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Have Boxing Ring Walks Gone Too Far?


Let’s get straight to the heart of the matter here. Following his recent defeat to Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder felt it necessary to tell the world that the reason he lost the fight was that his walk-on costume was too heavy. He expanded on this by suggesting that the weight of his 40-pound outfit weakened his legs, placing him at a disadvantage during the fight at Las Vegas entertainment hotspot the MGM Grand Arena in February.

It might just be the most ridiculous excuse since David Haye blamed a bad toe for his defeat to Wladimir Klitschko in 2011. Or since Manny Pacquiao claimed that inappropriate socks gave him blisters and prevented him from beating Juan Manuel Marquez. But it does raise the question about the role of the ring walk in boxing.

When sport meets theatre

Boxing has become more than a sport. It is theater. It is entertainment. We get that. And the huge sums of money involved demand added value. This starts weeks before the fight – in the build-up, the press conferences, the weigh-in – and it culminates in the ring walk. In a sport where the action could be over in seconds, all of this is necessary.

The ring walks also give the fighters a chance to express their identity and reveal their character to the audience. It gives them a platform to make statements and highlight causes that are important to them. Wilder’s tribute to black history month, marked in February each year, was admirable and no one would want to have denied him that opportunity. But he could have made it without wearing a costume that he now claims cost him the fight.

The evolution of the ring walk

Ring walks have become so over the top that they are beginning to feel detached from their original intention. In the early days of box office boxing events, a ring walk offered fighters a chance to intimidate their opponent, to lay down a marker. They would showcase their confidence, highlight their physical shape and fitness, and show their rival they were untouched by fear – even if they were trembling inside.

The ring walk would also give the crowd the chance to show their appreciation to the fighters. When Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier walked to the ring to fight each other for the first time, the excitement in the crowd was electric. There were no frills – the event and the boxers did not need any.

Ali was perhaps the greatest showman of all time but he never felt the need to wear a 40-pound costume to enter the ring. People wanted to see Ali in the flesh, not hidden behind a mask. And the stakes were so high that any forced drama would have detracted from that.

Many other big-name fighters have kept things old school over the years. Mike Tyson understood that he could intimidate his rivals and boost his own confidence with a no-frills walk to the ring. His walk-in before the 1988 Michael Spinks fight is legendary. It showed that he was not hiding and he held no fear. And let’s face it, many boxers including Larry Holmes have admitted that the ring walk is the time the nerves really can set in.

A distraction from the main event

In recent years, boxers have entered the ring in all sorts of outfits including superhero suits and wedding dresses. They have entered the ring on thrones and even on horseback (as Mexican Jorge Arce did when he fought Argentine Julio Ler in 2007). There are smoke, lights, and music. And the fighters are often accompanied by a huge entourage. The ring walks can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take months of planning. And they require a whole production team to stage and manage them. Wilder is currently priced at +250 by Betway to beat the Englishman for the potential rematch: would they weighted in this way if it were only his pre-match costume to blame? Given his adamance that that was indeed the cause of his loss, it will be interesting to see how The American chooses to enter the ring should he face Fury for the third time – and whether he beats the odds.

Today, the ring walk can detract from the fight. These minutes are crucial in terms of physical and mental preparation. A fighter should be warming their body and focusing their mind, not trying to remember the next piece of choreography, or left waiting in the ring as their opponent takes an age to complete an elaborate entrance. When former multiple featherweight world championship Prince Naseem Hamed “flew” into the ring to face Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas, it is fair to say that his mind might not have been in the right place.

A boxing ring is a dangerous place and that sense of menace can sometimes be lost amongst the pantomime. The ring walk has its purpose but there is a strong case to be made that that purpose has been lost in recent times.