In earlier decades, it was rare to hear a boxer speak of providing “entertainment” for the fans. Of course, the fans were entertained by such luminaries as Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, and legions of others.
However, the part of boxing that loomed largest in the minds of fight fans was the fight itself. The internal savagery and indomitability of the boxing athlete was appreciated as the ultimate metaphor for life’s brutal struggle.
In our age of ubiquitous media, it has become commonplace for boxers to tout the ‘entertainment’ value of boxing. Television requires it.
The objective is to expand the audience. Ironically, boxing competes today with UFC and MMA, competitions with savvy entertainment promoters.
Consequently, expectations have been raised to the level that many fight fans now expect professional boxing to be something of a finishing school. HBO’s Larry Merchant can reproach Floyd Mayweather for not being a gentleman in dropping Victor Ortiz to end the fight in four rounds.
Ortiz doesn’t whine about it, and it’s hard to find a top tier boxer who would. There are no ‘sucker punches’ until the bell rings. As for illegal antics, Ortiz’ head-butt of Mayweather was so blatant that it would qualify as excessive in a Spanish bullfight.
I like Ortiz, and think he’s a powerful puncher-boxer, but his show of magnanimity after the head-butt was irrelevant. He should have been paying attention.
Head-butted, Mayweather likely felt as if his head had suddenly been fast frozen. That sort of thing doesn’t melt right away.
Top tier boxers answer everything back. People who don’t become losers.
Ortiz caught the left hook but a right hand to follow is automatic, a shot that can’t be called back. Neither can a bullet fired from a gun. It’s not ‘nice,’ I’ll grant you.
In spite of triggering the action by an illegal head-butt, Ortiz gets the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from the boxing nannies, and Mayweather takes the heat. Larry Merchant gets to tell millions of people what he would have done if he were 50 years younger.
At any age, Merchant vs. Mayweather would have ended up as most of us would, with the HBO commentator slumped on the canvas beside Ortiz.
Ortiz’ chin-check has gone viral even outside of boxing circles, such that CNBC business reporter Joe Kernan ridiculed Merchant’s “blowhard” criticism of Mayweather in the $200 million matchup.
Mayweather’s box office attraction is so great that the Wall Street Journal carried several articles about Mayweather vs. Ortiz. My least favorite was “Mayweather Wins, Hands Down,” which also ignores the Ortiz pile-driver in favor of a discussion about boxing etiquette.
Is it for nothing that referees never fail to say “protect yourselves at all times” in at least two languages before all fights?
There is a historical aristocracy that runs through boxing even today, and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is at the modern end of this line. Beginning with Jack Johnson, continuing through Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and including even petulant bad boys like Zab Judah, there is a tendency to judge boxers not on the purpose of their sport, but on their ability to function as role models.
The great Muhammad Ali, now venerated, was in his early days deprecated, and it was the custom to demean his attitudes, his style, and his obvious skills.
The ultimate judge of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and his boxing skill is the Supreme Court of Boxing. Unfortunately, the verdict of that court is written in a language many of us don’t speak.