WAIL! BACK ISSUES . . . THE CBZ JOURNAL May 2002
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Rinsing Off the Mouthpiece
By GorDoom




Well, it’s turning into kind of a crappy year for boxing. Just about all the anticipated bouts have been postponed or canceled. Having De La Hoya - Vargas & Barrera - Morales pushed back really put a dent on the big fight momentum that has been rolling the last few years.

Even losing a fight card like the Hamed/Tapia double header hurts & puts boxing in the doldrums. At least this weekend we have some interesting matches in Mayweather - Castillo & Calzaghe - Brewer, which are both compelling fights.

Just wish there was more of them this year. & oh, by the way, I’ll believe Lewis - Tyson is actually going to happen when the bell rings for the first round.

I ain’t holding my breath ...

***

Yeah, well ... I wrote all that before watching the Castillo - Mayweather lash-up. Jesus, Harry, Truman, Christ! Is boxing ever gonna get it???... The fight was desultory enough, but the decision absolutely reeked ... In my not-so-humble estimation, Boxing’s biggest problem is simply, credibility.

Last night’s decision was the worst major fight verdict The Ol’ Spit Bucket has witnessed since the first, Lewis - Holyfield fight. Last night’s “judges”, were either legally blind or seriously compromised. A ten year old kid could have watched this fight & given you a more just verdict.

What really bothers The Bucket, is that a fighter with the extraordinary talents of Mayweather, had started to make inroads into the mass media.

Recently I saw him on Fox Sport’s Channel’s, hilarious, Best Damn Sports Show Period. Floyd acquitted himself well despite his tendency to let his ego get in front of his actual accomplishments. I figure with that show alone, he probably picked up interest from a few hundred non-boxing fans, who were probably willing to check him out last night.

& that’s the crucible in boxing’s shaky equation with the general sporting public.. If I was a non-boxing or casual fistic sports fan & I checked out last night’s farce, that would have torn it for me as far as boxing is concerned.

Boxing & Horse Racing share a common problem: A rapidly aging fan base. In today’s world of multi-myriad entertainment choices, boxing, on it’s present course, is heading toward extinction. Not because boxing will ever be banned - but because sport’s fan are eventually not gonna give a damn.

Travesty’s like last night’s pitiful example, ultimately don’t do HBO or Bob Arum any good ... Now, The Bucket, ain’t outright accusing anybody of any specific wrong doing. I have no empirical evidence. But, it invariably seems that “house” fighters for either the networks or the promoters always seem to catch the big ( & in this case the Mount Everest of), breaks.

Last night two of the judges were from outside the USA. On the surface that would seem to assure impartiality. But the reality is that these imported WBC judges know full well which side of the bread is buttered ... The plush overseas gigs go to functionary’s who KNOW how to sail along with the prevailing breeze’s of collusion.

You vote against the WBC/Network/Promotional interests & suddenly those plush assignments vanish ... Life’s a bitch when you don’t play the game. That’s how it be in the USA these days.

Of course, all these “interests” & promotional synergies are just freakin’ code for corporate “collusion” ... But, I digress, my paranoid fantasies about how big business insinuates itself into the very fiber of our lives could not possibly apply to sports.

Or gee, could it?

***

Well, that’s about it for this issue but I want to turn our readers on to the CBZ Boxing board. Many of the CBZ writers & historians post there & it makes for some serious boxing discourse.

Check it out!

GorDoom
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