Is Boxing Dead?

June 8th 2002 the date when Lennox Lewis took on Iron Mike Tyson and coincidentally the first boxing fight I watched I would of been 9 going on 10 years old later that month, and remember my step dad saying Lewis will put Tyson on his arse. The BBC was showing the fight obviously quite past my bedtime this was a treat my family knew it was going to be a special fight that night. It only truly dawned on me how special of fight this was going to be when the BBC hyped up the event in such an epic manner. This also combined with how none of my uncles and grandfather spoke throughout the whole coverage only grunts and the popping of beer tops were audible.

Lewis would go on and showcase how powerful he was by knocking out the aging boxing icon with a savage right cross and thus retaining his heavyweight championship belts and surely ending the highly controversial career of Mike Tyson. Since that night I have seen many great bouts including Micky Ward’s warrior like performance against Augustus, Pavlik’s amazing comeback against Jermaine Taylor and my favorite my local hero Carl Froch winning the world super middleweight title.

But these days I feel great fights are few and far between. It seems that in boxing it is harder to find those top draw fights. The days of the dominant world class draws like Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Tyson, Ali, and many others are over, and the days of just a few are now here.

Now one could argue that a Pacquaio Mayweather fight could bring back boxing to prime time but even if by a miracle that were to happen what next. Unfortunately that fight wont happen we live in a boxing age were the fighter cares more about records than the fans and more importantly that money is more important than respect and pride.

Now we have people like Haye fighting at press conferences and saying that his fight is going to be more one sided than a gang rape I cant Imagine Ali coming out with that quip although it does show what Haye is, a clown and a thug backed by actions and words. Haye isn’t the only boxer shaming the sport though there are many other clowns out there tarnishing the last remaining good image boxing has.

This fact is rather painful for me to swallow though coming from a working class family consisting of semi-professional boxers. My grandfather talked about how boxing was more than entertainment it was art filled with warriors who overcame adversity and how they made it from rags to riches. Now my grandfather has passed but every time I see a boxer on T.V up to some stupid antics I cant help feeling they are undermining my grandfathers words.

So until boxing can bring back the epic fight nights and the truly great personalities that seem to be a thing of the past I predict a slippery slope for the sport  especially with competition coming from MMA and Pride taking over our screens. This wasn’t more of blog post than a rant but instead of an apology I’ll leave you with a quote from Joyce Carol Oates. Oh and a special mention to Andy Clarke for inspiring this rant with his own rant that you can read here.

“The third man in the ring makes boxing possible.”