Boxing! How Low Can You Go.

The title is a play on words to an old Public Enemy song, that I believe is very descriptive of the fight between Roy Jones Jr. and Felix Trinidad this weekend. I really don't know why I even bother following the sport when it features garbage like this. Both fighters are well past their prime (especially Tito), and the victor will prove nothing except for the fact that he has aged less.

To boot, HBO is featuring this fight. They are, without question, the standard in which the boxing world is judged. If you're fighting on HBO, then you are the best. That's pretty disgusting.

If either of these guys were to fight any of the top fighters in their respective divisions they would not last the distance. Pavlik would have Trinidad out of there inside of 3 rounds, and Jones wouldn't last 10 rounds with Dawson. For the record, Jones is bigger, stronger, and faster than Trinidad. The fight will end whenever Roy wants it to end.

Anyone who knows me is aware of how disgusted I am with the entire orgination of the sport. Below are a couple of ficticious conversations I wrote 7-8 months ago expressing some of my frusterations. Since then, I have only become moreso.

I was riding the bus recently, and had a fascinating conversation with an average sports fan. If I had to guess, I’d say some of you will probably have a hard time believing this conversation ever took place for several reasons. The first of course is that I never ride the bus. Second of all I would imagine most of you would find it hard to believe that we would have so many facts memorized during the course of this conversation. And lastly, most of the people reading this probably know that I’m an introvert for the most part and that even if I was riding a bus it isn’t very likely that I’d really talk to anyone. I’m sure some of you could probably think of a few other reasons as well. Anyways, here it is!
Me: Hey, man. Do you mind if I sit here?
Sports Fan (SF): Go right ahead.
Me: Oh, you’re reading the sports section. Do you like sports?
SF: Yes I do. I’m too busy to follow it too closely, but I enjoy watching pretty much any sports event that’s on TV.
Me: Are you looking forward to the De La Hoya – Mayweather fight in May?
SF: Didn’t know they were fighting. I doubt I’ll watch it. Isn’t Mayweather getting old? I remember watching him fight Julio Cesar Chavez (CBS) and Pernell Whitaker (ABC) about 20 years ago.
Me: No, you’re thinking of his uncle, Roger. He hung up the gloves about 7-8 years ago. De La Hoya is fighting his nephew, Pretty Boy Floyd.
SF: I’ve never heard of him. Who has he fought recently?
Me: Well, he fought Carlos Baldomir last November on HBO and Zab Judah about a year ago on pay per view.
SF: That’s probably why I’ve never heard of him. I don’t pay to watch boxing. Especially if I’ve never heard of them. Who’s the guy he’s fighting, De La Hoya? His first name is Oscar, right?
Me: Yes it is.
SF: I haven’t heard anything about him in years. I watched him win a gold medal in Barcelona, some of his early fights on ESPN. It seems like I remember him fighting some guy in Stateline, Nevada on ABC. The reason I remember it is because you could see Bruce Willis sitting ringside the whole fight. What’s he done since then?
Me: Well, he’s had a pretty solid career. He’s beaten a lot good fighters like Pernell Whitaker, Julio Cesar Chavez, Ike Quartey, Fernando Vargas, and Felix Strum. He’s lost some controversial fights to Shane Mosely and Felix Trinidad. Of course a lot of people, including myself, didn’t think he beat Whitaker or Strum. He did get knocked out by Bernard Hopkins, though.
SF: My goodness! I can’t believe missed all of his fights! What channel were they on?
Me: Uh, they were all on pay per view.
SF: Man, what is it with all these fights suddenly being on pay per view? I remember watching a lot of great fights on network TV. I’m pretty sure I saw both Leonard-Duran fights on ABC, Tommy Hearns and Duran fought on CBS. De La Hoya and Mayweather can’t be any better than those fighters can they?
Me: No, it would be a stretch to say that either one of them could compete with any three of those legends.
SF: So, if I wouldn’t pay money to see those great fights, why would I shell out a couple bucks to watch a couple fighters who couldn’t carry their jockstrap?
Me: Actually, it will probably be more like $50.
