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THE NEW FACE OF BARBARRISM IN BOXING By Reni M. Valenzuela PhilBoxing.com Sat, 18 Apr 2015 Take a mirror. How pitiable that we allow ourselves to be abused and afterward we call the culprits wise, astute and genius. Then we adore and worship them. This is how far boxing productions can blur eyes today, and how stupid some men can be in this modern, but ?pre-historic? time. Forward to stone age. There?s a new meaning to barbarism in the sport of boxing. Promoters are lessening the worth of ?Mayweather-Pacquiao? by insisting it is worth buying at the price level they set for it, as if money is all there is to the fight. The matchup that is supposedly priceless is fast evolving to be worthless because of covetousness. Thus, for the love of money, they are destroying not only pockets but the sport. Anything measureable only by money is worthless. Boxing is Sweet Science no more and should be taken out of the category of sport for its bitter taste. By all intents and purposes, boxing nowadays must be classified under the Entertainment industry wherein artists, by mere talents and looks, are required to act and perform in order to earn their well-deserved millions. They need no ring and gloves to compete because they have the Oscar, Grammy and the Golden Globe to award who?s the best. If that?s the case for boxing, there will be fewer people to question producers or promoters why they do things the way they do them in ?Mayweather-Pacquiao.? But Pac and Floyd are boxers. Hence the protest. Boxing is business also, but not business only. Even in business, market alone shouldn?t be allowed to dictate price, otherwise, we give the opportunist and greedy the free hand to exploit and snatch even the meager that?s left in the poorest of poor?s pocket or table. Thus every government has a price control council. Democracy is never blind, never bald. It is inhuman that millions of people die for not being able to afford the high cost of medicine and advanced treatment in hospitals and clinics knowing that saving lives and the medical profession are not business, but they are for greed?s sake. How lamentable. Get the analogy. The value of human life depreciates with the advancement of science and technology. Life has become cheap but you?ll never say so or admit until yours is the one on the line. Each person on the planet is ever turning to be less in worth than raw straw by the passage of time. And we need only to watch around, watch news or watch violent movies and see how men kill each other like animals without souls and without loved ones to grieve. No wonder, hazing deaths in school fraternities are unabated. And it is prognostic of the kind of leaders we will be having in the coming generations. We can just imagine that present frat masters and members would one day become government officials and military officers just as several of them in the past are concurrently holding important positions in public service and the police/military. Marvel not. Lest they forget, boxing is a sport, not a commodity. Mayweather defended, no one is forced to buy the Super Fight. But of course, who would let a despot or buffoon to force him to buy anything? The point is, with the prices they dictated on the bout, it?s tantamount to grabbing from the fans and forcing them not to watch the fight live, against their will at that. Call it dictation by free choice or free choice by dictation. ?Pac-Floyd? is truly historic for it does a lot of unprecedented things. Alas, they are even charging fans in the weigh-in. Carlos Jones of Sports200.com wrote a piece on the subject the other day. He points out, ?In what has to be a sign of greed on the promoters? part, tickets will reportedly be sold for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao weigh-in on May 1st in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to Fight News? Charging for the weigh-in is just insane because there is no competition going on. It?s just fighters weighing in the day before the fight?? As if sucking blood isn?t enough for vampires, they?re sucking water from the fans to their dehydration. Edwin Espejo of Rappler.com reports (4-16-15): ?GENSAN CAN?T AFFORD MAYWEATHER VS. PACQUIAO LIVE FEED, SAY MAYOR. The Lagao Gym has (previously) shown all of Pacquiao?s major fights for free to GenSan residents, but the city says live feed for the Mayweather fight is too expensive. Mayor Ronnel Rivera is in a bind. He wants to show Manny Pacquiao?s epic fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. free for residents in General Santos City where the Filipino icon grew up and started his ascent to boxing superstardom. The trouble is that the cost of showing the live feed of the most anticipated match this century has more than tripled and it could get Rivera into trouble.? ?May-Pac? is now potentially the most disappointing matchup ever. To whom it may concern: ?The pay-per-view is very expensive. Solar Sports is quoting us P800,000 ($18,032 USD) to show the match at the Lagao Gym,? Rivera said Wednesday. There is more: How ironic that fewer theaters in the Philippines will show this so-called ?richest fight? compared to the past Pacquiao fights due to the skyrocketing prices cable networks are charging. It?s unthinkable that even the big screen theater where I used to go to watch Pacquiao is not showing the fight. Jones highlights his article, ?EVERYTHING ABOUT THE BOUT HAS THE MARK OF GREED TO IT.? Nothing can be truer. What is good and right about ?Pac-Floyd? pale in comparison with the issue of abuse being perpetrated against the fans, the sport and the world, vis-?-vis the May 2 MGM event. Therefore, will you find fault in people if they lose interest in ?Mayweather-Pacquiao?? All nice that is being said and written about the Mega Bout seem for naught in the face of sharks that stare us in the face. Barbaric. Be counted. renimvalenzuela@yahoo.com Click here to view a list of other articles written by Reni M. Valenzuela. |
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