RIPPIN’ UP THE ELDERLY
New York, NY– Early 2010 has been in many ways a series of cold wars. While the action in the ring has been somewhat minimal (the fantastic double-header Yuri Gamboa/Juan Manuel Lopez night notwithstanding), fans have been getting their boxing fix through listening to various parties debate why they refuse fighting each other, and others still setting up dates in the ring. Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) won’t go near Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 28 KOs) unless he takes a steroid test. Kelly Pavlik (36-1, 32 KOs) hasn’t fought because of various health issues. Paulie Malignaggi (27-3, 5 KOs) will fight, but for now he has been confined to taking out his aggressions on Twitter. As empty as the ring has seemed all year, boxing has proven to be patient with its fighters as long as they keep entertaining us.
BOXING DON’T NEED SAVING FROM THE OLD GUARD
In other words, the world of boxing is fine. It needs no “saving” from itself or from any other sport. But the last thing it needs is the return of Bernard Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KOs), the now 45-year-old technician that bored his way through a legendary career that saw the defeat of such greats as Oscar de la Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs), Felix Trinidad (42-3, 35 KOs), Winky Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs), and Kelly Pavlik. Hopkins is scheduled to return to the ring this year, much to the chagrin of everyone who loves and respects the sport, and the worst thing is that he is not even the most infuriating appearance on his fight card! Astoundingly, Hopkins is the lesser of two evils on his fight card; his opponent is Roy Jones, Jr. (54-6, 40 KOs), who has sabotaged his own shot at boxing immortality by outstaying his welcome for the past five years and fading away rather than going out with a bang. Jones, now 41 years old, has stayed around so long that there is a generation of boxing fans that know him exclusively for his losses against Antonio Tarver (27-6, 19 KOs), Glen Johnson (50-13-2, 34 KOs), and Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs), and not four winning titles in four different weight divisions.
RAHMAN’S CRY FOR ATTENTION: WHAT ABOUT ME?
Nor are Hopkins and Jones the only peddlers of nostalgia that take to the ring for the money with little regard for entertainment value or damage to a legacy. I recently received a press release entitled “Hasim Rahman [45-7-2, 36 KOs] Asks: What About Me???” Well, I don’t know, Hasim: what about you? Rahman may be a spring chicken compared to Hopkins or Jones, but he’s still 37, and an old 37 at that. He hasn’t been a significant player in the heavyweight game since he was unable to solidify his win against Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs). He couldn’t even beat out James Toney (72-6-3, 44 KOs) two years ago.
BOXERS NEED A PUSH IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Boxers have proven notoriously stubborn in refusing to acknowledge when they should retire. It has caused an incalculable amount of pain and suffering to fighters that have given their all in the ring and the families and friends that stand beside them. The historical instances of fighters who simply do not understand why they need to call it a day are more than enough to suggest that, perhaps, the decision to stay in the ring should no longer remain in the hands of the fighters exclusively. While, to quote famous libertarian John Stossel, “the bias should always be towards freedom,” our community operates around a sport where life and death hang on the balance with every publicity stunt, every event, every round of every fight.
HOPKINS A DANGEROUS EXCEPTION
This is not to say that Hopkins is not completely capable of performing at the level which he seems to be pursuing against Jones. In fact, the odds that Jones will defeat him are rather slim, and Hopkins may be the exception that actually continues a career into his 40s and manages to snag a title and keep his head. Not everyone is George Foreman, but not everyone is Yory Boy Campas, either. But while Hopkins plays the role of exception, fighters like Jones tend to be more of the rule. The great fighters never tire of being called “champ”; they never tire of the adrenaline high in the ring. And like every addiction, they often don’t realize the harm they are causing themselves and their families. A decade ago, Jones was considered one of the savviest boxers regarding the handling of his career. Most who followed him admired him in part because he exhibited wise judgement in who he fought, how he trained, and how often he put himself at risk. His only true lapse of judgement was a foray into the hip-hop industry, but he wouldn’t be the first or the last boxer to make some truly atrocious music. Now, several years later, Jones is doing precisely what many predicted he wouldn’t: outstaying his welcome and putting his life at risk for the sake of some spare change and a round of applause.
WE NEED TO CARE FOR OUR FIGHTERS
If our fighters can’t take care of themselves, perhaps someone should step up and protect them from their own expired ambitions. The sanctioning bodies do all sorts of grandstanding to make the sport appear fairer and safer– why not have the audacity to tell a fighter past his prime that he should probably hang up the gloves, for his own good? Why not test fighters for pugilistic dementia in a more rigorous fashion, one that would catch the signs before they were so obvious that it’s clear it’s too late? It’s not like the boxing world will lose much revenue by preventing fans from catching such exciting spectacles as Hopkins/Jones anyway.
Frances Martel