Okay, so, for like, the last two to three years, I’ve been complaining in this column about how mixed martial arts was kicking boxing’s collective butt and that the sport needed to do something to save its collective self. This line of reasoning received mixed results from readers, and only in recent months did the majority of them actually agree.
Well, I was right. Extremely correct in fact, because I go to those events and saw the demographic tsunami that is overtaking boxing.
This week, USA Today did one of the many “Geez, look at this sport and how big it’s getting!” pieces that are popping up everywhere. You can read it at: www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-12-04-ultimate-fighting_x.htm.
Tell me again why boxing doesn’t have a problem.
The New York Times also did a blowout piece on mixed martial arts, or MMA, on June 22. It was well-done, and an honest assessment (it’s no longer available for free, but you can google it, or check it out at http://www.mma.tv/TUF/index.cfm?ac=ListMessages&PID=1&TID=836130&FID=1.
Heck, I was even on NPR recently talking about it (shamless link here: http://www.capradio.org/programs/insight/default.aspx?showid=2601&programid=10.…it’s the second half of show, so listen to it in a default media player to skip through the first part).
This problem, at least for boxing’s bottom line, is not going away, no matter how many Nikolai Valuevs you can throw at it.
Think back to how the mainstream media discovered grunge in the early 1990s. As described in the excellent documentary “Hype,” the media, like the proverbial giant Baby Huey, would get up off its collective ass and signify the obvious, by going to some city and giving a bunch of previously-obscure bands big write-ups and coverage, then the hoi polloi would latch on to the trend.
The upshot of it was that a year after “Feels Like Teen Spirit” debuted on MTV, you’d see logger flannels selling in Nordstrom’s for $50, frat boys singing along to lyrics written by the same kind of people they had bullied earlier in life, with no grasp of the irony at hand. Those of us in Yelm, Washington, thought it deeply humorous that anyone would pay that kind of dough for shirts we used to get for $12 at the local hardware store, but the American public will always shunt logic aside in the quest for authenticity-in-slumming.
Luckily, sports are not bands that can be killed due to overexposure when Baby Huey finally comes to town and inadvertently kills a few artists by sitting down and camping on a trend story. Mixed Martial Arts is right where grunge was in 1991, except it’s not going to go away, and will only get bigger. But the problem remains that boxing needs help and their audience is being siphoned off to mixed martial arts, mainly. Personally, I could give a hoot if the sport does die or not, at this point — mentally, I left this marriage about two years ago and am just staying in it for the kids, so to speak. I have plenty of tapes of great fighters and fighters to tide me over, and will always catch the big fights that happen. But cancer is cancer. You have to fight it.
So, Santa, if you’re even paying attention, here’s the list of things I’d like to see happen next year. All of them benefit boxing. At least, in this column they do.
1-Oscar De La Hoya stomps the living snot out of Floyd Mayweather
They need to title this one “Family Feud.”
There are good several reasons, in, fact, you could write an entire column on why Oscar winning big could be beneficial, both personally and otherwise. I’m torn between listing the potential attainable matchups that could result, or just one of the many times I ran across Mayweather’s entourage in Vegas circa 1999-2000 and heard “axe” used as a verb, along with the requisite hard stares and faux ghetto posturings so typical of people who earn a living by doing nothing.
First off, De La Hoya owes boxing this much for holding an entire division in limbo by getting Mayweather smitten with fighting him, then, delaying the bout several months until May 2007. He also needs a signature big win that he’s never really gotten, not against a great fighter in their prime. Ah, but what about The Golden One’s big victory over Fernando Vargas? Almost, but you still have to wonder what Felix Trinidad took out of “El Feroz,” and I believe history will remember Vargas as a guy who at times fought great, but wasn’t a great fighter.
Oscar’s win over Ricardo Mayorga doesn’t count either, obviously. But it sure felt like boxing’s better days, didn’t it? That’s why he needs to deliver against Mayweather. He needs to win big, and a knockout would be like Christmas in May. It certainly wouldn’t hurt Mayweather’s prospects, given that Floyd will still have a ton of big fights at 147 with the ton of talent there. And it would do something very, very important for boxing. It would bring Floyd Mayweather back down to earth regarding his market potential.
