Once Upon A Time in Boxing: A Fairytale or a Reality of the Boxing World Today?

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By “Bad” Brad Berkwitt

Once upon a time in a boxing ring which seems so long ago, you had warriors who faced anyone they put in front of them and if they lost, the zero only meant back to the drawing board. Not obscurity as it seems to be more of the norm today in boxing. Why is that? Let’s take a closer look and see if we can get to the bottom of it…

I came into the sport of boxing in 1975, through my late father Alvin Berkwitt, who was an avid fan of the sport and friendly with many of the legends during his time on Planet Earth. In 1975, you had boxing on all of three major networks that were ABC, NBC and CBS. You had great commentators who really knew the sport and many such as Gil Clancy, actually worked in the sport with great success. You had back stories of fighters and fans felt a closeness with them and their personal stories. This is something that my paisan Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and I discussed in detail during a few interviews we recently did for Ringside Report. We both feel that today, the fighters are not covered with those great stories many have and it’s a shame. But it’s not just that…

The major press outlets (paper) do not give boxing any coverage for the most part and though we all know, the Internet kicks their assess in that department, there still is a large contingent of people in the US and around the world who don’t read their sports news online, but in their morning paper over breakfast or during their morning bathroom ritual.

Sure you have boxing back on network TV such as the PBC, but you have very weak fights for the most part put on by Al Haymon. Sure it’s great in one way to have it on free TV, but on the other, boxing fans who know better are getting sick of the crap fights and the new fans are not coming back to watch future fights. And let me address the elephant in the room folks…. I don’t know Al Haymon from Al Molinaro (late actor who played Arnold on Happy Days), but him hiding like he is the Wizard Of OZ makes him look ridiculous and many don’t respect him because of it.

I think the above is some of the major problems of boxing today…. Now with that said, do I think Boxing is DEAD? This is a question that during my 12 years as a boxing analyst, on News Channel 8 Sports Talk with Host Glenn Harris, which was shot in Virginia and watched in Virginia, DC, Maryland and West Virginia had me answering an unequivocal NO, which I still stand by today! We still have great fighters today in the sport and if they would promote them more both in the sport and outside the ring, I truly think boxing could take its place once again amongst the top of the sporting world.

In my almost 48th year on Planet Earth, I am going to continue with our fantastic team of writers at Ringside Report to bring you the readers, fighters of yesteryear and modern day in the most honest, no punches pulled articles that even if they point out the warts of a fighter, we all still have the utmost respect for any warrior that steps into that coveted square circle…..

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