11/21/24
August 12, 2003
7-41-3 : Not exactly a record the says 'winner', and in reality breathes the last breath of an 'opponent.' A sad story, and one I'd only seen in the movies.
rcade, The Shame of Boxing is a great read. Thanks. I don't know much about boxing. I'll watch a match on HBO once in a while, but I don't follow the sport or anything. That was an eye-opening glimpse at the seedy underside of an already sketchy sport. I highly recommend taking the time to read rcade's second link from end to beginning.
posted by Samsonov14 at 10:38 AM on August 12, 2003
I second that, Samsonov14. I just read it, and every paragraph says something important. The Boxer's Bill of Rights that ends the article would clean up the sport. Great link, rcade.
posted by dusted at 11:31 AM on August 12, 2003
me three! Good news is that a boxing union has been established.
posted by garfield at 01:24 PM on August 12, 2003
Brad Rone's story is a sad one, but it seems unfortunately only too common in the sport of boxing. rcade's article explained the behind the scenes corruption and exploitation within the sport. I'd like to fourth the recommendation to anyone who wants to get a real understanding of the motivating influences behind the sport. It's time boxing brought it's house into order or was made to do by the legislature. Adopting the Bill of Rights for boxers would be a massive step in the right direction and one that might allow those of us who enjoy the sport to watch it with a clear conscience.
posted by squealy at 01:42 PM on August 12, 2003
I'd just like to point out that I meant to recommend that you all read that link from "beginning to end", and not the other way around. Although I haven't tried it, I can't imagine that reading it backwards would be any more informative. My bad.
posted by Samsonov14 at 01:48 PM on August 12, 2003
i'll fifth that rcade link. good read. boxing is sad. call me when they clean it up.
posted by gspm at 02:41 PM on August 12, 2003
I can't believe that I just read a ten-page article on boxing, a sport I have little to no interest in. My negative feelings towards it, entertainment versus sporting-ness aside, have just been exacerbated. I find it sad that that article was published in the Nation (a magazine I subscribe to and enjoy) and not Sports Illustrated or Time (which have much larger readerships). A bit off-topic, did anyone else see all of those weigh-in brawls that involved Lennox and, um, someone else, and think they were completely set-up? Don King's gonna have some serious 'splaining to do at the Pearly Gates.
posted by Ufez Jones at 03:16 PM on August 12, 2003
boxing is sad. call me when they clean it up. Call me when they stop exploiting and celebrating violence.
posted by billsaysthis at 04:49 PM on August 12, 2003
One of my coworkers grew up down the street from Peter McNeely in Medfield, MA. A few weeks back, we were talking about the 90 second bout and his subsequent Pizza Hut ads that stripped him of any credibility he had left. He was adamant that McNeely was a legitimate boxer and not a one time paycheck. I'm not gonna be the one to tell him otherwise, but unfortunately it looks like an all too common occurence. Build 'em up, and cash the check. He said McNeely cleared less than 200K from the fight and apparently his mother banked a few hundred grand from commercials in an annuity for him so he can at least scrape by. Great link rcade.
posted by usfbull at 08:54 PM on August 12, 2003
Call me when they stop exploiting and celebrating violence. I've always been squeamish about that element of boxing, but can't the same be said of football? Whenever a player goes down and stays down, as the lineman did at this year's Hall of Fame game in Canton, it makes me question why I like such a violent sport.
posted by rcade at 07:31 AM on August 13, 2003
Good links, all. Growing up, the Saturday afternoon television at my grandfather's was frequently tuned to boxing, especially Mexican boxing featuring lighter weight classes, and I grew to enjoy watching the bouts until the Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini v. Duk Koo Kim fight. I still surreptitiously like boxing, especially Olympic Boxing, but I would add to the Bill of Rights for Boxers one other item: Mandatory Headgear. Even though you won't have as much of a visceral reaction to the match, some additional protection is badly needed. I believe folks had the same reaction when faceguards were added to american football helmets, but the game is none the worse for it, nor is the fan/athlete connection less strong.
posted by avogadro at 09:05 AM on August 13, 2003
rcade, I feel you, but at least the point of football is not to punch the other guy in the face. In fact, I believe the refs usually call a penalty if they catch a player doing that. Now hockey, which I otherwise love, that's the sport that needs some cleaning up.
posted by billsaysthis at 06:30 PM on August 13, 2003
The Orlando Sentinel is in the middle of a seven-part series on boxing, which it calls "a sport with a long history of disorganization, poor regulation and power brokers whose first concern is not always the well-being of the boxer. The problems exist on every level -- professional, amateur and Toughman -- and affect every weight class, sanctioning body and part of the country." My opinion of boxing changed for the worse after reading The Shame of Boxing, an article in The Nation by long-time boxing journalist Jack Newfield. I always suspected that it was corrupt and unethical, but the degree to which boxers are exploited, injured, and abandoned is incredibly tragic.