Henry Kissinger and Mia St John

Bernie McCoy

13.07 - I remembered a line from the seventies as I was watching the Friday Night Fights on ESPN this week: " Any country that would give Henry Kissinger the Nobel Peace prize is beyond satire". The fight that prompted that seventies playback was the Mia St John/Jessica Mohs four round bout. St John, to me, has now reached a point in her career where she is beyond satire.

It was a fairly sure thing that St John would appear on the Friday Night Fights telecast. She had recently pulled out of a Lennox Lewis HBO card when she learned that her bout against Lucia Rijker would not be included in the telecast (good move, HBO). Instead, Rijker fought Jane Couch in an entertaining eight round bout, also not televised (bad move, HBO). Then early this week, St John appeared in a "content free" interview segement on Jim Rome's show on.....ESPN. In the world of TV, that's called synergy. Three days later...... "Heeere's Mia" in a four rounder against Jessica Mohs on Friday Night Fights (bad move, ESPN).

St John had already fought Mohs this year and won a unanimous decision last March in Dallas, one of Mohs' six straight losses going into the Friday Night Fights bout. Additionally, Mohs was reportedly a last minute replacement for the bout when the original opponent was turned down by the Nevada State Athletic Commision. It is somewhat mind-boggling to contemplate the quality of the original opponent who was replaced by a fighter with six straight defeats. The second St John/Mohs fight was again a unanimous decision for St John, and in the equally unanimous opinion of the ESPN ringside announcers, the worst bout on the telecast. This may have shocked about eight people with a knowledge of the sport of Women's boxing.

"Lackluster" was one of the representative descriptions the ESPN broadcasters used during the four rounds that St John and Mohs plodded through. While "dull" certainly described the pace of the bout, I'm not sure that any of the four rounds even achieved "lackluster" level. Probably a better phrase might have been: "should never have made the telecast". You know its not a good bout when you find yourself thinking, "Gee, I wonder what Max Kellerman's doing" .The only legacy intact, after the bell for round four mercifully tolled, was St John's ever lengthening win total, now, incongruously, having reached 29; although none against what can remotely be considered a quality opponent. Largely unmeasured is the damage a bout such as St John/Mohs does to the sport of Women's boxing. One sure thing: It didn't do a bit of good.

As for St John, she is, indeed, beyond, satirization. She cannont beat fighters with skill, as the Christy Martin and Jenifer Alcorn bouts attest, and she does not seem inclined to fight anyone along the lines of a Kristy Follmar who is rapidly developing into a quality fighter and over whom St John owns a very controversial decision, in Follmar's third bout as a pro. If she persists in fighting opponents with losing records, fighters she has previously beaten, or unknown opposition who run the risk of being disqualified by boxing commissions, she should do it outside the eye of the television camera. That choice TV exposure should be reserved for competitive fights that will enhance, rather than embarass the sport. Posturing on interview shows and then climbing into the ring with an overmatched opponent is not good television, its not good boxing and, at this point in time, Women's boxing needs all the help it can get.

So I come not to satirize Mia St John, certainly not to praise her, but to offer a bit of well meant counsel. Maybe the next thing Mia St John should think about hitting is "the road" and, in those immortal words of another past icon, Mr. Ray Charles, "dontcha come back no more, no more, no more, no more". Certainly not against the Jessica Mohs of the world and certainly not on television.