Great piece by none other...
http://www.fighthype.com/news/article22967.html
http://www.fighthype.com/news/article22967.html
BT: Virgil, as you know, Floyd Mayweather recently made some comments regarding racism in boxing. He really focused on Andre Ward and some of the treatment he's gotten in comparison to Gennady Golovkin. What were your thoughts when you saw or heard what he said?
VH: Well, I felt that unless you are in his shoes and experience what he has along his journey, then one really wouldn't understand. I think what he was trying to convey is that some questions that are asked of some are not asked of others. Me personally, I think the Ward-Golovkin fight would've been a huge treat for the fans because you always have this statement, whether it be from the media, networks, or whatever, that the fans matter. I agree, fans matter and fans have been clamoring for this fight ever since GGG showed up on the scene. What really stimulated the fans' interest in that particular fight is when he said that he would fight anybody from 160 to 168. This statement was made by his coach, I believe, and his promoter and manager, so when that statement was made, of course that opened up the door for a Ward-Golovkin fight. I really believe the fans should have had an opportunity to see that fight. I have the utmost respect for Gennady Golovkin and I believe that he's everything that they say he is. [Abel] Sanchez had done a remarkable job with him, K2 [Promotions] has done a remarkable job with him, and the accolades that he's getting, he's deserving of those accolades, but I think the networks could have worked out that fight since that statement was made and then you can ask Andre Ward to move up to light heavyweight to fight a Kovalev.
This is fight that everywhere I go, everywhere Andre goes; I think every time [Tom] Loeffler has a mic in his face, every time Sanchez has a mic in his face, Andre Ward's name comes up. Every time there's a mic in my face and every time there's a mic in Andre's face, Gennady Golovkin's name comes up, so there is definitely a huge fan interest in the fight. The only thing that kind of disappoints me is the reasons why Loeffler and Sanchez said that they couldn't do the fight. They made it a financial thing. I think anybody in boxing knows that a Ward-Golovkin fight would've made Golovkin way more money than he made fighting [David] Lemieux. It definitely would have brought in way more pay-per-view numbers than that fight. From a business perspective, I don't think that they were accurate, so the fans are deprived of that fight and we move on. In the meantime, Gennady has to sit back and try to find the right person to bring his notoriety to the top where there's no question about his greatness. As long as he's going along like he is, yes, you have to succumb to his punch, you have to succumb to his skills, you have to concede to his punch, and you have to concede to his skills, but what really lies in him and what really lies in Andre Ward, you don't get to see that because at this point in time, there's nobody to bring it out in him. There's no one who can bring that level of intensity out in him, so I think everyone was shorted. The fans, the fighters, the trainers, everybody that would have been involved was shorted that that fight never happened.
BT: When Floyd talked about racism in boxing, I think some media outlets missed his message. He wasn't talking about fans being racist when it comes to liking him. What he was talking about was people in the industry being racist. In other words, the movers and shakers in the industry; the people that have the power to make decisions, like network executives, and the people that have the ability to control the narrative, like the media. When it comes to the people inside the boxing industry, do you think there's any truth to Floyd's comments?
VH: Well, you know what, Ben? I'm a product of an activist family. I lived long enough before the Civil Rights Movement came along and of course I'm alive after it. Before the Civil Rights Movement, I personally experienced it, whether it be from the Oakland police department or whether it be from teachers at school. I'll give you a great example. My father was in the Navy and he was on an aircraft carrier. I love aircraft carriers and I used to build them and I used to draw them; the whole bit. In the second grade, I was drawing them and I was building them and I remember one teacher put in her remarks that I had a strange fascination for ships. Now, why would my fascination be strange? I loved ships. My mother actually went to the school and corrected her on her statement because it was obvious that she made the statement without thinking.
A lot of times, people are programmed in a way to think that you're not supposed to think this way or you're not supposed to have this available to you. There are people that are born into this world and they learn from a very early age that this is meant to be for me. They see themselves on TV, they see themselves on billboards; when you go to school, you didn't learn about nobody else's history except for Caucasian history. You didn't learn about yours, your didn't learn about anybody's else's; only their history. It gives minorities and people of color a negative image of themselves. Whether this is by design or whether this is by coincidence, it still tends to give the same result.
So when I bring it back to what Floyd is saying, I'm sure along the line that he has experienced it. Whether he hears people making comments about the way his uncle speaks or his dad speaks. People have made fun on camera about their speech impediment. Both of them have been called crackheads by fans and media alike. There are people in the media right now that show open disdain for Floyd. If a fan writes in and has an opinion or asks a question, the response is very open to the fact that, hey, this guy is a piece of this and he's a piece of that, so I'm sure that he experiences that, but what they have to understand is that he has children and they read about this. He has loved ones and they read about it.
