Whatchagonnado: Boxing Truly is Its Own Worst Enemy!
By Roy “Sharpshooter” Bennett
Halcyon Days
A friend recently asked the question, “Why won’t the top guys fight each other?” It sent me into a tailspin. Listen… I miss the boxing scene of the 1980’s like a soldier on Active Duty in a foreign land misses his mom’s freshly baked apple pie. Let me break it down for anyone who wasn’t there.
In the seven year stretch covering 1980-1987 between welterweight and middleweight, Boxing Hall Of Famers Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Duran all fought each other! Add one more year – 1979 – and throw Wilfred Benitez into the mix and you’ll see he fought Leonard, Hearns, Duran, and was actively pursuing a shot at Hagler before losing an eliminator to the Syrian iron man Mustafa Hamsho in 1983.
And all this after Benitez had already won world titles in three weight classes spanning a range of twenty pounds!
In 1982 Aaron Pryor went to war with Alexis Arguello in an unforgettable fight in which the deadly punching Nicaraguan was seeking a world title in a fourth weight class! And – if that wasn’t enough to make you worship on bended knee at the altar of the Church Of Latter Day Pugilistic Saints – Mexico’s silky smooth boxing Salvador Sanchez took on and soundly beat Puerto Rico’s murderous punching Wilfredo Gomez in 1981.
In 1983 WBA light heavyweight champion Michael Spinks outpointed WBC counterpart Dwight Muhammad Qawi in a unification bout and would later move up to heavyweight and beat reigning champion Larry Holmes for the richest prize in sports in 1985. But up to that point Holmes had been busy building his own legend. In the same eight year time frame he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Mike Weaver by dramatic KO, climbed off the deck to defuse the ticking time bomb that was Earnie Shavers – after nearly being decapitated himself, put a severe beating on Muhammad Ali, and defanged the wrecking ball left hooking monster that was Irish Gerry Cooney, among numerous other wins.
Between 1979 and 1981 Matthew Saad Muhammad kept us all on the edge of our seats with hellacious wars against Marvin Johnson, John Conteh, and Yaqui Lopez before the well of eternal durability finally ran dry against Qawi. Suffice to say Saad had drank from its depths too many times. But damn! What unbelievable heart stopping excitement he provided the fans – fighting back from the brink of disaster to pull out the most improbable victories – after drinking from its sweet waters!
And today? We can’t even get Canelo Alvarez to fight a full-fledged middleweight in Gennady Golovkin. “GGG” can’t seem to catch a break and find a worthy 160lb opponent willing to face him. At 122lbs neither can Guillermo Rigondeaux. Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz look the other way anytime the Cuban maestro’s name is mentioned. Danny Jacobs wants to rematch Sergio Mora in a fight nobody is calling for, and Adonis Stevenson has gone out of his way to avoid Sergey Kovalev. We’ve got cats crying over 4 or 5lbs difference in weight. 4 or 5 pounds! That’s a bowl of oatmeal minus the banana and a damn sports drink on the scales!
I’ve gotta say it. Today’s fans have been raised on a boxing diet of barley husks and stale bread crusts. What did you say? You disagree? So what do you call what Mayweather and Pacquiao served up after making you wait 6 long years for your main course? And now Floyd is trying to sell us MMA’s Conor McGregor as a viable opponent for his 50th contest? Dude! It’s beyond a bad joke. And I’m not laughing.
Boxing may not be dead but it’s acting like a trader who wants to throw himself off the rooftop of a city office block during lunch hour. Standing there in the crowd looking up with half a baloney sandwich hanging out the side of your mouth you can see it’s not going to end well.
Raise your hand if you think Thurman Vs Porter is not a PPV worthy fight? There you go. All I’m seeing is a bunch of armpits. I gotcha. I feel the same way about Crawford Vs Postol. Both solid match ups but PPV level status? Hell No!
As the top echelon of boxers form the last 15 years ride off into the sunset to enjoy their riches what will we be left with? I’ll tell you.
Quite a few boxers who avoid all legitimate challenges, enabled by their promoters, who expect PPV dollars just for rolling out of bed. Yeah. The future is looking real bright ain’t it? Buyer beware.
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