Boxing used to gather a great deal of attention back in the golden days of the sport, now it seems like it just can’t crack the upper echelons of world sport on the whole.
Why is this a fact I ask ?
It seems to me that the whole thing with a belt for this and a belt for that, has lessened the impact of actually becoming a legitimate world champion previously had, back in another era.
Put on top of that the fact that if you are the current champion, or the home fighter, even an up and coming fighter being guided by his promoter to get to the big time, to draw the crowds in for making the big money.
Then the cherry on the cake is the fact that it seems a lot of the top current fighters are (and I quote ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson) a lot of the top fighters who can afford it are on the, ‘Stuff.’
Tyson believes all top fighters who can afford ‘The Stuff’ are using. He mentioned the fact that if they are using performance enhancing drugs in sports like baseball, athletics, and cycling, then why wouldn’t fighters at the top of their game be doing the same thing ?
Tyson says that we will do anything to be the best, we will do anything to win at all costs. The New York born banger, Tyson, has said the widespread use is common knowledge in boxing circles.
With many high profile cases being brought to attention of late, is Tyson correct with his comments?
I would have to agree to a certain extent.
This does the sport no good whatsoever in my opinion.
Drug testing should be in place for all world title bouts on the day of the weigh in, and random testing should be in place for all other current professionals.
Some say that the fighters who can afford ‘The Stuff’ are also able to afford to buy agents that mask their performance enhancing drug use.
Could this be the case ? Sad state of affairs if so.
We then have the issue of the four major world title belts in place in every weight division.
The WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF and then the Ring magazine belt too.
Then there are the IBO and all the other organisations, too many to mention – I could probably make my own belt up. ‘The king of swing ding a ling bling bling belt’ – ridiculous.
How can anyone be the best in their respected division with four world titles to go at ?
Then we have the fact if some fighter has a fight against another fellow title holder and unifies the belts, in turn is then granted a ‘Super’ title by said organisation.
Following the ‘Super’ title being awarded to said fighter, the organisation puts out a regular world title to be won by the other contenders below the ranks of the ‘Super’ title holder.
We then have the likes of interim titles and so on, all sanctioning fees for the organisations concerned, they are all as bad as each other.
It really is a bit of a joke.
Something has needed to be done for years now, and yet still nothing has happened.
They are still making money, so it wont change.
I will now mention the whole ‘Home Fighter’ ‘or in some cases ‘Promoters Blue Eyed Boy’ situation. If a champion fights in his home town and it is a close fight and ends up going to the scorecards, the likely situation will be that the home fighter will get the nod, even if he doesn’t deserve the win.
Even to another extreme, the home fighter will have a stinker an still get the decision due to being the home fighter or as I mentioned the promoters blue eyed boy.
No matter where a fight is held, on anywhere you care to mention, the judges should be scoring the fights as they see them, not leaning towards one specific fighter because he is the home fighter, that is just crazy.
If one fighter deserves the win, he should get it, whether he is from Earth or Mars.
Would that put you off if you didn’t know the politics of boxing ?
Boxing should be thriving on a worldwide scene and it just cant.
Casual fans will come out for the big fights but not really get interested in the boxers making their way to the top of the sport.
There are many very talented boxers currently operating and its a shame that more people are not aware of this.
Until something is done about all of the aforementioned, then how can boxing ever expect to be anywhere near what it once was.
Fans are made to look foolish by promoters putting on PPV events with just one good fight on the bill, but yet they still by the event.
This is down to the hardcore fans, some casual but mainly the hardcore.
If boxing wants to see its stock rise from where it currently lies, things have got to change for the good of the sport, once and for all.