Seriously. If you thought prime Roy Jones was difficult to deal with during the mid to late 1990s, just imagine Mayweather if he beats Oscar. He may actually become so full of himself that he’ll do what Jones did, and invent an alter ego with which to refer to himself (remember ‘RJ?’), and then refer in third person to that character, thereby speaking in fourth person.
Jason Probst can go on and on about that, but JP has so much to do right now, in the actual, factual, for-real here and now, y’dig? Y’all musta forgot I could.
You think he’s avoiding Margarito now? What Mayweather will never grasp is that he’s never going to be an A-side pay per view attraction. Hey, Pernell Whitaker didn’t get on pay per view until the same point in his career that Mayweather did. Nine years into it, Whitaker got Julio Cesar Chavez, and Floyd found Arturo Gatti. Some guys aren’t going to sell pay per views merely because of their style. They will be shortchanged in purses and respected by the historians.
Boxing isn’t a meritocracy. It’s probably terribly hard for any master pugilist to accept that, especially if you’re a Mayweather and have so many skills that few if your contemporaries do. But it’s especially irritating to see him put everyone on hold and go for what he perceives (rightfully, perhaps) as an aged golden goose. It’s the imbalance Oscar has created, so here’s hoping it backfires wildly.
Maybe then, Miguel Cotto, Margarito, Ricky Hatton, Jose Luis Castillo, and all those other tough nuts at 140 and 147 will be guys Floyd is willing to take on. Plus, Oscar owes boxing that. He owes us this for introducing the junk pay-per-view concept, which was ushered in with his bout against Yory Boy Campas. Remember the outrage fans expressed about having a 20-1 mismatch dangled for $50? Well, you know what, enough people bought it (read: blindly loyal Hispanics and hardcore fight fans) that other promoters jumped on board.
It’s why you see the whole sliding scale of crap pay per views. Nowadays, you can get even B-level heavies for $19.95, when they probably would’ve been lucky to make an ESPN headliner 10 years ago. People will buy anything if it’s marketed correctly, even if grossly overpriced. Take diamonds, for example. There’s no shortage and no scarcity, but a masterful, decades long marketing campaign by the De Beers cartel has conditioned generations to think they’re actually scarce. The difference is, as least whipping out a two-carat will get some mileage most of the time. Or a restraining order. But De La Hoya-Campas was like paying $500 for the ring at the bottom of a box of cereal. And now everybody’s selling them. Ninja, please.
Oscar is the index case of that plague. He owes us this much, to give one last performance, and send Mayweather back to reality — where matches of high quality can actually be made. He can erase a lot of bad karma — the dud that was the “Bout of The Century” with Felix Trinidad, the two losses to Shane Mosley, and the various shortfalls of a career that was entirely on the level of Ray Leonard’s except for the part about beating the best of his generation. He can do a little of that, and that will go a long way in beating Mayweather.
Seriously. If Floyd wins, maybe he becomes The Man anyways and everyone has to go to him. If so, good for the guy. I hope that buys him more fur coats than Zsa Zsa Gabor.
But you have to bet that won’t happen.
If Floyd wins, we’ll instead see him pick up some belt and pull an RJ-like string of handpicked foes while waiting for good fighters to take ridiculously short money. I half-expect Oscar to sign him afterward should the Golden One lose. Maybe De La Hoya can pit Winky Wright and Floyd together to bump off at least one of his most ambitious clients. He might not be what he was in the ring anymore, but he’s quite a businessman. You have to give him that.
And there’s one last thing I just love about this fight. Who is Bob Arum rooting for? They need an Arum cam for that telecast. Arum rooting for a double knockout and getting it would be right up there with the closing credits of “Rudy,” in my book. (Note to self: contact J. Lampley and L. Samuels regarding Arum Cam concept…..contact attorney to draw up royalty agreement).
2: Samuel Peter gets a title shot
No, he’s not Sonny Liston or a young George Foreman, but he is the most exciting heavyweight to watch. The politics of boxing’s sanctioning bodies have relegated Peter to having to best James Toney twice to get a crack at a belt. Never mind that he already beat Toney and would be a betting favorite over WBO champ Shannon Briggs, WBA guy Nikolay Valuev, and the WBC’s Oleg Maskaev. And he’d probably be a pick’em or close to it against the other top fighter in the division, the IBF’s Wladimir Klitschko. Toney is a heck of a tough guy, but style wise I think Klitschko jabs him silly before worse things unfold.
