It would be awesome if we could get some boxing fans to care about the present even half as much as they obsess over the past?
Down here in the Badlands of Central Mexico, we don?t get Ring Magazine. But even if the local newsstand DID carry ?The Bible of Boxing,? I wouldn?t get it. The Golden Boy-owned rag has been obsolete since the internet popped up, making five-month-old fight reports and stale rankings updates almost comically pointless.
But Ring Magazine still hangs on, mostly targeting sour-shoed old-timers and boxing-curious impulse buyers with fantasy fluff about dream fights, pound-for-pound musings, and strolls through the elephant graveyard of boxing?s glamorized past.
In the September issue, from what I?m seeing on social media, the magazine?s musty editorial staff went back to the dry well for a nice cup of arid dirt with yet another ?Dream Fight? piece, analyzing likely outcomes of Joe Frazier vs. Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Floyd Mayweather.
Aside from my general disregard for the poorly-run and ultimately pointless Ring Magazine, I also have an inherent dislike for the entire historical ?Dream Fight? nonsense.
Most recently, for my Magno?s Bulging Mail Sack column at FightHype.com, I was asked about the winner of prime lightweight Roberto Duran vs. prime lightweight Floyd Mayweather. I wouldn?t call it a dumb question, necessarily, but it is a question that?s impossible to answer without time travel capabilities. And, even then, time travel, alone, would probably not be enough to allow for a real, definitive answer.
Here was my stab at an answer:
?I usually stay away from these historical dream fight things because there are so many variables that come into play?utterly unresolvable variables? In the case of Duran-Mayweather, for instance, I believe Mayweather would?ve been an even sharper fighter if he had come up in the 70?s like Duran. He would?ve been all-around busier, would?ve faced a better all-around caliber of opposition on the way up, and probably would?ve been hungrier. I often got the impression that Mayweather could go on cruise control in this modern era because he was so far ahead of opponents? ability to deal with his skills and abilities. On the other hand, maybe if Duran had come up in this modern era, with huge money, a two-fight-a-year schedule, and an overall less-skilled talent pool, he may have been a bit less hungry, a bit less sharp than he was in his own prime era. So, the answer to who?d win would, in my opinion, boil down to when they would?ve fought. If Mayweather of 2002 went back to fight Duran of 1975, Duran wins. If the Duran of 1975 got sent to the future to face a 2002 Mayweather, Duran also wins. BUT, if Mayweather, with his skills and abilities, was a fighter brought up in the 70?s (or if Duran had come up in Mayweather?s era) I?d pick Mayweather all day. An odd, drawn-out answer maybe, but fight predictions involving time travel should never be easy propositions.?
It?s hard to not be at least a bit of a smart-ass when asked questions with no reasonable answers.
I mean, really, are we to imagine two prime fighters from different eras teleported to limbo for a fantasy fight? If we can imagine fighters pitted against one another in a neutral time, on a neutral plane, separated from all context regarding where and when they fought, then we should also be able to speculate on how they?d fare with an extra arm or eye lasers.
There?s just so much that goes into a fighter being who he is. You can?t plug assigned attributes into a computer, like a boxing video game, and come up with a real ?who beats who? answer. Like, in the case of Frazier vs. Tyson?How would Tyson be different if he had grown up in the 50?s and had found a much younger Cus D?Amato? How would Frazier be different if he had come up in the 80?s, without having been pushed by the shadow of Muhammad Ali? There?s just so much that could and would be different in fighters if they had come up in different eras.
I get it, ?Dream Fights? are harmless conversation pieces for fans. I?m not entirely a curmudgeon when it comes to boxing?s addiction to nostalgia. I just can?t help but notice how much boxing fans focus on nostalgia and backward glances when compared to fans of other sports. And, yeah, a lot of that clutching at the past comes at the expense of attention to present tense fighters and match-ups.
Personally, I?d much rather see style breakdowns and analysis applied to fighters who can and may actually fight one another or for bouts already on the schedule.
It would be awesome if we could get some boxing fans to care about the present even half as much as they obsess over the past.
