Boxing

This is sanctioned homicide.

 

To the extent that stunt fights like Mayweather / McGregor - and subsequent fights like Ngannou v anybody - go on a boxer's legitimate record it becomes problematic. Mayweather absolutely includes McGregor on his "perfect" official record. Which is bullshit.

Back in the day, when an exhibition got made - and there were plenty, the sport's always had them - it stayed an exhibition. Ali's exhibition vs Inoki isn't part of his official record.

The other problem is how these social media fights crowd out money and interest from the real thing. We've seen Showtime and HBO abandon boxing - some of which is attributable to the struggles of new streaming business models, some of which is the intrusion of competitors like MMA and the atomization of the combat sports audience - and we're seeing legitimate fighters (ie, Joshua, Fury et al) more and more making these stunt fights instead of fighting real contenders.

The market decides certainly, but the circus bout eventually corrupts and crowds out the real thing.

 

I'd add to this the fact that all of these changes are taking place at a time when boxers are fighting less and less often. Given what we know about CTE, rightly so.

The gravitational pull in boxing has always been the money, so these big-dollar nonsense fights - most recently those sportslaundering Saudi Arabia - will become more and more the norm.

 

Count me in. I’ve been hopelessly fascinated by Tyson since I watched him smack the shit out of Marvis Frazier when I was 10.

 

On which end?

 

Without reference to the broader phenomenon of high-dollar shit exhibitions - rather, judged on merit alone - Anthony Joshua hasn't been right in his head or in his heart since Andy Ruiz pantsed him.

And this Ngannou fight does nothing to help me think otherwise. In fact, maybe Joshua has one eye on the exit.

If Joshua is interested in being more than a catalog model and getting back in line for the championship, he needs to be fighting up, not down.

And money-minting exhibitions like this are for champions, not contenders.

Parker vs Zhang? Feels like Stiverne / Chisora / Breazeale / Arreola / et al vs Ortiz.

 

oof, etc.

 

Last I heard of Tyson he was taking psychedelic mushrooms with Graham Hancock.

 

I still don’t understand why serious boxing writers waste time with Jake Paul.

Could it be that they have editors who know nothing about boxing and just see that Jake Paul has a big social media following?

 

I passed on ordering Haney vs Garcia because the way Garcia was acting pre fight led me to believe it wouldn’t be competitive. Garcia missing weight by three pounds was the last straw for me.
It turned out to be a really good fight so I kind of wish I ordered it. Perhaps Garcia’s antics were just gamesmanship.
The missing weight thing really bugs me though. I don’t know if he made a good-faith effort to make the weight or not but Haney honored that part of the contract and he didn’t.
In the last few decades it seems like this has happened too often, where fighters are willing to take a hit on their paycheck because it means they have a better chance of winning because they didn’t have to drain themselves making weight. I realize when it’s a pay-per-view main event so the show must go on but someone has to come up with some sort of consequences for not making weight.

 

I'd like to see a return to fight-day weigh ins

 

Garcia may or may not be the next Broner, but not making weight when there's a belt at stake is unconscionable.

Not making weight by more than 3 lbs is unimaginable for a professional boxer.