I mean, if you want to talk about racism in boxing, we only have to go back 100 years and nothing much has really changed. It's not a secret in professional boxing that the African American fighter is a hard sale and a hard person to promote. Now, he becomes easy to promote when he plays the buffoon. He becomes easy to promote when he does some things that are unthinkable. Whether he slaps a person in public or whether he runs his car off the road and hits somebody or whether he uses profanity when a microphone is in his face, he becomes easy to promote, but this is not required of the other fighters that are different racial ethnic background. Instead, you see the dignity, you see the family togetherness, you see the thoughtfulness that's involved in that fighter's life and you respect him for who he is, and then the dirt that that person does is pretty much covered up as much as possible.
If you want to talk about racism, I mean, we can just start with Jack Johnson, where rules were made up to stop him from living his life. He was a marked man on the freeway because he had a preference in women. Rules were made up to get that belt back from him. Now if he would've been doing all this and the heayvweight championship wasn't on the line, I don't think a lot of these rules would've been made and a lot of these laws wouldn't have been passed. A lot of African American fighters gave away their health, gave away their life, and everything to try and achieve a goal that was pushed back all because of their color. They were deprived a chance because of their color. Even Joe Louis pretty much had to pay his way to a championship fight. It would be unheard of today that I'd give you a championship fight, but you have to give me 10% of your earnings if I give you this shot. If he's worthy of the title shot, that shouldn't be a question. We can also go back to Joe when he lost to Schmelling the first time. Some of the newspaper articles that were written about him and some of the pictures depicted him as a gorilla and as a lazy goon and things like that. I mean, very, very hurtful things.
Even Ali, Ali is revered today, but when he was Cassius Clay, just because his religious preferences were not in line with what other people thought they were, you know, they just started this hunt to get this belt from up under him. Now here's a man who flunked the military test and then gets reclassified without ever being tested again, right, because we're going to make an example out of you and we're going to show you what time it is, you see. We're going to make sure that you don't go around running your mouth and bragging and things like that. We're going to make an example out of you. So you deprive him of a living, you take away his prime years, you take his passport; you not only not let him fight, you put him behind bars outside of prison walls. But later on, he becomes a hero.
VH: Well, I felt that unless you are in his shoes and experience what he has along his journey, then one really wouldn't understand. I think what he was trying to convey is that some questions that are asked of some are not asked of others. Me personally, I think the Ward-Golovkin fight would've been a huge treat for the fans because you always have this statement, whether it be from the media, networks, or whatever, that the fans matter. I agree, fans matter and fans have been clamoring for this fight ever since GGG showed up on the scene. What really stimulated the fans' interest in that particular fight is when he said that he would fight anybody from 160 to 168. This statement was made by his coach, I believe, and his promoter and manager, so when that statement was made, of course that opened up the door for a Ward-Golovkin fight. I really believe the fans should have had an opportunity to see that fight. I have the utmost respect for Gennady Golovkin and I believe that he's everything that they say he is. [Abel] Sanchez had done a remarkable job with him, K2 [Promotions] has done a remarkable job with him, and the accolades that he's getting, he's deserving of those accolades, but I think the networks could have worked out that fight since that statement was made and then you can ask Andre Ward to move up to light heavyweight to fight a Kovalev.
This is fight that everywhere I go, everywhere Andre goes; I think every time [Tom] Loeffler has a mic in his face, every time Sanchez has a mic in his face, Andre Ward's name comes up. Every time there's a mic in my face and every time there's a mic in Andre's face, Gennady Golovkin's name comes up, so there is definitely a huge fan interest in the fight. The only thing that kind of disappoints me is the reasons why Loeffler and Sanchez said that they couldn't do the fight. They made it a financial thing. I think anybody in boxing knows that a Ward-Golovkin fight would've made Golovkin way more money than he made fighting [David] Lemieux. It definitely would have brought in way more pay-per-view numbers than that fight. From a business perspective, I don't think that they were accurate, so the fans are deprived of that fight and we move on. In the meantime, Gennady has to sit back and try to find the right person to bring his notoriety to the top where there's no question about his greatness. As long as he's going along like he is, yes, you have to succumb to his punch, you have to succumb to his skills, you have to concede to his punch, and you have to concede to his skills, but what really lies in him and what really lies in Andre Ward, you don't get to see that because at this point in time, there's nobody to bring it out in him. There's no one who can bring that level of intensity out in him, so I think everyone was shorted. The fans, the fighters, the trainers, everybody that would have been involved was shorted that that fight never happened.
