IS BOXING SINGING ITS SWAN SONG?

There was a time when the Sweet Science was a throwback to a different age. A reminder of the days when gladiators entertained the masses in the Roman Coliseum. A time when young boys idolized guys like Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Joe Louis, Roberto Duran, Ray Leonard and of course Muhammad Ali. We cheered (or jeered) for guys like George Foreman, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Larry Holmes and Julio Cesar Chavez and boxing was a part of our every day vernacular and often in our thoughts. It was as much a part of our past times as baseball, basketball and football.

But lately, our pugilistic heroes are few and far in between. The 1980’s and 90’s were arguably the Golden Age of boxing. Fighters like Mike Tyson (pre-cannibal days), Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins and Lennox Lewis gave us something to root for, something with which to attach our loyalties. Now, besides the occasional headlines for a Oscar de la Hoya comeback, a possible Bernard Hopkins retirement, a mediocre Kelly Pavlik performance or another overmatched Shane Mosely affair, the boxing world has largely became a spectacle for its non-boxing news and not for its exciting mega bouts.

Why is boxing rapidly becoming a sport of yester-year and what has happened to the worlds fascination with the sport and its athletes? Here are some possible reasons why boxing may soon be relegated to the annals of history:

1. Management & Promotions Fiasco – Can anyone say the name Don King without feeling like they need to take a Haz-Mat shower? There seem to be more controversial promotion and management nightmares in boxing than in any other sport that we are aware of. In one of the more recent management debacles, former Welterweight champion Antonio Margarito and his trainer were banned for having an illegal object in Margarito’s hand wraps. David Tua’s once promising heavyweight career was stumped when it mattered most because of ongoing legal issues with his former manager/trainer Kevin Barry. The list goes on and you would be hard pressed to find a time when boxing was not sullied by those who should have been watching out for the sports best interests and not their own.

2. Mixed Martial Arts – Fans miss the days when their fighters fought for passion and love of the sport and not just for a multi-million dollar pay day. Mixed martial arts from its burgeoning days when it was a more of a freak show traveling smaller markets in the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains and in smaller venues in big cities like Los Angeles and Phoenix, has provided fans with the instant gratification they crave through fewer rounds while giving its fighters more latitude in the number of skills they can use in the octagon. Even fighting competitions like K-1 and Pride have grown at a much faster rate in a relatively shorter amount of time compared to its frontrunner, boxing. MMA’s popularity has essentially given boxing the boot.

3. Lack of interesting/elite talent – Let’s face it, aside from names like Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Roy Jones, Kelly Pavlik and brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko there are very few guys we know any more in the boxing world. Heavyweights were the big names in the sport and now it appears that the most popular and talented pound-for-pound fighter in the world is Lightweight Champion Manny Pacquiao. In stark contrast to boxing’s waning popularity, MMA stars like Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira are much more familiar as heavyweights as are Middleweights Anderson Silva, Nate Marquardt and Demian Silva.

Boxing is suffering a slow death in my mind and it would take a monumental overhaul of the sport for it to realize its former glory. There are more villains in the sport than there are hero’s and its hard to imagine that the sport will ever return to the status it once enjoyed in arenas and living rooms throughout the world.