THE NUMBERS SIMPLY SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES!
Ogdensburg, NY-Ive heard it now so many times Im almost beginning to believe it myself, but I wonder where this idea came from? Didnt I just read that 350,000 individuals paid 15.7 million dollars for the Floyd Mayweather (36-0, 24 KOs) versus Zab Judah (34-4, 25 KOs) PPV main event card that also featured Juan Diaz (29-0, 14 KOs) opposite Jose Cotto (27-1, 19 KOs), and Jorge Arce (44-3, 34 KOs) in with Rosendo Alvarez (37-3, 24 KOs)? If an average of only three people watched each of those 350,000 televisions, then over a million fans watched the fight, and by the way, there were a few more there for a live gate too. The counterpunch is that a major primetime fight on Network TV 25 years ago would dwarf the viewer numbers of today.
POWER BROKERS CERTAINLY DONT THINK SO!
My friends, I dont want to be the bearer of bad news, but dont tell HBO, Bob Arum, and Don King that boxing is dead; itll spoil their hand-in-hand skip to the bank. Floyd may be easier to convince, what with him only getting a measly $5,000,000, and poor Zab with his miniscule $1,000,000 shouldnt even have bothered going to the balls, I mean the ball. This was for a match that a lot of people were saying was not going to be any good, so dont buy it. Tell me again how boxing is dead; Im having a problem grasping the notion, and apparently a bunch of other folks are too.
TUNE-UP FIGHTS & THE REALITY OF SUCH, I see all the time on some web site or other He deserves a tune-up fight, or Hell need a stay-busy fight before his next title fight. Where did this idea ever come from? It makes about every other game. Not that Ive got anything against the Polecats, but they just arent in the Yankees league, and the Yankees have no business playing them. At the same rate, higher ranked boxers shouldnt be fighting the locals from Podunk either.
FIGHTERS & FIGHTS SHOULD BE EQUAL!
A professional boxer should fight someone of near equal experience for a debut, and then progressively fight better quality opponents, until he either becomes a division champion, or decides it is in his best interests to try a different field of employment. Once he reaches that elite status of division world champion, the working your way up has already been done, and from now on its fights of championship caliber. If he wants to be a champion he should fight opponents of near equal ability, not the local kid from around the corner. He shouldnt be reverting back and taking fights with lesser opponents, (the so-called tune-up fights) he should progressively be taking harder fights, or fights against ever-higher ranked fighters if you prefer it said that way.
THATS WHAT BEING RANKED IS ALL ABOUT
Isnt that what the entire ranking system is all about? If the champion is going to fight someone ranked way down the ranking ladder, why bother to rank him? If its okay for anyone to fight anyone, why not do away with champions, and just have anyone fight anyone? If the champion wants to be called Champ by all those he comes in contact with, then he should be prepared to prove again and again that he is, in fact, the champion. World Champion means that he can beat any man on the face of the earth of equal size. That doesnt mean one of four or five fighters that organizations are willing to say is champion if the fighter will only pay them enough money.
MULTIPLE CHAMP ISSUE NEED BE ADDRESSED!
This brings up the subject of each of the different sanctioning bodies having their own Champion that is not recognized by any of the other sanctioning bodies as being alive, unless the boxer is also that bodys Champion. What kind of nonsense is that? Whether a sanctioning body considers a fighter a champion or not, he still exists, and should fit into that sanctioning bodys ranks somewhere. If a sanctioning organization believes their champion is the best in the world, still some other sanctioning bodys champion must be somewhere below him.
FOLLOWING IDEA OPPOSED BY SANCTIONING MOBS!
The match of April 22, 2006 in Mannheim, Germany featuring Wladimir Klitschko (46-3, 41 KOs, w/81 reach) versus Chris Byrd (39-3, 20 KOs, w/74 reach) is a shining example of weight not being the final answer of a fighters ability. Yes, Byrd was some 30 pounds lighter, and yes, he lost the fight, but I believe the extended seven inches of reach advantage, and five the in height for Klitschko had a lot more to do with it than the weight differential.
WLADIMIR NEEDS TO JAB & NOT PAW!
If Klitschko could only learn to put some of Larry Holmes snap on that jab, instead of pawing with it, almost to the point of measuring, hed be a real force to reckon with. If every second weight class in use today were eliminated, boxing would have improved matches, and half of the so-called champions would be looking for a real title, not a worthless belt.
Leo Lawton
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