The media continues to fall on its own sword. Give them a pencil and they?re a prince. A keyboard makes them a king?
The early months of a new year are not among the busiest in the sport of boxing for a variety of reasons. It doesn?t entertain us in the same way a great movie does, however. Not many will go to a cinema to see a film where the audience is split down the middle with fans alongside detractors.
While we wait to see what really becomes of newly crowned heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, we can at the very least rest assured that we won?t have to jog anyone?s memory for a while to see who sits atop the sport?s pinnacle. In the meantime, boxing?s self monikered ?cash cow? simply won?t ride off into even the most quaint of pugilistic sunsets, at least not while the sun is still shining in the form of Pavlovian media hounds. To put such a thought frankly, Floyd Mayweather Jr.?s contribution to the sport (more so out of as opposed to in the ring) won?t be fully appreciated, admired or to some, forgotten to its fullest as long as hoards of media still crawl towards everything he says.
Despite the fact that Floyd has said to the point of peeling paint and copper from the walls that he?s done, many within the sports media have found boxing to be bare without the Las Vegas resident in the news. This should be where the dedicated representatives within the journalistic world are separated from the fan boys and pom-pom shakers. The divide reached an almost intolerable fever pitch this past May. The regular corps of boxing writers who slowly cut their teeth to gain a foothold in the business found obtaining a credential to ?The Fight of the Century? to be a difficult task indeed. This was due in large part to the fact that representatives of sports and general news outlets alike who couldn?t tell the difference between a power punch and a power nap suddenly decided that they needed to be part of the festivities in Sin City.
As a result, the saps who just ?had to be there? contributed to the bout feeling more like an Academy Awards ceremony than a fight between the sport?s top two attractions. Manny Pacquiao has made headlines of his own recently. We?ve known for a good while that the eight-division champion from Sarangani Province, Philippines, has neither love nor respect and apparently, no regard for same sex couples. Fair enough, yet of course the media clamored to the comments like a ?Trials of Wildlife? video for news that was just a matter of time in the making. His upcoming bout with Tim Bradley in April is already suffering from poor ticket sales (see Ticketmaster for verification), yet will anyone boycott his bout because of his comments?
The news recently broke that sportswear giant Nike has zapped Manny?s contract due to his potentially inflammatory comments, yet even they had to have known that he?d eventually open his mouth and preach away to his heart?s content. There was no need for him to apologize because he meant to say what he said and therefore, he doesn?t care that he may have rubbed a few million people the wrong way. The irony? Manny wearing a Nike shirt with the words, ?Fight for a Better World? emblazoned across the front. A better world, indeed. Vlad Dracula would have been so proud.
Still, as long as the ?media? exists, whether they be true journalists or mere opportunistic ambulance chasers, breaking news involving either Mayweather or Pacquiao will still dominate the headlines. Gennady Golovkin, Roman Gonzalez, Terence Crawford. Who are they? The media continues to fall on its own sword. Give them a pencil and they?re a prince. A keyboard makes them a king.
