Recycle Your Boxes,
I Mean Boxers!
Ed Ludwig
22.02
- Marco Antonio Barrera (56-3 39 KOs) will meet
the Flushing Flash Kevin Kelley (54-5-2
36 KOs) on April 12th. The bout will be held at
the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada and broadcast
on HBO Pay Per View. Why on earth are we seeing recycled
former champions landing fights that they clearly do
not deserve?
Besides Barrera vs. Kelley we also have Oscar De La
Hoya squaring off against a washed up Yory Boy Campas
on May 3rd. Showtime and Jay Larkin saw the light and
finally dumped Gabriel Ruelas as the next opponent for
Acelino Freitas. I cant figure out what is going
through the minds of promoters and the televsion networks.
Do they actually think fans want to see this garbage?
Barrera will flush the flash and it wont be pretty.
Im wondering if Campas will have a heartbeat
once the bell rings. De La Hoya calls him self the Golden
Boy so is Campas the Tin Man? One
of these days someone is going to be seriously injured
or worse. When a fighter retires it means they dont
have it anymore and its time to move on. Erik
Morales gave Kevin Kelley a beating and that should
have been the end of it.
A broadcasting career ensued for Kelley and since then
he has the idea in his head that he can compete with
the best of them. The fights I have mentioned are the
equivalent of an army tank going head on with a stalled
car. There have been numerous mismatches over the years
but the bulk of them had active participants and not
people sitting in a rocking chair then deciding they
want to fight.
In reality Barrera should have the rubber match with
Morales so they can settle the score once and for all.
De La Hoya should stop listening to Bob Arum and give
Winky Wright his shot and Freitas and Joel Casamayor
need to get it on. Fighters who retire should stay retired.
If they are not sure then go on hiatus and take a long
break and see what you may or may not be missing out
on. As time passes make your final decision.
There are many top-level boxers who are itching for
their shot and promoters keeping pushing them down the
ladder because of the risk to their cash cows. Paying
fifty dollars or whatever the cost will be to watch
a good old fashion ass kicking is not what I want to
see. NBC is bringing back boxing and I applaud them
for that and all I hope for are competitive bouts.
Good matchmaking is the key. Stop promoting garbage
on Pay Per View and give the fans what they want. My
feeling is that promoters look at boxing fans as an
ATM machine and they need to keep in mind that the well
does run dry. If there is the potential to put on a
great fight then do it. The longer you wait the odds
of it happening become slim and the attraction will
lose its lustre. The best should fight the best. There
have been many great match-ups that never materialized
because of the selfishness of promoters. Nothing lasts
forever so if something is hot then keep it burning
or the flame will eventually die out.
In closing, I applaud Shane Mosley for turning down
the ridiculous offer made by Bob Arum and Oscar De La
Hoya. The ego of these two never cease to amaze me.
What makes them so high and mighty? Shane Mosley and
Winky Wright are on the backburner so I say the hell
with Oscar The Grouch and lets see Mosley
vs. Wright. I also hope Clifford Etienne defeats Mike
Tyson this weekend because the thought of a Tyson vs.
Lewis rematch is frightening.
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