law sanctioning mixed martial arts.
“I’m going to bring the fight game back to Boston,” said White, 40, an amateur pugilist who once established a boxing program for inner-city youth at McDonough Gym in Southie. “I’m going to bring back the excitement of big fights, the energy of it.”
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White may have never abandoned his boxing gym had he not been threatened with extortion by Whitey Bulger before the Irish gangster went on the lam in 1995.
“I had a kind of run-in with Whitey Bulger and his guys,” said White. “They showed up at the gym looking for money. It was time to leave.”
Prudently, White vacated the Hub and resettled in Las Vegas.
White eventually became involved with mixed martial arts and in due time he helped resurrect the flailing UFC from virtual extinction.
Instead of the utter freak show that Arizona Senator John McCain once labeled “human cockfighting,” the UFC evolved into a mainstream fixture that rivaled boxing in popularity.
Particularly in the city of Boston, mixed martial arts have emerged as a fashionable and legitimate sport.
“Boston has a great history as a fight town, but boxing has fizzled out from where it was,” claimed White.
Boston and its surrounding cities have produced some of the greatest, and grittiest, boxers in history.
Legendary pugilists Rocky Marciano and Marvelous Marvin Hagler hail from nearby Brockton, and “Irish” Micky Ward originated from Lowell, Mass.
Regardless of Boston’s impressive list of storied fighters, many insiders agree with White that mixed martial arts has superseded boxing in both local and national relevance.
Mike Cappiello, another native of Brockton who once fought for the IBO super featherweight title, is one of those individuals in agreement with White.
“I think MMA has taken over in Massachusetts already,” said Cappiello, who retired with an impressive record of 33-6. “I have gone to many MMA fights and I see it as a big social event.”
Despite the contentions of White, Cappiello and many others, professional boxing will always be more accepted than UFC because the bulk of society considers pugilism to be a more civil and humane sport than mixed martial arts are.
Society’s favoritism for pugilism mainly stems from a great misconception that mixed martial arts are more dangerous than boxing.
In reality, a UFC fighter has never died from wounds suffered in the octagon.
Sadly, on the contrary, it has historically not been an uncommon occurrence for fatalities to occur in a boxing ring.
Most mixed martial artists possess an arsenal of fighting skills.
Generally, once an MMA fighter gains a decided advantage, the contest is wisely halted before a combatant is seriously or mortally wounded.
In boxing, a pugilist can be repeatedly struck in the head by an endless array of blows for 36 torturous minutes.
From a distance, jabs may seem quite harmless because they inflict little apparent damage.
“Boxing is basically a fistfight that last 36 minutes,” said South Boston resident Brad Sherwood.
“It’s aggravating to see one fighter crowned a winner when both competitors look the same at the end of the fight as they did when they walked into the ring.”
In actuality, a constant barrage of jabs can prove to be very harmful and boxers often experience severe complications from absorbing the shots for an entire prizefight.
Nevertheless, boxing is currently experiencing something of a rebirth and the sport itself will always have the ability to garner greater overall ratings than a UFC event.
“Boston’s got a big chip on its shoulder,” said White. “It’s got that whole fighting vibe to it. And I love it.”
There is no question that Bostonian’s will flock in droves to the TD Garden this summer to watch White’s UFC event unfold.
Still, the majority of Boston and the rest of the nation will forever “love” boxing more than UFC.
*Cappiello Brothers Boxing gym is located on 162 Main Street in Brockton, Massachusetts (02301).
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