SF: $50! To watch a fight between a two great fighters! No wonder I never hear of these guys. How many people actually pay for these fights?
Me: Well, De La Hoya’s biggest pay per view fight was when he fought Trinidad. 1.4 million paid for that.
SF: Ha! Sounds like a nice little campfire.
Me: What do you mean?
SF: Well about 140 million watched Peyton Manning win his first super bowl in February. Assuming both Peyton and Oscar are both equals in terms of where they stand with their respected sports, about a 100 times more people are watching Peyton than are watching Oscar. No wonder the whole world has heard of one and not the other.
Me: You have a good point.
SF: It doesn’t stop there. In October I watched Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series for free. Last June I watched Shaquille O’Neal and the Miami Heat win the NBA championship for free. Last summer I watched Italy win the world cup for free. Almost any weekend I can watch Tiger Woods or Roger Federer for free. What makes boxing so special that I have to pay for it?
Me: I have no idea. Maybe because it’s fun to watch?
SF: It is fun, but so are all those other sports I mentioned. It doesn’t mean I have to pay for it. Heck, all my uncles remember watching guys like Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano while growing up. They were the best of their time and no one had to pay to watch them. Yet here we are 50 years later, and you can pretty much talk to anyone about these fighters. In 50 years are people going to be talking about De La Hoya or Mayweather? No, because no one has ever heard of them. I was watching a show the other day and the guys were trying to compare Joe Montana with Tom Brady. That’s something everybody watched because everyone was familiar with the two guys who were being compared. Could you imagine a show comparing Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather? You may as well be comparing Leonard to Johnny Paycheck. Probably the only show you could do like that today is to compare Larry Holmes with whoever is the heavyweight champion right now. I’m guessing it’s either Lennox Lewis or Mike Tyson.
Me: Actually, I think it is Wladimir Klitschko, Oleg Maskaev, and Nikolay Valuev.
SF: There can only be one champ. Are there 3 super bowl winners every year, 3 World Series champs, 3 Masters winners, or 3 French Open champs every year?
Me: Ok, If you had to pick one it would probably be Wladimir.
SF: Good, because I’ve never heard of the other guys. In fact the only time I can remember seeing Wladimir is when he did a stupid human trick on David Letterman. Or maybe it was Jay Leno. I can’t remember. Anyways, that’s pretty pathetic. I remember when champs like Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield used to appear on shows pretty regularly. Now all the heavyweight champ is good for is a stupid human trick. My how the sport has fallen.
Me: Can’t argue with that.
SF: Here’s my stop, maybe we can talk some other time when you ride the bus. Later.
Me: See ya.




Well, here I stand today once again at the bus stop waiting for the bus. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Oh good. Here it comes. Hopefully this time I’ll sit next to someone who’s not such a wet blanket, unlike the last time. Huh, that guy sitting six rows back on the left looks pretty cool. I’ll give him a shot.
Me: What’s up, man? Mind if I sit here?
Cool Guy (CG): No, go ahead.
Me: Thanks. Whatcha lookin’ at?
CG: Oh, I didn’t have time to read the upcoming boxing schedule online, so I printed it out before running to catch the bus.
Me: You’re a boxing fan?! Cool, so am I.
CG: Right on. How long have you been a fan?
Me: Well, I’ve followed the sport for as long as I can remember, but I’ve been a fan since April 15th, 1985.
CG: Ah, The War.
Me: You got it.
CG: Yeah, that was one of the rare times in which the fight exceeded the hype.
Me: Absolutely incredible. It was one of the few times in which the guys calling the fight lost control of themselves while calling a sporting event. When Hearns almost decapitated Hagler in the first 30 seconds of the fight, I thought Bernstein was going to have a heart attack. Pretty exciting. The only other time I can think of that happening was when Tiger sank that chip shot at the Masters a few years ago.
CG: Unfortunately you don’t see that much anymore. There doesn’t seem to be very many inspiring boxers out there today.
Me: What do you mean?
CG: Well, take the other night in Memphis for example. Jermain Taylor fought Cory Spinks for his middleweight title, a fight that pretty much nobody wanted to see. After winning a somewhat close decision, I’m not sure why anyone would want to see him fight again.