Instead, we are treated to Maskaev taking on Peter Okhello Dec. 10 in his first defense. Hey, champs can take a softie for a first go-round as boss, but Okhello isn’t even a softie. He’s more liquid than pliable solid. His losses are to Imamu Mayfield (unanimous decision), Kali Meehan (KO 3), and in 2005 lost a decision to Sinan Samil Sam (yes, THAT Sinan Samil Sam). Also, in the fifth bout of his career, he took a 12-rounder and dropped a decision to Toakipa Tasefa. His management has improved since, in getting this title shot that is wildly undeserved, even by boxing’s obscene standards.
January 20, Valuev returns to action against Jameel McCline. February 17, Briggs takes on the serviceable Sultan Ibragimov. But this is just terrible. I haven’t been this embarrassed at the underperformance of a potentially great concept since Sammy Hagar ruined Van Halen forever with his cheese-laden platitudes. The problem is, life went on after Van Hagar. We’re moving on four years without a definable heavyweight champ. HBO and Showtime need to flex their muscles and make sure no heavyweight “championship” fights are televised unless they’re legit and of interest to the division.
Peter and Klitschko are more interesting than all these guys put together. The heavies need punchers and a good storyline, elements of danger. Not muddling has-beens mucking around. And if I have to spend another minute working a Valuev round-by-round, watching his hairy back while he poke-jabs a Monte Barrett to death, I’m demanding a raise from my paymasters here at Maxboxing. I will get the ACLU involved if necessary
3: Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins
These two need each other. Admittedly, it’s a remote possibility, but it makes so much natural sense. Calzaghe has made a jillion defense of the WBO 168-lb. crown (nineteen, just one shy of Hopkins’ defense string at middle). Joe needs another big-name foe to follow up on after beating Jeff Lacy last March. He’s already slipping back into his pre-Lacy sleepwalk, with the 20th defense coming up March 3 against Peter Manfredo, Jr. after decisioning Sakio Bika in October.
Hopkins’ masterful showing over Antonio Tarver showed he can fight at the higher weight and handle bigger guys, and Calzaghe’s pressure offense and busy style might exploit some of the age that Bernard has adjusted to so well over the years. Nobody can still seem to make the old man fight at a breakneck pace, but Calzaghe would. That would be one hell of a battle and a huge bout for both. If Hopkins beat him, I’d put him in the top five middles of all time, up from his current listing of just inside the top ten. He doesn’t need the match, but it sure beats seeing him wait around and make a mistake by taking on the next Tarver or whomever and potentially losing six months or a year from now.
4: A super middle rebirth
In the early to mid 1990s, the super middles had a crazy boon of talent. Stalwart performers like Nigel Benn, Stevie Collins, Chris Eubank, Michael Watson emerged from the U.K., battling each other but only making one collision with American top-notchers, in the Gerald McClellan-Nigel Benn bout. Roy Jones and James Toney never fought any of these guys, and that remains a missed morsel any true fight fan laments. They would’ve been great matchups.
Calzaghe doesn’t have to get Hopkins to have big bouts. There’s Mikkel Kessler, who is 38-0 (29 KOs) and the WBC/WBA beltholder. Jermain Taylor is primed to move up in a fight or two. Winky Wright is still an extremely tough out for anybody and could go up here, seeing the big-time chin and resilience he showed against Taylor. And Jeff Lacy’s performance last weekend shouldn’t be held against him because it was obvious his left hook was a non-factor the entire fight due to some injury. He is still a strong puncher and has a ton of heart, seeing the pounding he took from Calzaghe that would’ve caused a lesser guy to quit.
HBO and Showtime need to tap into this group. Forget the heavyweights. That’s a pipe dream, for now. Super middles have marketable stars and all you need is a live B-side in the other corner willing to throw down. And at 175 there are tough guys like Glen Johnson, Tomasz Adamek, and Zsolt Erdei. There’s no reason not to lift the lid and stir the pot, and see what emerges.
Next Week: Part Two.
