I was a huuuge boxing fan growing up. I would go to Fleenors with my mother and while she grocery shopped I would read ring magazine. I memorized all the champions in each division and would day dream about what would happen if fighter A fought fighter B. The great thing about that time period was that great fights were shown on network T.V. So you new from experience that when Alexis Arguello fought Aaron Pryor or when Ray Leonard fought Thomas Hearns that you were likely to witness something special.
I was out of the loop when it came to boxing for about twelve years. In the early nineties boxing began to disappear from network T.V. and basic cable featured no names and has beens. To be knowledgeable about the sport you have to have premium cable(Showtime and HBO) and I never bothered to get either until about a year ago.
I decided to in invest in the movie tier on our cable package because Dawn Loves watching Movies and I Like watching good fights. This has turned out well as Dawn has indeed enjoyed the movie selection and I have seen some excellent boxing matches.
The story of boxing in 2007 is a double edged sword, the heavyweight division is horrible, but the lighter divisions are filled with fighters who are both talented and crowd pleasing. I have had the pleasure of watching gifted young stars like Chad Dawson, Paul William, Mikkel Kessler and Kelly Pavlik with my HBO and Showtime package.
The highlight of the year so far was last months Taylor vs Pavlik middleweight title fight. This bout really encompassed everything you watch sports for. Two competitors from different backgrounds and vastly different styles bring out the best in each other and providing the fans with a compelling fight that took fans on a roller coaster ride of action and emotion. Taylor dominated the first two round using his superior athleticism and quickness flooring Pavlik 90 second into the second round. The last 90 second of round two resembled a Rocky movie as Pavlik fought on instinctand heart while the champ got carried away and blew his chance to finish the fight. Over the next four rounds the tide turned with Pavlik gaining confidence and the Champion Taylor slowly fading. Finally in the seventh round it happened Pavlik landed a three punch combination that floored the champ making Pavlik the new middle weight champion of the world.
It might get even better this weekend!
The two best fighters I have seen in the last year in my opinion are Mikkel Kessler and Joe Calzaghe. Much to my delight they are going to square off this weekend in a Super middle weight title unification bout. As with Pavlik and Taylor as well as Hearns and Leonard 26 years ago I am expecting something really special. All the elements are in place to provide a memorable event, two great undefeated champions in their prime competing in a soccer stadium in Cardiff Wales in front of 50,000 fans. The icing on the cake is that this is not a pay per view it on regular HBO.
If you are interested in seeing what is right with boxing. Why it has endured through 100+ years of shenanigans and corruption, why in days gone buy everyone who was anyone was seen at the big fight and people would gather around the radio to hear the action, I would highly recommend you watch the Kessler vs Calzaghe bout this Saturday November 3rd at 6pm pacific on HBO.
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Like you, I used to know every fighter in every division and would have heated discussion in my mind about if Marvin Hagler could beat, say, Tex Cobb, even though Cobb out weighed him by about 100 pounds. I used to memorize the top contenders in every weight class -- it used to be printed in the paper like the baseball standings, so it was easy to keep track -- and even used to square off my Star Trek action figures in fights, Spock portraying Sugar Ray, Kirk maybe as Benitez. And remember, ABC used to air all of the heavy weight title fighs, sometimes just on Saturday afternoons, so you'd see Larry Holmes fighting Renaldo Snipes and such.
It was easy to keep track of things because there were only a few sanctioning bodies -- WBA, WBC, and then later the IBF -- and when someone was champion, they were champion. I hardly pay attention anymore and have found boxing to be less interesting in general than the UFC, but even those matches lack the drama of hearing Howard Cosell announcing a fight between, say, Mike Dokes and Mike Weaver.
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