Me: Why’s that?
CG: Well Spinks is a very good fighter, but not much of a puncher. He’s only knocked out 11 guys in 36 victories. Not to mention the fact that most of those fights have been at the welterweight level. He’s basically a poor man’s Pernell Whitaker. In fact, if Whitaker 13 years ago had been in the ring against Taylor, Sweet Pea would be wearing the middleweight crown.
Me: OK, so what’s your point. I thought we were talking about inspiring boxers.
CG: Well that’s just it. Taylor isn’t very inspiring. Since winning two very close decisions against Bernard Hopkins and a controversial decision against Winky Wright, he’s decisioned two second tier fighters in Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks. Meanwhile, guys like Felix Strum, Arthur Abraham, and Kelly Pavlik are waiting out there. He claims the money isn’t right, and I’m beginning to think he isn’t right. If he and Lou Dibella want to settle a fraction of the money for fighting guys who are relative cream puffs, then they can have a blast.
Me: That’s ridiculous. He’ll only fight the best fighters available if the money is right? I thought you were supposed to go up against the best, and then the money followed. That’s the way it works in all the other sports out there. Can you imagine the Indianapolis colts saying they won’t play the Chicago Bears in the super bowl until the money is right?
CG: That’s what he said Saturday night. On the undercard of his fight against Spinks, Kelly Pavlik was very impressive in knocking out top contender Edison Miranda. When asked after the fight if he’d be willing to fight Pavlik, he responded with, "If the money is right." When Larry Merchant pressed him on the issue, he admitted that he wouldn’t fight him if the money wasn’t right. It doesn’t sound very promising considering the fact that the money hasn’t been right for any of the other top fighters out there. If all he cares about is money, then Oscar De La Hoya is probably the best fight available for him out there.
Me: Yikes, I hope that doesn’t happen.
CG: Me, too. But that’s the path he appears to be taking.
Me: Who else out there do you not think is very impressive?
CG: None other than the great Floyd Mayweather.
Me: You sound sarcastic. Don’t you think Mayweather is great?
CG: Absolutely. He is without question one of the top 5 fighters out there pound for pound.
Me: Why the sarcasm then?
CG: In my opinion he has had a very safe, calculated career relative to his supposive skill level. In doing so, he has been very arrogant and brash.
Me: What do you mean by safe?
CG: Throughout his entire career he hasn’t taken fight in which it wasn’t assumed that he would win. When he was a junior lightweight champion and Shane Mosely was the lightweight champ, Mosely offered him a fight. Mayweather refused, claiming he wanted to break Joe Louis’ record for title defenses. I don’t think it came as any surprise that as soon as Mosely decided to move up to Welterweight, Mayweather lost interest in breaking Louis’ record and decided to move up to lightweight. Once he did, it was pretty clear why he didn’t want to fight Mosely. He had two fights in which he narrowly beat the legendary Jose Luis Castillo.
Me: Who?
CG: Exactly. Then after beating fringe contenders Victoriano Sosa and Phillip N’Dou, he moved up to Junior Welterweight.
Me: Wow, he really cleaned up that division. The cream of the crop. He must have at least fought the top fighter in the next one up. There are a lot of top fighters in that division.
CG: Mayweather seems to have a knack for being able to not do that, though. His title shot was against DeMarcus Corley, who he decisioned, and he defended against Henry Bruseles and Arturo Gatti. Corley had lost to Judah in his previous fight and Arturo Gatti kind of speaks for itself.
Me: Yeah, Gatti is a lot of fun to watch because he’s got guts, but he’s hardly a top fighter. I’d call him a rich man’s Tommy Cordova.
CG: That sounds about right.
Me: Are you trying to tell me he went through the junior welterweight division without fighting guys like Kostya Tszyu or Miguel Cotto?
CG: That seems to be Mayweather’s gift.
Me: OK, so he moved up to welterweight. There are a lot of tough fighters there. Did he fight any of them?
