By Jake Donovan
It was this exact weekend a year ago when boxing fans were not only treated to live boxing on Independence Day weekend, but a fight that would feature three knockdowns, the Round of the Year, and a legitimate candidate for Knockout of the Year.
The match took all of 61 seconds, but ended with Kendall Holt twice rising from the canvas to eventually ice Ricardo Torres, avenging a disputed stoppage loss ten months prior.
A hell of a story line going in; the final product proving to be even better.
On a weekend where Americans celebrated its nation’s 212th year of Independence, boxing fans were given plenty of fireworks in the ring, in addition to the multitude of traditional outdoor displays taking place nationwide.
This year, we get nothing.
Thank goodness boxing has always been a global sport.
If an example was needed of just how much bigger the sport is around the rest of the world than in the United States, this weekend is a prime candidate for Exhibit A.
By the time you read this, you will have not missed a single live televised fight in the United States on Friday night. Nor do you need to worry about potential Independence Day plans conflicting with boxing action on Saturday evening.
There are plenty of fights around the world, including a few significant ones and some even featuring Americans.
One in particular has a svelte Eddie Chambers weighing it a near career-low 209 lb. for his heavyweight eliminator against undefeated Alexander Dimitrenko in the latter’s adopted hometown of Hamburg, Germany. The winner has to wait in line but is eventually entitled to a shot at newly crowned lineal heavyweight king and multi-belted Wladimir Klitschko.
Less than 800 miles away in Poitier, France, former titlist and 1996 Fight of the Year participant Mayhar Monshipour enjoys the support of his hometown when he engages in what figures to be his last crack at a major belt.
More than three years removed from his lengthy junior featherweight title reign, Monshipour shrivels down to bantamweight for a crack at current titlist Anselmo Moreno, an outstanding Panamanian product universally regarded as among the very best bantamweights in the world.
The outcome of both bouts figure to have major ramifications within their respective divisions.
American television outlets couldn’t care less.
The immediate argument from network executives will center around the ratings not justifying the investment, that there’s little to no interest in boxing on most holiday weekends, particularly during the summer time.
If that were the case, why put anything at all on television? Why doesn’t every network simply fade to black for the weekend? Major League Baseball can still be found all over the tube, and runs on every Saturday from April to October regardless of what holiday falls where.
For whatever reason, stateside networks continue to tread lightly when it comes to greenlighting boxing events around the holidays, though there have been exceptions. Showtime and Telefutura were always willing to go toe-to-toe with the grandest of fireworks displays in the past.
In addition to last year’s instant classic in Holt-Torres II, previous cards on or near Independence Day have included: Nonito Donaire’s memorable upset of Vic Darchinyan (7/7/2007); a Shobox: The Next Generation entry truly focusing on the next generation, with every bout of the telecast featuring fighters boasting boxing-famous bloodlines (7/1/2006); and a showcase featuring then-unbeaten top heavyweight contender Samuel Peter, who made quick work of Taurus Sykes before demanding to know, “Who necks (next)?!”
Telefutura’s Solo Boxeo series ran almost every Friday without fail, before coming to an end late last year. Included amongst its final season was a 4th of July telecast headlined by on-the-bubble middleweight contender Enrique Ornelas. The show also featured a trio of undefeated up and comers in Craig McEwan, Daniel Jacobs and Hylon Williams Jr.
Between that show and Holt-Torres II, it was at least enough for those who chose to celebrate at least a portion of the holiday weekend from the confines of their living room.
Those same fans are forced to outsource this year. The closest boxing fans get to a fix is a tape-delayed broadcast that aired Friday night on Telemundo, headlined by Jesus Jimenez’ knockout win of Santiago Ivan Acosta from a week ago.
It was a wise decision to not air that particular bout when it happened. Unlike this weekend, stateside boxing couldn’t get enough of the sport a week ago. A total of seven cards aired on outlets available in the U.S. over a two-day span, including ESPN2, HBO, Showtime, pay-per-view, Televisa and two separate shows on Argentinean-based network TyC.
In other words, seven more televised cards than we get to watch this weekend.
Monshipour very appearance in a title fight on Saturday is history repeating itself in an odd way. More than three years ago, the Iranian-born slugger conceded his title to Somsak Sithchatchawal in a fantastic slugfest that went on to become 1996’s Fight of the Year by most outlets, including Boxingscene.com and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
The irony in it receiving such honors was that it went largely unnoticed by most in the states until discovered by the most hardcore of boxing junkies.
Among the first in the media to unearth the hidden gem was Boxingscene.com’s own Cliff Rold, though writing for another publication at the time. From there, the news spread like wildfire of YouTube.com having available this instant classic.
Though a smash hit on the cult circuit, the fight still remained a rumor to many in the states until mentioned by ESPN.com senior boxing writer Dan Rafael at the BWAA annual meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to solicit candidates in various categories to vote on for their year-end awards, yet only a small handful in the room had even seen the fight, with many not even hearing of it or of either fighter’s beyond gracing the occasional ranking.
Yet so lacking was the boxing action throughout 2006 that our media was willing to scour the net to confirm a legitimate lead contender for its Best Fight category. For the first time in the more than 30 years, the Fight of the Year failed to feature any of the following attributes: an American fighter; taking place on American soil; available on television in the United States; a name fighter remotely familiar to the media, never mind the average boxing fan.
Nearly 39 months later, the 34-year old battle-worn Monshipour finds himself possibly in his last ever title shot, which serves as one of the two most significant bouts of this weekend.
For the second time in that same period, stateside fans’ only hope of catching the fight will be to either unearth an illegal stream, or wait a day or more for it a copy to appear on YouTube.com or any of the other various sites that hosts videos.
When Monshipour conceded his junior featherweight belt to Sithchatchawal, fireworks ensued from the opening bell until the bitter end.
Chances are there will be plenty of bang for the viewer’s buck, regardless of the outcome of his bantamweight title challenge against Moreno.
But for stateside boxing fans, the only fireworks to be found will be the ones in the sky.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
