As I sit here, disgusted by the outcome of the fight that I just witnessed, it makes more clear the impact of politics and perceptions present in boxing right now, especially surrounding its biggest two stars and pound-for-pound best, Filipino Manny Pacquiao and American Floyd Mayweather. I can't think of a more clear example of this duplicity than analysis of the latest fight of each of those two. Tonight, Manny Pacquiao - boxing's "good guy"- fought the third fight of a trilogy against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez, in the opinion of myself and most boxing experts, won both of the first two fights but one was called a tight win for Manny and the other was a draw. Marquez was fueled by the fact that he feels he was cheated in both fights, Pacquiao was fueled by the fact that Marquez wore a shirt that saying he beat Manny twice while he was in Manny's native Philippines. Tonight, Marquez looked sharper than ever and seemingly won the fought clearly, about 8 rounds to 4 by my count. But it was ruled a win for Pacquiao to the dismay of the fans who booed and throw cans and trash into the ring. But his admirers are still trying to diplomatically act like his victory was justified. Becuz it was competitive between two fighters, they hail this as "everything that is right about boxing" despite a probably politically laced unjust outcome. The louder and flashier Mayweather, the sports biggest cash cow while also the most hated villain, broke his 16 month layoff to fight Victor Ortiz, an up and coming Mexican champion coming off the biggest victory of his career. Ortiz, being dominated throughout the first 3 rounds, decided to turn up the aggressiveness in the 4th round. Getting frustrated he started "rabbit punching" Floyd in the back of the head (illegal) and then launched two head butts into Floyd's lip (highly illegal); the last one looked like a soccer player jumping for a header. After a separation a point deduction from Ortiz, the fighters touch gloves (signifying the fight time back in action), Floyd hammers Ortiz twice as his hands are still down; Ortiz doesn't get up, it's a knockout. The first rule in boxing is "Protect yourself at all times." I admit, it wasn't polite, but it was legal, no loop holes or anything. But the outrage that so many Floyd-haters have thrown his way has been outrageous. To recap, Ortiz gets frustrated with losing and illegal rabbit punches Floyd and then busts Floyd's lip with a jumping headbutt, when time starts back, Floyd knocks him out...and Floyd is the bad guy. Conversely, I've heard this knockout victory condemned as "everything that is wrong about boxing" with people going on to say "Floyd is ruining the sport of boxing." Riiiiiiight. The argument between who is better and who does/doesn't want to fight has been filled with such double standards because of the good VS. bad dynamic. Despite the fact that the bad guy role and shit talking has made him rich and his fights successful (dominating all the financial records in the sport) because as many tune in to root against him as to marvel at his skills. People try to say Manny is undoubtedly one of the best ever and Floyd isn't, citing better competition. However, they've fought many of the same fighters (Oscar De La Hoya, Marquez, Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, etc). In the mental game of boxing, Floyd fights guys who are coming off victories and possibly on career highs (see Ortiz with his biggest win, Mosley after a career-reviving KO of Margarito, Hatton undefeated, Marquez after KO'ing Diaz, De La Hoya revived, etc) and he's beat them all. But before the fight tonight, Manny has consistently only fought fighters coming off of losses (several times to Mayweather), often knockouts (which are known to mess with boxers' psyche); This was the case with De La Hoya, Hatton, Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Josh Clottey, and Antonio Margarito; that's Manny's whole last 3-4 years. Furthermore, Manny (or more accurately Freddie Roach, his trainer) tries to set fights up at catch weights so they can squeak out some advantage fighting guys at weights their bodies aren't in good condition to make (154-lb champ De La Hoya trying to make 142 lbs, Marquez the 135-lb champ fighting at 144 instead of 140 when Manny can easily make 140, etc. Floyd on the other hand, has moved up to 154 to beat De La Hoya, despite the fact that Floyd can't effectively gain or lose weight and showed up on fight night at 148 lbs. Furthermore, this entire "Manny is ready for Floyd, but Floyd is running scared" isn't making much sense to me. The first time this fight possibility came up - in 08 right after Floyd beat Zab Judah - it was Pacquiao who backed out of the fight to fight someone else. The first time it came up a year or so ago, Floyd signed the contract first for promoter Bob Arum to take it to the Phillippines to Manny. Manny refused to sign it because it had an Olympic style blood testing stipulation, basically up until 10-14 days before they could test randomly. Floyd had required this of every one of his last five opponents or so, and he had obliged himself. He went so far as to sue Mayweather for defamation of his name. Now, I do think Floyd went a little overboard with his insinuations that Manny rose so fast and shied away from drug testing because he has been using something. But noone said Floyd was polite or charming. The next time the fight possibility came up about six months after, Floyd claimed the negotiations never happened and he never got a phone call. I don't know if I believe that so I will put the blame on Floyd for failure of the 3rd attempt. But the first two were on Manny. I say all this to say, I think the media gives Floyd a raw shake because he's a loudmouth, but I want them to settle the current Good VS Evil argument in the ring. And this time, I'm rooting for the BAD GUY.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Politics and Perceptions in Boxing