CG: I’m not going to tell you that they aren’t good fighters, because they are. Once again, though, he played it safe. He decisioned Zab Judah for the title, the same Zab Judah who couldn’t last two rounds with Kostya Tszyu. Then he decisioned Carlos Baldomir, who isn’t a bad fighter. He does have 10 losses in his career, and has scored 13 knockouts in 43 victories. I guess you could call him a Hispanic, poor man’s Cory Spinks.
Me: Wow. So he didn’t want anything to do with Mosely, Margarito, or Williams?
CG: Apparently not. Then of course he beat a way-past-his-prime Oscar De La Hoya earlier this month.
Me: Do you think Oscar’s best days are behind him?
CG: Oh yeah. He’s only had two fights in the last 2 ½ years. He’s still a pretty good fighter, but he has too many pokers in the fire to be anything close to what he used to be. Even before Mayweather fought him, I’m not sure he was even one of the top 5 junior middleweights out there. It was a very safe and easy fight for Mayweather that pretty much guaranteed the biggest payoff for the least reward.
Me: That is a pretty boring career. His uncle, Roger, has fought tougher fights that he has.
CG: Not only that, but the guy isn’t exactly a class act.
Me: What do you mean?
CG: He basically just says a lot of stupid things. I read recently that while he was hanging out with his best friend, $.50, he said something to the effect that if you don’t like him (meaning Mayweather), then you must not like money.
Me: That’s a lot of peer pressure. I’m really tempted to like him.
CG: The worst was how he recently tried putting down Shane Mosely. Last summer after Shane knocked out Fernando Vargas, he stated in an interview that he promised his wife that he wouldn’t fight anymore for the rest of the year. Well, Mayweather decided to run his mouth recently and in the process he made it clear that if he wants to fight Mosely he’ll call his wife because that’s who controls Shane.
Me: That’s ridiculous that he’d draw that kind of conclusion. I think anyone who heard what Shane said last summer regarding his wife could easily tell it was not in a submissive tone. Not only that, but Mayweather is probably the last person who should be talking about fighting Shane since he’s made it clear his whole career that he wants nothing to do with him.
CG: Like I said, there really isn’t a whole lot that is interesting about either of these guys. I really wish they’d both retire. Both of them have made plenty of money and neither one has gotten seriously hurt in the ring. They should just hang it up and make room for the guys who just show up and fight.
Me: Let’s say these guys both keep fighting. What kind of career do you think they should pursue?
CG: They should settle for nothing but the best. Pretty much all the great fighters in the last 10-15 years have settled for nothing but the best. I’ll run down some of them. Pernell Whitaker took on all the great ones. He fought Julio Cesar Chavez, Buddy McGirt (twice), Oscar De La Hoya, Julio Cesar Vasquez, and Felix Trinidad. In most of those fights he was not favored, and the only one I think he lost was to Trinidad. In addition to Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya fought Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosely (twice), Fernando Vargas, Felix Sturm, and Bernard Hopkins. I really gained a lot respect for Oscar when he fought Hopkins. I think pretty much everyone knew he didn’t have a chance against him, especially after he really struggled against Sturm. Sure enough, B-Hop knocked him out in the 9th round. Shane Mosely’s career has really impressed me. In addition to fighting Oscar twice, he’s also fought Vernon Forrest twice and Winky Wright twice. Keep in mind he turned down a lot of money from De La Hoya to fight Winky for much less money. The reason he gave was because he wants to fight the best, and Winky is the best. Bernard Hopkins has fought…..
Me: OK, I get the point. Both those guys have had very boring and unexciting careers relative to their peers whom they probably believe they should be included with. Obviously Taylor and Mayweather have fallen short of achieving greatness compared to those other guys.
CG: That’s basically the point I was trying to make. As talented as those guys are, they can never really be considered great. While an argument can certainly be made that Mayweather is better than Whitaker, or that Taylor is better than Hagler and/or Hopkins, the reality is that they can’t be mentioned in the same sentence because of the path their careers have taken up to this point.
Me: That’s a bummer, but I can’t argue with that.
CG: That what it sounds like to me, too. Hey, this is my stop. Maybe we can get together and watch Hagler-Hearns sometime. We can travel back to the time when boxing was about showing you’re the best instead of saying it.
Me: That sounds great. See ya.