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Jermain Taylor undoing Bernard Hopkins. Ricky Hatton demolishing Kostya Tszyu. The rise of Miguel Cotto, Jeff Lacy, Zab Judah. For those who follow boxing, the last twelve months were a collection of beautiful stories about deserving young fighters who overcame their hype and rose to their occasions.
The trouble is, nobody follows boxing anymore.
Not to say the public was oblivious. Several items did manage to penetrate the closed system the networks, promoters and sanctioning bodies have selfishly set up for themselves. If there’s any metric for evaluating boxing as a cultural force, that’s got to be it.
5. THE DEATH OF LEVANDER JOHNSON
Some accused referee Tony Weeks of jumping in too late. Others blamed the rules, which allowed the fight to continue after it was clear Johnson had lost. The rest sat back and said, That’s boxing for you.
None of these answers was any good, because none of them spoke to the tragedy. They’re what the public was offered by way of excuse. Now there’s another reason to dismiss boxing as barbarism.
4. “CINDERELLA MAN”
I’m screenwriter myself; I understand the need to fictionalize history for the purpose of storytelling. But I can’t stand the fact that Ron Howard reduced the inimitably Jewish heavyweight champion Max Baer to a murderous WASP.
That said, the success of Cinderella Man, coming on the heels of Million Dollar Baby, might have done something to legitimize boxing in the eyes of less discerning moviegoers. Especially if it wins the Academy Award it doesn’t deserve. [details]
The trouble is, nobody follows boxing anymore.
Not to say the public was oblivious. Several items did manage to penetrate the closed system the networks, promoters and sanctioning bodies have selfishly set up for themselves. If there’s any metric for evaluating boxing as a cultural force, that’s got to be it.
5. THE DEATH OF LEVANDER JOHNSON
Some accused referee Tony Weeks of jumping in too late. Others blamed the rules, which allowed the fight to continue after it was clear Johnson had lost. The rest sat back and said, That’s boxing for you.
None of these answers was any good, because none of them spoke to the tragedy. They’re what the public was offered by way of excuse. Now there’s another reason to dismiss boxing as barbarism.
4. “CINDERELLA MAN”
I’m screenwriter myself; I understand the need to fictionalize history for the purpose of storytelling. But I can’t stand the fact that Ron Howard reduced the inimitably Jewish heavyweight champion Max Baer to a murderous WASP.
That said, the success of Cinderella Man, coming on the heels of Million Dollar Baby, might have done something to legitimize boxing in the eyes of less discerning moviegoers. Especially if it wins the Academy Award it doesn’t deserve. [details]
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