Boxing is finally coming into the Technology Age, albeit a bit late.
The WBC, WBA and IBF have all agreed to begin using instant replay to settle disputes in world title fights, subject to the rules of the state commissions in charge of those bouts. While that is long overdue, the involvement of local commissions, which are often inept to be kind, seems to present a potential stumbling block of some magnitude, boxing being what it is.
Still it?s a start and a needed one to avoid the number of situations where viewers at home can clearly see a rules violation or an incorrect ruling by a referee without any mechanism for it to be changed at ringside.
The WBC recently made public its guidelines for instant replay and they seem reasonable and hopefully likely to avoid at least some of the absurd situations we?ve seen in recent years with false knockdowns, those incorrectly ruled as slips, questionable stoppages and tactics allowed or missed that came from well south of boxing?s recognized DMZ.
As the WBC explained its plan, instant replay will be controlled by a three person panel: the WBC supervisor, the local commission supervisor and a specifically appointed monitor supervisor. That monitor will be provided by the televising network involved and the local promoter and will include both video and audio transmissions of the live feed. Often network replays reveal more than the referee is able to see so the hope is the panel will interject itself when it sees a clear error.
The only reviewable actions under the WBC plan will be the following:
? 1. Whether a cut or other injury to the face is the result of a punch or otherwise;
? 2. Whether a punch is thrown after the bell signaling the end of a round;
? 3. Any other ?major?? situation that can change the outcome of the bout and where instant replay clearly shows the actions are contradictory to the referee?s ruling.
The referee may call a ?timeout? at any time during a fight to consult with the instant replay panel, if in doubt, although the WBC recommended that all reviews be done during the resting minute period. The problem there, of course, is how often do referees doubt themselves? Not often enough.
Perhaps realizing that, the WBC guidelines mandate that the instant replay panel may review any controversial instance and overrule the referee if ? and only if ? the instant replay monitor clearly and conclusively reveals, according to all three members of the panel, that the ruling was in error.
What strikes me as odd is one other provision: The referee may request to verify the action by watching the TV monitor or may choose to accept the panel?s recommendation, which is the final decision and the ruling that will be enforced. What if he watches the monitor and vehemently disagrees with the panel?s decision? That seems unclear, but the potential spectacle of a referee arguing with three guys in suits and ties over a ruling is not one to look forward to, but with boxing?s checkered past it seems likely eventually.
While the new system will very likely have its shaky moments, especially when a local hero is involved in a state such as Texas (where the commission is suspect to be kind), it is another example of both the forward thinking and the political acumen of new WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman. Since he took over the WBC after his father?s death, Mauricio has led initiatives to provide help to indigent former fighters and to bring uniformity to the rules of the various sanctioning bodies.
Surely the use of instant replay in the future will result in its own controversies, but it also seems likely to avoid more than a few injustices of the past.
Long, winding road
Promoter Bob Arum recognizes a hard sell when he?s peddling one, which is one reason he?s been dragging Manny Pacquiao and his barely-known Nov. 22 opponent, junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri, on perhaps the longest media tour in boxing history.
By the time it?s over, the two will have traveled, according to Pacquiao publicist Fred Sternburg, 27,273 miles in 12 days to six cities and two countries. By the time the two of them get around to training camp, that will feel like a rest stop.
The reasons for this long trek are twofold: First, until he overcame a slammed shut right eye and upset Ruslan Provodnikov, Algieri was utterly unknown by boxing fans outside New York and completely untested. Second, Pacquiao will face Algieri on the island of Macau, just off the coast of China, a financial tactic made to avoid U.S. taxes that leads to reduced coverage of the event back in the States, which is still the main selling point for pay-per-view boxing extravaganzas.
Asking people to fork over $75 one month before Christmas to watch the welterweight champion square off against a barely known fighter from a smaller weight division would be a difficult sell anywhere. Doing it from China only complicates matters, especially for two fighters dragging themselves around the world with stops in Macao, Shanghai, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York.
