Should people stuffing their faces and gibbering nonsense determine the quality of undercards for the rest of us?
If a 12-round fight goes the distance, it means there are 36 minutes of action, if there?s any action to speak of, and 12 minutes of rest periods between rounds. Throw in whatever pre-fight and post-fight business is required to build anticipation or smokescreen disappointment, and it?s no less than an hour spent, an hour committed, in some cases an hour squandered watching a sub-par boxing match.
The argument is that all boxing is worth watching, however exciting or not, however skilled the practitioners or not. The counterargument is that we deserve the best, assuming the promoter can provide the best from the fighters in his stable.
Not everyone agrees. Top Rank?s Bob Arum, for example, continues to promote pay-per-view cards with abysmal undercards. While that?s of no concern to him, it?s of concern to others, especially to those managing their time, especially to those who realize time is finite and growing shorter by the day.
The announcement that the Bradley-Pacquiao II undercard will feature a lightweight title eliminator between Ray Beltran (28-6-1) and Rocky Martinez (27-2-2), a WBA super lightweight bout between Khabib Allakhverdiev (19-0) and Jessie Vargas (23-0), and a fight between Bryan Vasquez (32-1) against Jose Felix (26-0-1) for the interim WBA super featherweight title has some people running for the exits.
There?s no telling beforehand what happens in any boxing match. Boom or bust is always an option, but in defense of what looks, at least on paper, like looming disenchantment, Arum played the age card and told Yahoo! Sports, ?I?ve been doing this a long, long time [and] 90 percent of the people don?t want to see the undercard and don?t care about it. But there is a point to the argument that we should give the other 10 percent something to watch that they?ll enjoy, so we decided to try to put together a fun card for them.?
Arum didn?t explain what makes the above undercard ?fun,? nor was he asked. That, of course, is par for the course, which doesn?t make it any less irresponsible.
To bolster his position, Arum recalled watching the stinker of a main event between Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez (who looked like ?Frankenstein in boxing togs? according to Gordon Marino) at a party where almost no one paid attention to the fight between Danny Garcia against Lucas Matthysse. Who attended this party wasn?t revealed, but it?s fair to assume they weren?t boxing people, because boxing people had their eyes glued to the tube for what was sure to be the fight of the night.
?People are eating, talking to each other, having a drink, having fun,? explained Arum, ?and they don?t give a [rat?s ass] about the undercard. Even in the arena, you?re lucky to get the people in there for the semi-main.?
Some of what Arum said is true, sad but true, but true nonetheless, which is no excuse to play to the lowest common denominator. There are always going to be people eating, drinking, talking and having fun during fights. Superfights, in particular, attract viewers more interested in partaking of the spectacle than in watching what happens in the ring. But should people stuffing their faces and gibbering nonsense determine the quality of undercards for the rest of us?
The question is rhetorical, since Arum already answered it.
