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I have been a fan of boxing for twenty two years now. I even consider myself somewhat of a historian. I was introduced to the sport by my father who was somewhat of a fanatic of the game. I used to sit with him and watch old projector films of Dempsey and Louis along with the modern warriors such as Hearns, Hagler, Pryor and Duran. I could never get enough of the sport. When I turned thirteen, my dad enrolled me in a local gym (against my mother’s wishes) and I had my first amateur bout nine months later and I have been involved ever since.
Over the years the sport has changed quite a bit when it comes to the way fighters present themselves. No longer is the long walk to the ring a time to gather your last minute thoughts on how you’re going to beat your opponent. For many fighters it has become a show. Accompanied by entrance lights, rappers, dancing and playing up to the crowd, some guys put on a better performance on the way to instead of in the ring. With times changing and the need to market to a bigger audience (so to get bigger paydays) other than just the avid fans it is understandable. What bothers me though is it seems (to me at least) that many fighters are here just for a payday. Personal pride, a place in history as one of the best and a genuine love for the sport seems to be less and less important.
Look at the greats of the past and compare them to some of the top names during the last six or seven years. Ray Robinson, a man most consider the greatest pound for pound fighter ever, fought over 200 times, was a legitimate multidivisional champion and once fought five times in two weeks. Kostya Tszyu, a good champion who fought hard and made a reputation on his great power, but has less than 35 fights and fought sometimes only once a year. How is this a fighting champion? What happened to any and all comers?
John Ruiz, the WBA Heavyweight king, has spent the last five years trading the belt with an over the hill Evander Holyfield and losing it twice to former super middleweights. His biggest wins are over a self destructive Andrew Golota and a hum drum Hasim Rahman. Ruiz is only a current champion due to James Toney’s use of steroids, resulting in Ruiz being given his belt back. Then has the nerve to call himself the best heavyweight in the world today! It doesn’t seem to bother him that his title reigns are flawed and shaky at best.
Floyd Patterson had so much pride in his title that he was ashamed of himself for losing to Sonny Liston to the point that he wore a disguise to leave the arena. Felix Trinidad comes to the ring with Puerto Rican music blasting, yelling to the crowd and feeding on the chants of “TITO” and after a big win, claims how he is number one but in both of his losses he retired immediately. This is not how a Champion acts in defeat a champion readies himself for a rematch to redeem himself!
When you compare the paydays of past eras to those of today, you know that there is a huge difference but fighters had pride and gave it their all. It wasn’t just becoming a champion that you fought for. You fought for recognition! You wanted to be known as the best. If you did become the champ you fought harder to stay champion. The title meant everything and if you were going to lose you went down fighting.
It seems as though today’s fighters lost some of that pride and work ethic. Once you become champion or top contender it doesn’t matter if you lose, so what if you came into the ring out of shape? Your entrance was good. It doesn’t matter if you were tired by the third and were knocked out; you just made 2.5 million dollars. Does it matter what anyone says? Three good fights amid twenty five nobody opponents and you have a legacy. Use your money wisely and you are set for life. Kind of puts a kink in the motivation and desire to be great and the want to strive for that place in history in which fighters have for so long fought hard for.
I’m not saying that all of today’s fighters are like this nor am I saying that all future fighters are like this. It just seems that many of todays and recent so called top fighters don’t seem to have the desire and pride that has made this sport great. For some it doesn’t matter how they win but as long as they win. For some they will take it how they can get it and others, when the going gets tough they just sit on their millions and make excuses. It makes you wonder are they in it for the love of the sport and desire to go down in history as one of it’s all time greats or are they in only for the payday and as long as they have the check it doesn’t matter if they’ve earned it or not?