B-Hop still bopping
Recently, Oscar De La Hoya told me he would have laughed in 2004 ? when he faced then 39-year-old Bernard Hopkins in a middleweight unification fight ? had I insisted that Hopkins would still be fighting 10 years later and the Golden Boy be long retired.
As things have turned out however, that is not only the case, but De La Hoya will be promoting Hopkins? effort to unify the light heavyweight titles on Nov. 8 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., when he puts his WBA and IBF 175-pound titles on the line vs. WBO champion Sergey Kovalev.
The three of them were in New York and Philadelphia last week to talk about this incredible phenomenon with Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) being his usual loquacious self.
?I?m walking a tightrope hundreds of feet in the air,? Hopkins said. ?(Kovalev) crushes people. Only three or four people survived his hammer. Anybody at the right time and the right place can get knocked out. It is his job to do what others try to do. It is my job to do what I?ve been doing.
?Come Nov. 8 on HBO you get to watch artwork. You?re watching Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong with gloves on. It?s such a testimony to see a 50-year-old man ? less than 100 days from now ? go 30-plus minutes with a young, strong Russian puncher and not get a scratch on him.
?I understand humans have a timeline of when they are supposed to go. Age 35 and you?re done (as an athlete) ? I don?t care what sport you?re in. It?s a fact. I don?t know what type of evidence I need to show that I?m an alien other than what is there.?
Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) is a fearsome puncher, but a raw talent. Hopkins has forgotten more about the Sweet Science than Kovalev ever figures to learn. Yet, there is no denying his punching power. It?s so daunting WBC champion Adonis Stevenson jumped from HBO to Showtime to avoid a verbal agreement to face him.
Now he?s in with a far different type of opponent, one who wins not by the power of his fists, but the power of his mind.
?I don?t really understand what Bernard is saying,?? Kovalev said. ?It doesn?t matter what he says. Even if I understood, I wouldn?t care. I don?t worry about him. I?ll go into the ring and do my job. Bernard talks and fights. I just fight.??
The question is when the time comes, will Sergey Kovalev understand enough of what Hopkins is doing to him to remember how to fight.
Short jabs
When guys like Pacquiao make decisions, it often affects a wide circle of others. One of them is Miguel Cotto. The newly crowned middleweight champion had hoped to fight Dec. 13 at Madison Square Garden, but announced via Twitter last week that is off because Freddie Roach, who trains them both, would be primarily working out of the Philippines for the next few months. Cotto could have opted to train with him there, but opted instead to stay with his family and not fight again until February or March. . . .
Speaking of middleweight champions, the man Cotto brutalized to win the title, Sergio Martinez, has decided he will continue his career despite having been knocked down seven times in his last four fights, while also hurting his knee twice, suffering a cut eye and injuring his shoulder. Is there a point to this anymore?
Local bleatings
Boxing returns to Foxwoods with a flurry later this month. On Sept. 20, a mid-afternoon boxing show, televised as part of NBC Sports? ?Fight Night? series, will feature a 10-round cruiserweight main event between Thabiso Mchunu and Garrett Wilson; and a 10-round lightweight fight between Karl Dargan and Angino Perez. On the undercard, unbeaten Cuban light heavyweight Sullivan Barrera (12-0, 7 KOs) will face journeyman Eric Watkins (10-7-1, 5 KOs) in an eight-rounder. . . .
Foxwoods will then be back in action on Oct. 4 with undefeated junior lightweight champion Rances Barthelemy (20-0, 12 KOs) making his first title defense in the main event vs. Fernando Saucedo (52-5-3, 8 KOs). Former light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (32-3, 18 KO) of Connecticut will be on the undercard alongside two 154-pound world class fighters: former U.S. Olympian Vanes Martirosyan (34-1-1, 21 KOs) ? whose only loss was to Rhode Islander Demetrius Andrade ? in a fight against Cleveland?s Willie Nelson (23-1-1, 13 KOs).