BT: When Floyd talked about racism in boxing, I think some media outlets missed his message. He wasn't talking about fans being racist when it comes to liking him. What he was talking about was people in the industry being racist. In other words, the movers and shakers in the industry; the people that have the power to make decisions, like network executives, and the people that have the ability to control the narrative, like the media. When it comes to the people inside the boxing industry, do you think there's any truth to Floyd's comments?
VH: Well, you know what, Ben? I'm a product of an activist family. I lived long enough before the Civil Rights Movement came along and of course I'm alive after it. Before the Civil Rights Movement, I personally experienced it, whether it be from the Oakland police department or whether it be from teachers at school. I'll give you a great example. My father was in the Navy and he was on an aircraft carrier. I love aircraft carriers and I used to build them and I used to draw them; the whole bit. In the second grade, I was drawing them and I was building them and I remember one teacher put in her remarks that I had a strange fascination for ships. Now, why would my fascination be strange? I loved ships. My mother actually went to the school and corrected her on her statement because it was obvious that she made the statement without thinking.
A lot of times, people are programmed in a way to think that you're not supposed to think this way or you're not supposed to have this available to you. There are people that are born into this world and they learn from a very early age that this is meant to be for me. They see themselves on TV, they see themselves on billboards; when you go to school, you didn't learn about nobody else's history except for Caucasian history. You didn't learn about yours, your didn't learn about anybody's else's; only their history. It gives minorities and people of color a negative image of themselves. Whether this is by design or whether this is by coincidence, it still tends to give the same result.
So when I bring it back to what Floyd is saying, I'm sure along the line that he has experienced it. Whether he hears people making comments about the way his uncle speaks or his dad speaks. People have made fun on camera about their speech impediment. Both of them have been called crackheads by fans and media alike. There are people in the media right now that show open disdain for Floyd. If a fan writes in and has an opinion or asks a question, the response is very open to the fact that, hey, this guy is a piece of this and he's a piece of that, so I'm sure that he experiences that, but what they have to understand is that he has children and they read about this. He has loved ones and they read about it.
I mean, if you want to talk about racism in boxing, we only have to go back 100 years and nothing much has really changed. It's not a secret in professional boxing that the African American fighter is a hard sale and a hard person to promote. Now, he becomes easy to promote when he plays the buffoon. He becomes easy to promote when he does some things that are unthinkable. Whether he slaps a person in public or whether he runs his car off the road and hits somebody or whether he uses profanity when a microphone is in his face, he becomes easy to promote, but this is not required of the other fighters that are different racial ethnic background. Instead, you see the dignity, you see the family togetherness, you see the thoughtfulness that's involved in that fighter's life and you respect him for who he is, and then the dirt that that person does is pretty much covered up as much as possible.
If you want to talk about racism, I mean, we can just start with Jack Johnson, where rules were made up to stop him from living his life. He was a marked man on the freeway because he had a preference in women. Rules were made up to get that belt back from him. Now if he would've been doing all this and the heayvweight championship wasn't on the line, I don't think a lot of these rules would've been made and a lot of these laws wouldn't have been passed. A lot of African American fighters gave away their health, gave away their life, and everything to try and achieve a goal that was pushed back all because of their color. They were deprived a chance because of their color. Even Joe Louis pretty much had to pay his way to a championship fight. It would be unheard of today that I'd give you a championship fight, but you have to give me 10% of your earnings if I give you this shot. If he's worthy of the title shot, that shouldn't be a question. We can also go back to Joe when he lost to Schmelling the first time. Some of the newspaper articles that were written about him and some of the pictures depicted him as a gorilla and as a lazy goon and things like that. I mean, very, very hurtful things.
Even Ali, Ali is revered today, but when he was Cassius Clay, just because his religious preferences were not in line with what other people thought they were, you know, they just started this hunt to get this belt from up under him. Now here's a man who flunked the military test and then gets reclassified without ever being tested again, right, because we're going to make an example out of you and we're going to show you what time it is, you see. We're going to make sure that you don't go around running your mouth and bragging and things like that. We're going to make an example out of you. So you deprive him of a living, you take away his prime years, you take his passport; you not only not let him fight, you put him behind bars outside of prison walls. But later on, he becomes a hero.
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