Shamtime Strikes Again
By Joe Bruno--Former Vice President of the Boxing Writers Association and the International Boxing Writers Association
Sunday, June 4, 2000

It was the biggest dive since Greg Louganis won at the Olympics, and the most conspicuous boxing fix since Mike Spinks went into the tank against Mike Tyson.

Beefy David Tua, a whopping 253 pounds, and 14 pounds more than he ever weighed for a fight before, KO’d sacred-to-death Obed Sullivan at 51 seconds of the first round Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Sullivan’s acting job was so bad, not even MGM Movies would employ this guy’s butt again.

Sullivan came into the ring like a man heading for the gallows. Fright seeped from every pore, and my daughter Nancy, who has never seen a boxing match before in my presence, said before the fight, "That man looks like he’s scared to death."

Sullivan’s consternation was so conspicuous, even Stevie Wonder could have seen it.

The pseudo knockout sequence went like this:

1. Tua threw a left hook that was blocked on Sullivan’s gloves.
2. A right hand by Tua hit nothing but air
3. A left hook grazed the tip of Sullivan's nose.
4. A left hook connected squarely with Sullivan's left shoulder.

Sullivan went down in a corner like he was shot, and just laid there, eyes open and seeing, as referee Joe Cortez counted to ten.

Next came acting job number two.

Even though the faux knockdown sequence was shown by Showtime’s cameras half a dozen times, Shamtime’s TV commentators/shameless shills, "Bogus" Bobby Czyz and "Phony" Ferdie Pacheco, kept on telling us what an awesome display of punching power by Tua we’ve just witnessed. It was like watching Rosie O’Donnell strutting her fat ass down the runway at a strip club, and the house MC repeatedly telling us she was really Jennifer Lopez.

This is what boxing on pay TV has degenerated into. All the good fights boxing fans would like to see are shoved down our throats at $49.95 a swallow. Garbage matches and obvious fixes are shown at night time on cable pay channels such as Showtime and HBO. The only good competitive boxing matches on TV are on Friday nights on ESPN2, which by the way, costs you nothing except your basic cable bill.

If there ever was a time to boycott boxing, now is the time. After more than 45 years of watching boxing, and more than 22 years of writing about the sport, I’m just about to throw in the towel myself. But if I did that, the scum who run boxing would have one less dagger in their side, and one more reason to keep on feeding the boxing fan this filth.

Just like in Boston, "The Curse Continues." But at least the Red Sox are fighting for first place. Boxing fans are fighting a losing battle for equal value for their entertainment dollar. John McCain, are you listening? Do you even care?

Not likely.