Duck Duck Goose…. The Art of Fighters Ducking Other Fighters

By Andrew “Drew The Picture” Hames

Hard core fight fans, casual fight fans and popular boxing media alike often share the commonality of frustration when a mega-fight’s demand isn’t instantaneously met with supply, or doesn’t end up coming to fruition at all. It’s partially because of this that the age-old adage we’re told about our beloved, crooked sport being “90 percent business, and only 10 percent boxing” tends to willfully fall upon ears deafened by their very own roars of bitter boos (and often booze) when they’re forced to settle for what they perceive as desirable match-ups. It may often appear to help in a sport that revolves as much around machismo as “mucho dinero” for the fans to make their voices heard by berating the combatants by questioning their fortitude and desires to challenge themselves in the first place.

And while this popular public relations tactic is and has been moderately successful in goading certain fighters into taking fights somewhat prematurely, so too does it demonstrate a profound level of both arrogance and ignorance that more often falls on the even more willfully deaf ears of the predominantly true forces behind what fights ultimately get made and don’t, which are the networks, the promoters and the fighter’s handlers. In light of this, it only makes the fans blogging on keyboards, submitting their opinions to fight magazines and voicing their opinions on boxing hotlines sound ridiculous when questioning the courage of the guys actually getting punched in the face for a living. As a fan first and writer second, I decided to call out those guilty of this for the benefit of the sport….

The great “Sugar” Ray Leonard spent some years in the early going of his career, while being developed under the careful guidance of famed trainer Angelo Dundee, being criticized for what was viewed as avoidance of such greats as Tommy Hearns and Marvin Hagler, only to later face and defeat both, score wins over the great Roberto Duran and Wilfred Benitez, even win a Light Heavyweight title against Donny Lalonde, only to still be criticized till this day by some for never having faced the great Aaron Pryor. Of course, what many of these same critics may not be aware of is the fact that Pryor actually turned down an offer to face Leonard, citing the fact that the offer guaranteed Leonard a million-dollar payday, and only guaranteed $400,000 for himself. Pryor and Leonard were actually very good friends in spite of Pryor’s multiple challenges to him, much like Leonard and Hagler for that matter. Apparently, Pryor’s primary motivation for wanting the Leonard fight wasn’t a general grudge, or even necessarily the black and white of facing the very best opposition, while I’m sure that particular element played its part as well. The primary motivation was the money, the same reason Hagler, who spent his entire historic Middleweight reign complaining of being forced to take on low-budget mandatory opponents, was anxious to fight the welterweight star who also just happened to be the sport’s very first million-dollar fighter. Follow the money, and it will usually tell the untold story….

It also goes without saying that the business aspect of the sport had considerable influence in which fights were made and not made prior to Jake Lamotta’s 1960 testimony to the US Senate against the notorious organized crime syndicate members who’d charged him $20,000 in cash and a thrown fight against Billy Fox in 1947 in exchange for his Middleweight championship fight with the great Marcel Cerdan. The legendary Ray Robinson, who bested Lamotta for the Middleweight crown, was known as boxing’s very first shrewd negotiator, a term so many fight fans rather disrespectfully refer to today as “diva”, when modern fighters look to prioritize their monetary interests before fighting. And just the same, Robinson’s critics will likely dismiss his 200-fight legacy in favor of the lone fighter he was believed to have avoided, Charles Burley. Floyd Mayweather, JR. went 49-0 over a 19-year span, throughout 5 weight divisions, complete with a historic amount of world titles, 20+ current or former world champions, and over 50 percent of his career fights being title fights, along with a number of other untold accolades unlikely to ever be duplicated. Let his critics tell it, and that entire reign was a result of avoiding certain opposition, in spite of the relatively few greats of his era that are absent from that resume. The pressing moral to the story is the game doesn’t change, and is a business to all of its players….

Given the amount of fighters who die in the ring, face permanent injuries in combat, or simply have the misfortune of losing or being blackballed for being “unexciting” by the fans or network, the reality is that all fighters should look to secure as much as they can to prevent falling into the statistics. Countless legends of the ring have died or now live penniless, and those looking to build their active careers have far more sacrifices to consider realistically than our mere cable subscriptions. Furthermore, whether fight fans wish to acknowledge this or not, the job of a fighter’s handlers is to protect them from dangerous situations, situations that often include dangerous opposition, until either the fighter or the money on the fight has matured enough to make the venture worthwhile.

Riddick Bowe blames his former manager Rock Newman till this very day for dumping the WBC belt in the trash can, and never having fought Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, David Tua, etc. Who’s to say he’s wrong? At the end of the day, there are far more gray areas than there are black and white for why certain fights don’t happen when we want them to, or even ever in some unfortunate cases. However, it’s rather childish of the fight fans who feel as though they can instigate the fights into fruition by questioning the courage of world class athletes who all likely have far more courage than their critics in the first place. After all, if we all love boxing just as much as the fighters, why are they the ones in the ring to begin with? Fighters lose in the gym more often than the public knows about, and generally fear nothing but premature or ill-advised business decisions. So if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it could just be because “you don’t know quack”.

Signing off until next time….

[si-contact-form form=’2′]