By Tom Donelson
Jack Newfield penned an article chronicling the demise of boxing in the May 2, 2004 issue of Parade magazine. He concluded his article, “but even I have reached the point where I don’t want to watch boxing anymore unless it is cleaned up and the rights and safety of the fighter are protected.” Okay, I understand Mr. Newfield desperation with the sweet science, but while I have personally touched on the the problems of the sport, I still the love the sport. As much as I have decried the charlatans and pimps who seem to be running the sport nearly into a premature grave, I do become frustrated with the constant stream of woe, the world of boxing is going to end. It will be nearly impossible to count the number of times that boxing has been counted out. Like Lazarus, boxing keeps rising from the dead. Nor do I find that historically, this is the most corrupt era of boxing because it is not.
Yes, boxing is in a mess and in serious trouble but before we blast today’s boxing governing organizations, we might want to review boxing’s past eras. The reality is that the overall governance of boxing has been worse in the past.
During the roaring 20’s, Jack Dempsey essentially took off three years while being the champion. Can you imagine Vitali Klitschko saying, “Hey guys, I'm taking a two year vacation and when I come back, I will just pick my opponent.” Klitschko could never get away with such behavior, but Dempsey did. Dempsey did not fight at all in 1922 and after a couple of fights in 1923, he then took off the entire year of 1924 and 1925, while a fight with the top rated challenger Harry Wills fell through. Wills, who was the leading challenger for close to a decade, never got his chance at a title and when negotiations began for his shot at a title, he was long past his prime. (The fact that he was black was the determining factor in being denied a chance to fight for Dempsey's title.) Today, Wills would at least have a share of the title and Dempsey would eventually have to fight Wills. (I will should add that both fighters would make millions and millions in the process.)
In the 30’s, the mob took hold of boxing and many boxers saw their careers shorten or title shots denied if they did not sign with the “right promoters.” Don King may not be a saint, but he has managed to make close to 100 fighters millionaires. And a lot of fighters, some undeserving, have become champions. Okay, there a few more title belts to hand out in our era, but the point is that many fighters are getting chances to fight for titles. In the good old days, many of great fighters never got a whiff of a title shot for whatever reason. Review the career of Charlie Burley or ask yourself, why did Archie Moore have to wait until he was 39 before getting his title shot? In the 30’s and the 40’s, many fighters find themselves fighting for scraps while the mobsters skimmed the profits.
After the 60’s began, boxing's true golden era came to light as Muhammad Ali strode atop the scene and many great fighters from almost all of the weight divisions profited. This era benefited from aggressive government prosecution of the mob within the sport of boxing and their activities outside the sport. From the 60’s till the late 90’s, boxing prospered but in its golden era, the seed of the present decline was laid. The proliferation of various sanctioning bodies have muddled the big picture and prevented the sport from focusing on one champion in each of the various weight divisions. I will add that there has always been various functioning bodies, but usually in most eras of boxing, we all knew who the champ was. Here is a quiz, who was Ernie Terrell? He was the WBA champion during the early part of the Ali era. Ali did not hold all of the championship belts during the early part of his reign, but the public knew who the true champion was. Ali put an exclamation point upon that fact when he humiliated Terrell in the Houston Astrodome in 1966 in a fight that “unified the titles.” My point is even in the Ali era, there were multiple champions. After Ali went into exile because of his draft status, there were two champions, Jimmy Ellis and Joe Frazier. Jimmy Ellis was the recognized champion by most writers because he survived the boxing tournament that was set up to find Ali’s replacement. Frazier refused to participate in the tourney and instead went in a different direction. Six states, including New York, would recognize Frazier as the champion instead of Ellis. Again, the title would become unified after Frazier demolished Ellis.
I will not defend present boxing governance, but I will not look toward the federal commission as its savior for various reasons. This final point is important since Europe is now becoming an important boxing market that will challenge the United States. With the influx of European fighters at the top of boxing rankings and the discovery that many European fighters can earn more money fighting in Europe, the present McCain bill may force more outsourcing of talent and money outside the United States.
I have touched on some solutions in past pieces, but my point today is to defend the sweet science from its critics. The sport of boxing is one of the few sports in which men or women confront one another in a one on one fashion. There is no hiding behind the team concepts in order to get shortcomings overlooked. A football player may hide a mistake on a field populated by 21 other teammates, but a boxer can’t hide or run because all of his or her shortcomings will be exposed. There are very few sports where the courage of individuals is on display so vividly and in this sport, you are getting hit in front of audience that could reach in the millions.
Yes, corruption exists in sports, but is it worse than in the past? Hardly. The judges can be bad, but then who actually remembers the judging of gymnastics or ice staking in the Olympics during the cold war in which a person's score had more to do with which side of the iron curtain that they were from? The Olympic movement was polluted with steroids long before it hit other major sports. The running joke in most Olympics was that the East German females had deeper voices and more muscle mass than their American male counterparts.
Do people die in boxing? Yes, but they die in other sports and other sports are just as dangerous. Hockey? Try taking a shot from another participant who is skating at you at full speed. Nascar, anyone? Here is a sport where death is ever present and even it's stars die prematurely. You are safer in a boxing ring than behind the wheel in a Nascar race. Horse racing? Sitting on top of a horse going full speed for a mile is hardly my idea of safety. Fall off a horse and there is very good chance that you will not survive the fall. Football? Here is a sport in which men dress up in full gear with the idea of putting as much hurt as humanly possible on their opponent. Boxing is not the most dangerous sport and many football players find themselves with many artificial parts in retirement. Former Football star Mike Ditka does not have his original hips but metal replacements due to his years on the gridiron.
The Arums and the Kings are soon passing from the scene, there will new forces with new ideas that will change and save the sport of boxing. Boxing is an international sport that may yet produce new heroes from places that we did not know existed. Boxing can be saved and is worth saving, it is part of our history. The same people who are forever criticizing boxing are perfectly willing to put up with or glorify similar violence in other sports.
