December 11, 2011 will mark the thirty year anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s last boxing match. This, along with the recent passing of Ali’s rival, Joe Frasier, is yet another sobering reminder of a realization many sports fans have been attempting to ignore. The truth is that meaningful heavyweight boxing is dead and gone.
It is impossible to deny. Most sports fans that would at least rate themselves as a “5” or “6” on a sports-knowledge scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the “Most Knowledgeable) can name the reigning NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL champions. They may be able to name at least one golfer who has won a major in the last 3 years, or even a recent Wimbledon champion. But try to name a heavyweight boxing champion from the last seven years. Nikolay Valuev, Sergei Liakhovich, Wladimir Klitschko, Oleg Maskaev, Shannon Brigg, and Ruslan Chagaev are not exactly household names that Mike Tyson, George Foreman and Lennox Lewis used to be.
Further evidence is subtle, but undeniable. Take a look at the punching bag section of a Sports Authority or Dick’s Sporting Goods and look for a new dominant theme. There is an overwhelming amount of shelf space dedicated more and more to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and less and less to the sweet science. Places where heavy and speed-bag gloves once resided there is now an assortment of grappling gloves and MMA shorts. How do we explain this changing of the guard?
Reason One: Boxing is corrupt. There is a no rhyme or reason to it. No decipherable body or league office exists and an easy to follow ranking system is lacking. Fights are scheduled and promoted by a seemingly small number of sorted characters, who all in way or another seem to be affiliated with Don King. It is a sport with fixed-matches, rigged-rankings, sleazy Mafioso and questionable judging weaved deep within its fabric; and while this criminal edge may have once provided a compelling aura and mystic, it now fuels a frustration and inconsistency that inevitably frustrates and turns off the potential fan base. Professional boxing is a sport so dysfunctional crooked that, by comparison it makes college football and its BCS rankings a monument of order, reason and rationale.
Reason Two: Boxing is disorganized. Governing bodies like the IBF, WBO & WBA have no clear face or branding associated with it. Leagues like the NBA and NFL do a terrific job of marketing a clearly conveyed image that stresses fair, consistent and exciting products and highlighting the stars of their sports. And the other major sports leagues know how to harness multimedia to introduce the athletes who participate in competitions. The casual sports fan may not know much about the NHL, but they know that Sidney Crosby is a hockey player. Try taking a random poll of people on the street and see how many can tell you the about Alexander Povetkin, Samuel Peter and their chosen professions. Your writer just discovered while researching for this article that Evander Holyfield won a share of the heavyweight championship for the fifth time back in 2010 and no professional body made any real effort to publicize his feat. Such missed opportunities are due to the perpetual decentralized state of boxing. The sport of kings is now a disarrayed mess in a helter-skelter continuum that requires too much effort, dollars and dedication to follow or understand.
Reason Three: Good boxing is inaccessible. It is difficult to get excited about a sporting event that fans cannot view. This is the case when it comes to boxing. Any decent fight with a worthwhile presentation is on premium cable stations like HBO and Showtime, or more likely on Pay-Per-View for a price well north of $70 that many families are unwilling to spend. MMA sanctioning bodies do put most major bouts on Pay-Per-View; albeit at lesser dollar amount, but these same organizations attempt to woo fans on network television through programming like EliteXC on CBS and, more recently, UFC on Fox. First class heavyweight prize-fighting is completely absent from American network TV airwaves and therefore inner city American youth will never view or be inspired to become the World Heavyweight Champion.
The world will little note the 30th anniversary of “The Drama in the Bahamas.” It may not be as monumental as Ali’s bouts with Frazier, or the iconic “Rumble in the Jungle,” but Ali’s anti-climatic 10-round unanimous decision loss to the upstart Trevor Burbick was not only the end of one of history’s greatest boxing career. It was the first dip towards a monumental collapse that has transformed heavyweight boxing into a visionless criminal enterprise whose only decent live productions available to a privileged few.
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