Where is Boxing's Household Name? Good article

X · 12-04-2006 07:36 PM

Totally agree - what a good article !!

People like the ones you mentioned, plus Jack Dempsey, John L Sullivan, Sonny Liston and, yes, Mike Tyson - they all transcended their sport to the extent that mainstream sports fans knew who they were and respected (or hated) them.

Nowadays, we have a dearth of interest in the heavyweights, this is because they are a particularly poor crop and fairly uninteresting (likethe Tim Witherspoon, Michael Dokes, Mike Weaver years) but also because they are not Western European or American I think?

Usually, when this happens, a great fighter from the lighter weights will rise to becomethe marquee names - Leonard, Hagler, Duran, Hearns, De la Hoya, Chavez. WE only have Mayweather in that category of skill, and he always gets a bad press (whether or not it is deserved, I don't know as I have never met him).

The other thing that a great fighter needs, in order to drag everything out of himself, is a rivalry - an opponent who complements im in terms of weaknesses and strengths, who is able to get under his skin and allow him to show the true depths of his talent and his expertise. Benn and Eubank were flawed fighters, but their rivalry allowed them to bring the very best out of each other and transcend the 'boxing' column.

W in the UK have the BBC Sports Personality of the year show coming up and (for once) there are two boxers on it. Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton - whether you are a fan or not - are world-class performers and true world champions. Ferocious competitors who have reached the top of their sports.

They are up against a golfer who has won nothing, a young tennis player who is more famous for moaning, a fat darts player and a gymnast who is not a household name in her own home. IN fact the fighters are probably the only world class in-their-prime athletes on there.

I bet they don't win, for the reasons I have already given.