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I am a boxer. That is to say that several times a week I attempt to drag my lardy behind around a boxing ring while younger, more skilled and more fit individuals smack me in the face with gloved fists. I have been an enthusiastic consumer of pugilism since Frank Bruno hawked his first bottle of HP sauce, though it took me until I was nearly thirty to lace them on and try my hand at it for real.
Boxing in Canada is in dire straits. In the Beijing Olympics the entire Canadian boxing team was eliminated in the first round. This was because he lost. But Canada's solitary qualifying Olympic boxer isn't the end of the troubles in Canadian boxing. Club attendences are down, it's tough to make matches and it's not as much fun spending weeks training in the art of beating up strangers if there are no strangers available to beat up.
Boxing has lost some of its allure with the rise and rise of mixed martial arts. Led by the UFC this particular brand of combat sport has evolved from a brutal display of flabby competitors hugging on the floor to a brutal display of toned and muscled competitors hugging on the floor, but it continues to grow in appeal, largely because you can be successful in it without having to shave your goatee beard and stop listening to heavy metal. Another reason that boxing is not the draw that it used to be is that there is a distinct lack of Canadian champions. Sure there's Ontario Super Bantamweight slickster Steve Molitor who holds the IBF title and fellow IBF alumni, the Romanian born Super Middleweight Lucian Bute but there's a distinct lack of undisputed pedigree like that of Lennox Lewis and a dearth of defiant celebrity in the mould of George Chuvalo. It's tough to draw youngsters into sports with no glamour, especially when a necessary requisite is being punched in the face.
There is also the case of the media. It's hard to build a fanbase around a sport when fights are routinely bumped to show the latest Women's Curling event, or perhaps a rerun of Celebrity World Poker Tour. Once the sport of kings and peasants alike, boxing now seems to be something of a dirty secret. Canadian broadcasters are as likely to call for it to be outlawed as they are to televise a Canadian world champion defending his crown. For broadcasters boxing seems to be a combination of sport's biggest evils. It's too dangerous but we'll show NASCAR. It's too violent but we just love hockey fights. It's too corrupt but Barry Bonds has just hit his 756th homer. Maybe it's all of these things. But at least it isn't poker.
Boxing in Canada is in dire straits. In the Beijing Olympics the entire Canadian boxing team was eliminated in the first round. This was because he lost. But Canada's solitary qualifying Olympic boxer isn't the end of the troubles in Canadian boxing. Club attendences are down, it's tough to make matches and it's not as much fun spending weeks training in the art of beating up strangers if there are no strangers available to beat up.
Boxing has lost some of its allure with the rise and rise of mixed martial arts. Led by the UFC this particular brand of combat sport has evolved from a brutal display of flabby competitors hugging on the floor to a brutal display of toned and muscled competitors hugging on the floor, but it continues to grow in appeal, largely because you can be successful in it without having to shave your goatee beard and stop listening to heavy metal. Another reason that boxing is not the draw that it used to be is that there is a distinct lack of Canadian champions. Sure there's Ontario Super Bantamweight slickster Steve Molitor who holds the IBF title and fellow IBF alumni, the Romanian born Super Middleweight Lucian Bute but there's a distinct lack of undisputed pedigree like that of Lennox Lewis and a dearth of defiant celebrity in the mould of George Chuvalo. It's tough to draw youngsters into sports with no glamour, especially when a necessary requisite is being punched in the face.
There is also the case of the media. It's hard to build a fanbase around a sport when fights are routinely bumped to show the latest Women's Curling event, or perhaps a rerun of Celebrity World Poker Tour. Once the sport of kings and peasants alike, boxing now seems to be something of a dirty secret. Canadian broadcasters are as likely to call for it to be outlawed as they are to televise a Canadian world champion defending his crown. For broadcasters boxing seems to be a combination of sport's biggest evils. It's too dangerous but we'll show NASCAR. It's too violent but we just love hockey fights. It's too corrupt but Barry Bonds has just hit his 756th homer. Maybe it's all of these things. But at least it isn't poker.
