?You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink?-Anonymous
?This fight will be sold on the strength of Thompson?s 2 KO wins over David Price ? a guy who Erkan Teper said was so easy to hit ?You can close your eyes and hit him right on the chin.??ESB poster
Witnessing a special talent like Cuban Luis Ortiz being ignored by most ranked heavyweights is indicative of a fundamental defect in Boxing to wit: Boxing needs a mechanism to force matches.
For example, Ortiz vs. Tony Thompson is not a good matchup, and is especially bad for Ortiz, as he cannot force a higher rated heavyweight to fight him. There simply is no mechanism in Boxing to make this happen.
The best fought the best on a voluntary basis in the 70’s, 80?s, and 90?s, but that is no longer the case. Now, it?s fashionable to ignore a talented guy and wait him out until he is no longer viable. Erislandy Lara might be another example.
Boxing needs to make fights on an involuntary basis?maybe based on rankings that reflect an average of all of the ranking systems out there. Include a suitable penalty for failure to fight.
Curiously, Tennis has a seeding system whereby the top seeded players play each other until a Champion is determined. The Boxing establishment could do this as well, though more time would be required. Special tournaments could also be utilized. The point is that there are solutions to resolve this mess, but Boxing has always been its own worst enemy.
As for Tony Thompson vs. Ortiz, apparently the ?Tiger? doesn?t mind getting knocked out for money. As he did against Wladimir Klitschko twice, he will go to sleep early.
