A Few Words on Boxing

The only thing I’d argue is heavyweight boxing is dead. I’m on record as saying all the top heavyweights will go to MMA. HW in boxing will be so screwed once the Klitschkos retire. Who will carry the division? Adamek? That’s a cruiserweight. Haye? See Adamek. Arreola? Is a mediocre fighter. That division has nothing going for them and their dominant champions have no penetrable presence in the US and are not the most exciting to watch.

Then they beat that record in 2010.

We are fortunate to see Floyd Mayweather Jr., one of the greatest defensive tacticians of all time, and Manny Pacquiao, who has an offensive arsenal that rivals Sugar Ray Robinson. If they fight, wonderful; if they don’t, life goes on.

There is no reason, on Earth, that these two should not fight.

It’s a piece that echoes the sort of superficial, barely cognizant fandom normally reserved for the likes of PTI.

The obsession that some fans have with proving MMA superiority and declaring complete victory over boxing is almost Jungian in its obsession. Strange we don’t see that same envy/hated directed at wrestling, kickboxing, or jujutsu. Did Wilfred Benitez take their lunch money when they were young?
A couple of reminders before we pronounce the end of boxing:
The largest live crowd for a prizefight will go to Klitschko vs Haye this year. Last year it was the two Manny fights at Cowboys Stadium. TWO. In Cowboy’s Stadium.
The four highest selling ppv this year will most likely be the two Pacquiao fights, Mayweather vs Ortiz, and Klitschko vs Haye if the UK ppv estimates are correct.
The 7 highest (perhaps even more) fight purses will all be paid to boxers this year.

Boxing is on the upswing and last I checked the UFC was doing fine. I think they both can thrive without worrying about the other being a threat to its existence.

I hate the fights where they continually clinch up to stall the match. And I have no idea who’s who in any division at this point. Aside from the Klitsch bros Manny and Mayweither, I have no clue.

I did get into it a bit back in HS when I had a free sub to HBO and watched the Friday Night Fights but that didn’t last long and it faded quickly. My problem is that I know there’s complicated afairs between all the different promoters and I have no idea where to get started.

Aside from that, I never really got the MMA vs. Boxing rivalry. they’re totally different sports aside from both being “combat” sports. But you’ll never get the same thing from either sport and I think that’s the beauty of it.

zzzzzzzzzzzz

I kid, I kid.

despite bands like My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire, and Radiohead regularly releasing albums.

Unsurprisingly, I dislike all three of those bands. I couldn’t fathom how in the fuck Suburbs won album of the year. Rock will be big again when it expands past the white (and hipster) audiences again. A lot of cultural weight is being thrown behind rap, and to a lesser extent r&b, much of it at the expense of rock. Kind of similar to the UFC taking boxing’s younger audience.

I keep trying to like boxing. Honestly. I’ve seen some great fights, but the majority have been dissapointing. I’ve seen heavyweight freakshows that make the Giant Silva fights look good, I’ve seen the clinch to ride out a 7 point advantage for 3 rounds, and I’ve seen fights like the Haye nightmare that left me completely baffled as to why he even bothered to show up.

I like great boxing. The problem as I see it is that it’s lacking real compeditive fights on a regular basis. Frankly, I’d rather watch Olympic boxing then the average title fight from the last 2 years. I’m going checking out the big events, but I really really hope it gets a bit easier to sit through.

I’d watch Wayne McCullough’s fights on USA Network all the time back in the mid 90s — Friday Night Fights or something it was called… and man, I loved watching him go out there and throw punches non-stop until his opponents succumbed to a sheer avalanche of hits.

But when MMA blew up, boxing started feeling kind of slow and old. I’d love to be able to get back into it, but nothing about it excites me. The last fight I really enjoyed was Oscar De La Hoya vs Felix Trinidad in like ’99 I think it was, but then when they gave that fight to Felix I knew once and for all that boxing was fixed and lost interest.

Very well done.

I was pretty pissed off about Josh’s piece but wasn’t in a position to run a rebuttal as I was out of town.

You did a great job of saying many of the things I wanted to say.