Controversial fight puts boxing back in headlines

Locals angered by judges’ decision
June 19, 2012
Summer league hoops push younger players
June 19, 2012
Locals angered by judges’ decision
June 19, 2012
Summer league hoops push younger players
June 19, 2012

Some might call me old school.


Others might just say that I like watching grown men beat the heck out of one another.


But whatever explanation you use, I love the sport of boxing.

I always have – I always will.


There’s just nothing like the excitement that surrounds the 12-round title fight between a Herculean champion and his Goliath underdog challenger.


There is no other event like it in the world of sports.

Sure, I’m the first to admit that the sport isn’t exactly in its prime in the modern world.


OK, OK, I’ll be more realistic. Boxing has virtually fallen off the cliff of mainstream relevance and is free falling toward being completely a niche sport geared toward blood-lovers like me.


I come up with countless excuses for the sport’s decline and I apologize for boxing’s mishaps like a loving parent apologies for a troubled child.

I know deep down the sport is flawed. You know the sport is flawed. But like the loving parent, I can’t bring myself to admit it, and I create excuses to try and justify its diminished product.


After Manny Pacquiao’s bout with Timothy Bradley, it’s beginning to become hard to apologize on boxing’s behalf.


Like the late great analyst Bert Sugar once said: “This is a black eye for the sport that is running out of eyes to blacken.”

Anyone with a pulse could see that Pacquiao won the title bout with Bradley. Heck, I thought the now-former champion won in a virtual landslide.


For anyone that is wondering how I scored the fight, I had it 118-108 for Pac Man. In rookie terms, that means I thought he won 10 of the 12 rounds scored in the fight.


The HBO analysts calling the fight thought the same and the back-half of the telecast was focused on whether or not Pacquiao would finish the deal and knock out the up and coming, unbeaten challenger.

Then, it happened.


“We have a split decision,” veteran announcer Michael Buffer said, while reading the scores of the fight.


My heart sunk into my stomach.

A split decision? Are you kidding me? How could one person think that Bradley won this fight?


Sure, Manny was still going to win (I thought), but the tarnish of having a split decision victory over a unanimous decision win is bad for a dominant boxer’s reputation – especially one who clearly won the fight.


Then, it happened again the next time Buffer took the microphone.

“The winner … and NEW WBO Welterweight Champion of the World,” the legendary announcer proclaimed.


I had heard all I needed to hear.


My heart further sunk and dropped from my stomach straight to my toes.

I was embarrassed for Pacquiao because he lost a fight that every metric determined that he won.


Heck, I was also embarrassed for Bradley.


Sure, he won and is the new champion. But he was caught on camera in front of millions of people looking stunned that judges ruled the fight in his favor. Instead of answering questions about his tough loss, he instead had to answer questions about his surprise victory.

He was just as surprised and shocked as anyone. His answers to the questions showed it.

I felt just terrible for him. The kid didn’t deserve to be in that situation.

But most important, I felt bad for the sport’s fans.

Sure, we might be suckers who have our hearts ripped out time and time again by corruption and greed.

But boxing fans are loyal and will shell out $60 for a good product.

We are a fickle bunch that will drink the Kool-Aid every single time – even when we see the corrupt promoters drop the poison into it.

We love the sport’s good moments so much that we’re willing to be burned over and over again in order to not miss out on the few times that magic happens within the historic sport.

But you want to know what the most sickening part of this whole ordeal is?

The Pacquiao scandal is ultimately going to prove to be good for boxing.

A wise man once said that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

I don’t always believe that theory.

But in this case, I believe that it holds true.

In the past week alone, I have seen boxing get more play on national TV, newspaper, magazine and radio media than I can remember in the past few years combined.

Sure, most of the comments are geared more toward how corrupt the decision was.

But the fact remains the same – they are talking about boxing – something they wouldn’t otherwise be doing.

The names Pacquiao, Bradley and Mayweather are becoming mainstream now.

As a result of the judging disaster, people will want to be a part of the rematch in November.

Sure, some may be buying in jest solely to see if the fix will be in again – Americans love controversy.

But the fact again remains the same – they will be buying – something they may not have done if not for the controversy in the first fight.

Boxing doesn’t deserve the money. It doesn’t deserve the attention, nor the success.

It’s sort of sickening that its players and big-money promoters will laugh its way to the bank after creating one of the most corrupt sporting events in recent years.

But the sport will be more popular because of the Pacquiao decision in the short-term.

Whether or not the corrupt bean counters can create a viable long-term product with its newfound 15 seconds of fame is what remains to be seen.

My heart is saying they can and the sport will become better.

My head says there’s no way these dunces can do anything but fend for themselves.

Even dressed in a tuxedo, a snake is still a snake, right?

In my opinion, it is.