And the funny thing is, there was actually a heavyweight championship fight that night, between the guy who is considered by many to be the "real" heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, and someone who holds the WBA title, at least for the time being, Ruslan Chagaev.
Though this was not a "unification" fight (Chagaev's crown was not on the line), it took on the character of one, particularly because the guys who possess three of the four "legitimate" belts were in the ring, and the fourth, Vitali Klitschko, is never going to be seen doing battle with his brother.
Yet the subject of that fight, which was the biggest thing going on in the "biggest" division in the sport, was not mentioned.
Not once. Not even by me. In fact, I even for a few moments forgot that the fight was taking place, and didn't remember to put it into my DVR (because there was no interest on the part of major network, the fight was on ESPN Classic...I think).
It is, at the same time, amazing, but not shocking, and I think, offers a commentary on the sport of boxing itself. There is no "buzz" surrounding the heavyweight division anymore, not here in the U.S. anyway, Maybe that's because the champion was Russian and the challenger was Russian, and that usually doesn't really create much interest among Americans. Maybe it's because Klitschko's "organization" hasn't done the greatest job of marketing their guy.
Still, HBO has been a de facto "promoter" for Klitschko, building him as a champion of the people, and someone who was going to unite public opinion in the closest thing anyone was going to get to an "undisputed" titleholder. Wladimir has been around the title picture for about nine years now, and you would figure he would be getting much more of a shake.
But this is the kind of job boxing has done in penetrating the public consciousness. A while back I wrote a story on the Fox Sports website warning that boxing ought to look out from behind, as mixed martial arts was gaining. You better believe that a heavyweight title fight in the UFC, even those that didn't involve Brock Lesnar, were going to be very big news, and was going to be promoted as such.
It's long past the time when boxing promoters should be more concerned with the needs and desires of its fans rather than their own immediate agenda. That train has left the station.
Charles Jay, a long-time sports columnist and handicapper, enjoys helping people pick sports winners at http://totalactionextra.com. If you are in need of top-quality sports information, from an insider's perspective, come and check out what's available at http://totalactionextra.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment