The Fall of Boxing: Good For Us, Bad For Them

I won’t say that I hate boxing, because that would be a lie. I grew up watching Bruce Lee (who I personally think of as the first mixed martial artist), but I was enamored with great professional boxers. Namely classic footage of Muhammad Ali and growing up during the rise and fall of “Iron” Mike Tyson.

I denote my birthday two ways; it’s the date Tupac was fatally shot after a Mike Tyson fight (1996, my sixth birthday) and it’s the date that “Gentleman” James Corbett was crowned the first heavyweight champion under the Marquee of Queensbury rules, winning a 21 round fight.

That said, it needs to be remembered that boxing is not fighting, and has not been for many, many years. There was a time when there were many boxers who were, in fact, fighters. My greatest memory of those is Mike Tyson, which isn’t to say that he was the greatest (I’ll still give Ali that title), but because he’s the one I watched live growing up, and who’s career I eventually watched fall apart.

The difference between a boxer and a fighter, and the need to make that differentiation, is what has killed the sport more than anything else. More than the bureaucracy. More than the money-grubbing. More than Don King. In fact, it led to the first two, and was exploited like sweatshop worker by the third.

To clarify my definition, I offer this:

A boxer wants to win a fight, wants to take his money and go home. The means are of no consequence, and whether he hides behind his jab, or whether he gets a marvelous knock out, is of no difference. As long as he advances himself. A fighter wants to beat his opponent, to prove a point; that he is the better man. He wants to win, but most importantly he wants to be recognized as a force.

When I say that Mike Tyson was a fighter, it is important to remember that above all else, that Tyson didn’t hide from his opponents behind a jab (like Wladimir Klitchko) and he didn’t hold his head back (like Sultan Ibragimov). He stepped in the ring to win and he never held back for mercy or out of concern for the risk. When Tyson stepped into the ring, he wore his balls on his sleeve, because he wanted people to look at him and go: “there’s a guy who kicks the holy sh*t out of people,” not “there’s a guy who wins.”

When I was watching Klitchko vs. Ibragimov last night, it reinforced something that I have known for a long time. I knew it when I wasted my money on the Mayweather vs. De La Hoya fight and I knew it when I first started looking at the up-and-comers like Klitchko.

The downfall of the modern boxer is that once he is known, he feels that he has nothing to prove except to stay on top, and that is all that he wants to do.

There was a moment last night where one of the commentators (a man who seemed to be the rare anomoly of someone more ignorant as to what it means to fight than Floyd Mayweather Jr.) said “well, why would Klitchko put himself out there and risk getting knocked out.”

It’s not for the fans. (though they love it)

It’s not for the notoriety. (though it helps with that)

It’s not even for the girls. (who love knowing that this guy can make another man’s brain shake)

It’s to prove that you don’t need to judges help to win a fight; that you’re enough of a man that you don’t need a bunch of old suits to tell you that you’re a winner, because you already know.

I may sound cliche in saying this, but it is the reason why boxing has failed. Because fighters don’t see the problem with going to a decision, and fans don’t boo when these “fighters” hid behind their leading hand for 12 rounds to let them know how boring they are. Boxing continues to flop around like a dead fish on the deck of professional sports because the fighters don’t want to fight, they want to win. A scrap has become so rare in boxing that even the possibility of one gets alot of hype.

So here’s what boxers need to know, and it’s what Klitchko’s cornerman was yelling at him the last three rounds, when he could have finished the fight with his eyes closed and his left hand shoved up his ass. If you don’t finish the fight when you have the chance, you’re not a fighter. If you don’t try to finish the fight just because you’re worried your face might not look as pretty afterwards, you’re not a fighter.

People will call the guys who founded MMA street punks and thugs, but the fact is, those guys stepped in because they had something to prove, and the sport would have died a long time ago without those attitudes. In fact, the reason why the sport is still around is because that mentality reigns supreme.

It’s the reason why fans began to loathe Tim Sylvia, regardless of the fact that he held the belt.

It’s the reason why Andrei Arlovski apologized to his fans after beating Fabricio Werdum.

In this sport, if you don’t show the desire to finish, then you will be dismissed. In boxing, you’re given a slap on the ass and a nice juicy paycheck. And that’s why MMA, though still a growing fish, will overtake almost 200 years of modern tradition, reinforced by some of the greatest athletes and cultural icons the sporting world has to offer in less than 30 years, and as long as the mentality that gave birth to both sports is around, I’m proud to call myself both a fighter and a fight fan, because it means that I don’t tolerate a crappy product, despite how many fights it wins or how big its income is.

I hope everyone else feels similarly.