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The Degeneration of the Post Fight Boxing Interview

By Faisal “Fayz” Masood

February 25 1964 – “I shook up the world! I shook up the world! I’m the greatest thing that ever lived. I don’t have a mark on my face, and I upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned twenty-two years old. I must be the greatest. I showed the world. I talk to God everyday. I know the real God. I shook up the world, I’m the king of the world. You must listen to me. I am the greatest!”

April 21 2018 – “Let’s go to my town, I want to fight him where I’m from. These hella Mexicans in here booing me and s**t. They want some rice and chicken.”

I want some motherf–ers that want Coney’s around me.”
“We went at it for 12 rounds,” said Vargas.”We didn’t go at it, that’s gay,” said Broner. “Going at it is gay.”
“Ay man f**k all that, f**k all that. I beat…man let me take the mic.
“I beat yo’ a** look at his face. It look like I beat him with what they beat Martin Luther King with man.” Broner continued: “I beat your a** like you stole something, I beat your a** like you got suspended from school, I beat your a** like you stole my bike…you bruised up.”
The above are two post fight interviews, whilst being brash, the first example went down in history when Muhammad Ali then Cassius Clay did shock the world with his victory over Sonny Liston. The bright eyed heavyweight was ecstatic as he proved the masses wrong by defeating Liston, a man he was given no chance against.

Fast forward 54yrs and Adrien Broner yet again showed why his nickname of ‘The Problem’ is describing his attitude more than his boxing skills. Broner’s post fight interview confirmed everything fans believe is wrong with Broner and continued his downhill slide after at one point he was one of the best and most exciting fighters in the game. It also displayed just how bad post fight interviews are allowed to become as the media grab every curse and every ignorant remark and in this day and age of social media, such outlandish comments can reach the other side of the world in mere seconds.

The unfortunate truth is that televison networks thrive on these sort of comments, more and more fighters are becoming the bad guy, knowing full well that everyone will pay to watch the villain but no one will come to watch the mild mannered and humble fighter, no matter how good he is.
Muhammad Ali discovered this fact in 1961 when as a young man he attended a wrestling event involving ‘Gorgeous’ George. Seeing how the crowd reacted to George’s boasts, Ali spoke to George and it was confirmed, people came to see George lose because of his arrogance, some came to see him win, but they all came to fill up the arena. From then on Ali took on the persona of a loud braggadocio with an arrogant streak, building up fights with his wit, charisma and poetry. The move certainly paid off for Ali, who combined with his talent, would become arguably the greatest and most recognisable sportsman in history.

From then on, boxers have been continuously pushing the limit to what they can and cannot do around a fight. Sure, hype is needed to build a fight up and create interest, At the end of the day it is a fight, tempers will flare and egos will be damaged but once the fight has been done and dusted, normality should resume and fighters should show respect to their opponents, it takes a special kind of attitude and mindset to step inside the ring and fight a man one on one, under the bright lights and the many fans watching either in attendance or on TV, to continue the war of words immediately after the battle before the sweat has dried and before the dust has settled only reflects poorly on the fighter rocking the boat, in this case Adrien Broner.

Unfortunately, it is not something boxing will be able to control, everyone is different and fighters have a different mentality to many of those surrounding them, but the sport cannot allow certain lines to be crossed. Whilst the mix of personalities and characters brings an added intrigue to the sport, the glorification of abuse and wild behaviour needs to be controlled. Fighters who play the bad guy are those in the headlines, usually for the wrong reasons, everyone is curious about the villain, Broner’s post fight interview generated more news and views than the respect shown between fighters who faced off in the ring the same night, Nonito Donaire and Carl Frampton exchanged pleasantries after their bout leading Frampton to later say he had found a friend for life.
A profound example would be Andre Ward – Ward was the number one boxer in the world and a gentleman outside of the ring too, but why wasn’t his talent recognised by those outside of boxing purists? Why didn’t crowds flock to see him fight? Ward was a technical genius inside the ring yet many lesser talents are more widely known than he is and made more money than he did. Digging further we have Charley Burley, an all time legend of the ring who like Ward was a quiet, humble and deeply religious man, there are those who say Burley was the greatest boxer ever, even better than Sugar Ray Robinson but why don’t fans know who he is as compared to the Sugar Rays, Leonard and Robinson? It is because Burley refused to play the bad man or blow his own trumpet and refused to deal with the shady figures of boxing which meant the title shot he had always hoped never came.

Boxing by its nature as a fighting sport will often attract characters who came from the hard knocks of life but it is a sport which instils discipline and hard work, regardless of someones background or upbringing there can be no excuse in this day and age to show ignorance on the levels portrayed Saturday night by Adrien Broner and neither should he be given the platform to air such repugnant views post fight, let’s hope the next time Broner fights, there is a little more caution thrown to the wind when his interview is about to take place….

Check out Fayz’s available books for download on Amazon. He also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at Fayz Fitness.

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