As I sit here, disgusted by the outcome of the fight that I just witnessed, it makes more clear the impact of politics and perceptions present in boxing right now, especially surrounding its biggest two stars and pound-for-pound best, Filipino Manny Pacquiao and American Floyd Mayweather. I can't think of a more clear example of this duplicity than analysis of the latest fight of each of those two. Tonight, Manny Pacquiao - boxing's "good guy"- fought the third fight of a trilogy against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez, in the opinion of myself and most boxing experts, won both of the first two fights but one was called a tight win for Manny and the other was a draw. Marquez was fueled by the fact that he feels he was cheated in both fights, Pacquiao was fueled by the fact that Marquez wore a shirt that saying he beat Manny twice while he was in Manny's native Philippines. Tonight, Marquez looked sharper than ever and seemingly won the fought clearly, about 8 rounds to 4 by my count. But it was ruled a win for Pacquiao to the dismay of the fans who booed and throw cans and trash into the ring. But his admirers are still trying to diplomatically act like his victory was justified. Becuz it was competitive between two fighters, they hail this as "everything that is right about boxing" despite a probably politically laced unjust outcome. The louder and flashier Mayweather, the sports biggest cash cow while also the most hated villain, broke his 16 month layoff to fight Victor Ortiz, an up and coming Mexican champion coming off the biggest victory of his career. Ortiz, being dominated throughout the first 3 rounds, decided to turn up the aggressiveness in the 4th round. Getting frustrated he started "rabbit punching" Floyd in the back of the head (illegal) and then launched two head butts into Floyd's lip (highly illegal); the last one looked like a soccer player jumping for a header. After a separation a point deduction from Ortiz, the fighters touch gloves (signifying the fight time back in action), Floyd hammers Ortiz twice as his hands are still down; Ortiz doesn't get up, it's a knockout. The first rule in boxing is "Protect yourself at all times." I admit, it wasn't polite, but it was legal, no loop holes or anything. But the outrage that so many Floyd-haters have thrown his way has been outrageous. To recap, Ortiz gets frustrated with losing and illegal rabbit punches Floyd and then busts Floyd's lip with a jumping headbutt, when time starts back, Floyd knocks him out...and Floyd is the bad guy. Conversely, I've heard this knockout victory condemned as "everything that is wrong about boxing" with people going on to say "Floyd is ruining the sport of boxing." Riiiiiiight. The argument between who is better and who does/doesn't want to fight has been filled with such double standards because of the good VS. bad dynamic. Despite the fact that the bad guy role and shit talking has made him rich and his fights successful (dominating all the financial records in the sport) because as many tune in to root against him as to marvel at his skills. People try to say Manny is undoubtedly one of the best ever and Floyd isn't, citing better competition. However, they've fought many of the same fighters (Oscar De La Hoya, Marquez, Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, etc). In the mental game of boxing, Floyd fights guys who are coming off victories and possibly on career highs (see Ortiz with his biggest win, Mosley after a career-reviving KO of Margarito, Hatton undefeated, Marquez after KO'ing Diaz, De La Hoya revived, etc) and he's beat them all. But before the fight tonight, Manny has consistently only fought fighters coming off of losses (several times to Mayweather), often knockouts (which are known to mess with boxers' psyche); This was the case with De La Hoya, Hatton, Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Josh Clottey, and Antonio Margarito; that's Manny's whole last 3-4 years. Furthermore, Manny (or more accurately Freddie Roach, his trainer) tries to set fights up at catch weights so they can squeak out some advantage fighting guys at weights their bodies aren't in good condition to make (154-lb champ De La Hoya trying to make 142 lbs, Marquez the 135-lb champ fighting at 144 instead of 140 when Manny can easily make 140, etc. Floyd on the other hand, has moved up to 154 to beat De La Hoya, despite the fact that Floyd can't effectively gain or lose weight and showed up on fight night at 148 lbs. Furthermore, this entire "Manny is ready for Floyd, but Floyd is running scared" isn't making much sense to me. The first time this fight possibility came up - in 08 right after Floyd beat Zab Judah - it was Pacquiao who backed out of the fight to fight someone else. The first time it came up a year or so ago, Floyd signed the contract first for promoter Bob Arum to take it to the Phillippines to Manny. Manny refused to sign it because it had an Olympic style blood testing stipulation, basically up until 10-14 days before they could test randomly. Floyd had required this of every one of his last five opponents or so, and he had obliged himself. He went so far as to sue Mayweather for defamation of his name. Now, I do think Floyd went a little overboard with his insinuations that Manny rose so fast and shied away from drug testing because he has been using something. But noone said Floyd was polite or charming. The next time the fight possibility came up about six months after, Floyd claimed the negotiations never happened and he never got a phone call. I don't know if I believe that so I will put the blame on Floyd for failure of the 3rd attempt. But the first two were on Manny. I say all this to say, I think the media gives Floyd a raw shake because he's a loudmouth, but I want them to settle the current Good VS Evil argument in the ring. And this time, I'm rooting for the BAD GUY.
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