If it’s broke, FIX IT!

I have always been a little glass half empty and it’s pretty easy to be that way when evaluating the current state of American boxing.  I love this sport but it appears to be suffering badly at present time.  Not so much worldwide but here, it isn’t a rosy picture.  I see at least 3 distinct areas where the sport has taken a step back over the last 20 years.

I will start with the amateurs and the American Olympic Team.  Remember when Ray Leonard, Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones Jr. and Oscar DeLaHoya were winning medals for the US at the Olympics?  Since boxing was introduced at the Olympics in 1904, the United States has won a combined 109 medals.  #2 in total medals is Cuba with 63 and The Soviet Union is #3 with 51.  That is a hefty margin, and how did we do in the 2008 games in China?  We got a bronze.  That’s it.  We didn’t even field a fighter in every category as some were not even good enough to qualify for the games!  What has changed in this country that we cannot even field a competitive Olympic team?  That is a difficult answer and one that needs to be examined by the promoters and executives who help run this sport.  I know a few things that would help the Olympic team such as supporting local gyms and fighters in your community.  Boxing has always had a grass roots charm to it and there is nothing more grass roots than a homegrown local product who is an Olympic hopeful.  That used to mean something to a community.  It is hard to develop good amateur fighters when there are not many local gyms anymore.  If you look at it, the sport is being systematically removed from us.  It costs too much to operate a gym so they close and that leads to more good young athletes gravitating to football and basketball to name a few which then means the TV ratings go down because no one is participating so they don’t connect to the sport enough to watch it!  Domino effect for sure but for this sport to get back to the days of old, our Olympic teams must get better and starting next year, we can field a women’s team if we can find any to qualify.

My Second issue is the state of boxing on TV.  What a joke the last decade has been.  We have been hoodwinked!  So many lousy cards and a lot of them not on free TV.  As a fan, what else can you do but pay for them but what any sport needs are the casual fans that shell out big bucks for PPV’s and invite the crew over.   Why would anyone invite their friends over to show them some of the crap we paid for this last Saturday on the Calzaghe/Jones Jr. undercard.  I would be embarrassed to show a casual fan that crap especially if they knew I paid for it!  That is one of many lousy cards we have paid for in the last several years.  This trend must stop ASAP for any future growth in the sport.  This is even more important now as Fathers take their kids to MMA shows and they see the best face the best.  For boxing to be “cool” again it has to promote its stars, make sure they fight often and ensure they fight the best especially on PPV.  In other words, if you want to show someone American Football or Basketball, you look in the listings and find out when you can see Kobe, LeBron or anyone else on Cable.  As they perform, you become a fan and the rest is history.  In boxing, you identify a fighter you might like and then search all over various sites to find out when, and if, you can even see your fighter ply their craft.  Huh?  I saw Jorge Linares fight about a year or so ago and identified him as a guy I would like to see.  He has not fought in ages and his next fight is somewhere east of JaBip.  How do I go about watching that if I am a casual fan?  You give up, that is what you do.  Boxing needs to promote the best and make it easy to see them work.  Most importantly, see them work against top competition.  That leads me to the Third issue which is the promoters and the networks. 

RIP…Tuesday and Wednesday night fights and now Solo Boxeo???  Oh the humanity.  I know boxing will live and prosper to some degree without the television coverage of old but how is this good?  In a time when the sports major stars are over the age of 35 how can we really ask people in these hard economic times to spend major dough on a seat for a live fight if they don’t even know who is fighting?  This is PR 101; you have to promote the big fighters so people will pay to see the big fights.  Think about it, will DLH/Pac be as good of a fight as Mtagwa/Villa this past Friday on TeleFutura?  I highly doubt it and look at the difference in promoting both fights.  So why are boring, TV unfriendly fighters constantly on TV?  I do not want to single out any one fighter but we can all think of a few that make us sigh each time they grace the air.  The strong survive, if you cannot fight and win and entertain, you don’t deserve to be on TV.  I do not have sympathy for promoters or fighters who do not live up to their end of the bargain which is entertaining the masses.  HBO, for all the good it has done for the sport, spends half the time driving people away rather than enticing them.  No more favors to promoters that breed lousy fights please?  Give us young, promising stars that are hungry and exciting.  I don’t need the senior circuit.  HBO should be a privilege earned after EACH fight and not based on a body or work.  Win and get in just like a playoff situation. 

To sum up, America needs to develop better amateur fighters and start when they are young.  Get better fights on TV and when they air, show good quality matches.  Sure sounds easy and I know it isn’t but the time for change is now and we should demand it!!!