Perception is Reality

By Keith Terceira

26.09 - Two combatants, standing toe to toe, blows raining down on each like a monsoon, rivers of blood flow down to the ground until one fighter slowly falls, more dead than alive. Is this a boxing match or a cockfight. Two animals trained to maim for the glory and profit of their handlers.

More and more you see in print, hear from commentators and casual fans the call for blood, versus the call for the sweet science of boxing. The fighter that plods forward using his face to block jab after jab until he is finally close enough to his opponent to land himself is called the aggressor and the judges agree. A fighter with a two or three inch reach advantage is expected to allow a shorter, stronger, or broader fighter to get within striking distance because a promoter may not make enough the next fight or a judge will rule that the man walking forward controlled the action. How is the mere motion of walking forward is an aggressive act in the ring. If a fighter initiates contact no matter what direction his body is moving he is the general in the ring. The man who fails to cut off the ring, breaking the pattern of movement loses the round. But, the announcer says , "He is taking the fight to him" .

Is the pendulum swinging back to bare knuckles and rounds counted with an abacus. Fans across the world are so fed up with the judging of the sport that they scream for fifteen round championship fights rather than letting it get into a judges hands. For the sake of fighters and their families, I hope these calls go unheard. Thankfully, toe to toe matches are such a rare event in the championship ranks that when they occur, it makes for legend as in Dempsey-Sharkey.

Listen to the next match you are watching very closely and count just how often the word OUTFIGHTING is used in the commentary. I suggest you pack some groceries, a sleeping bag and a bottle of Geratol. Infighting, getting inside him, toe to toe gets applauded .When boxing occurs its ,
he ran away from him all night, backing peddling, doesn’t want to fight. That’s the problem with journalism majors and communication school graduates informing the FAN. The call for blood rather than the call to arms.

This sport has endured since the Sumerians, 5000 years ago and has no use for these types. Will we be calling for spiked gloves as did spectators in ancient Greece. More likely the sport may become abandoned as it did in Rome when the sport became to bloody for the public. I say abandonment as the fan base continues to shrink.

Time was that every man in America was taught to handle himself in a fight. Boxing equipment was found in every gym, school, and church youth center. Ivy league schools such as Yale and Harvard competed to great public interest.. A father taught his son . The key phase is defend himself. Society has changed to the point that attorneys and police are responsible for the defense of your life and anything else is barbaric unless shrouded in mystic mumbo jumbo taught by bald monks from china, and techniques named for animals. So the result is the average person this generation who can afford to see a boxing event brings with him less than a basic understanding of what the science truly is.

Boxers the caliber of Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard with the style, grace and skill to be able to combine or switch at will from Boxer to Puncher are not rare in the sport , they are just not supported and played up as much as the brawlers are. The lower weight classes are full of ring artists like these men were. The changes that these men effected with their styles have become common place.

The problem is the mentality of the casual fan, that bigger is better. Since the beginning of the modern era the saviors of the sport have been primarily in the Heavyweight division. So now even lumbering behemoths are preferred over skilled bantams. Slow thundering blows over swift science and style. It is a matter of perception. A thunderous blow can be delivered in any weight class. Hagler, Hearns, Duran the list goes on of the what is considered lesser weight classes that deliver hugh classic fights. The sport has never been more populated with good, if not great fighters in many of the non-heavyweight classes, yet most fans can’t name them. A boxing enthusiast can name thirty or more current ring artists that can combine all the styles of the sport without reaching the heavy weights yet the general public may never reach six.

What contributes to the lessening interest in prizefighting? I have been trying to answer that question for years. Many different opinions exist, from the mellowing of society to the ludicrous view that it’s the racial make-up of the sport. I believe it is a matter of education and lack of proper public relations. The average spectator today may never experience getting hit in the face with a punch . Thus the science of slipping a punch goes unnoticed. Thirty years ago a school-yard fight got you a letter home and detention, today you go to jail. Forty years ago, if you came home with a shiner your father, your mother, or your priest would take you to the YMCA, The CYO, or the PAL gym and enroll you . Today you get anger management, Prozac, and a shrink. The general public has no clue as to what it takes to actually fight let alone avoid being hit. Duck is something from Peking and Rabbit is cute and cuddly. The existence of UFC and other extreme sports have taken away some base and the controversy in judging, destabilizing administrative blunders , and promoter/fighter scandals have taken away even more.

While other sports have spent millions over the years to increase public awareness in area’s of the community where interest and facilities are lacking i.e. tennis and golf , boxing which lies at the bottom of the spectrum of socially acceptable sports does nothing to raise interest or clean up its act.. Tennis and Golf long considered elite sports work daily to improve access to all economic layers. Boxing on the other hand seems to work to keep the perception of dirty little gyms in bad neighborhoods as the mainstay. The reason could be simple. Little Johnny’s dad in middle America could be the sheriff or the prosecutor or an accountant with attorney clients who understand contracts and audits. Why else would a potentially billion dollar industry continue to ignore showing the high tech training camps and gyms sprouting up all over the country. No talk ever takes place on air of diets and training methods. As millions of children go to strip-mall fitness centers and karate classes boxing lays back . As the public screams for an answer to obesity in adults and children , where are the champions of the sport. Do they demonstrate headgear, nose guards, mouth pieces and protective cups on air to America. What are they hiding from, popularity or prying eyes

Would purists scream and be ashamed if once again every kid in the world wanted to be Ali again. I think not. Would it be so terrible to see the Garden filled to capacity once again on a regular basis. Is it to late to see the change?

For boxing to begin to regain dominance in society over other martial sports a change must be effected. A separation of functions first. Judges must be found that the public respects. Mind you I said the public.
Perception is reality. Officials in the alphabet soup of boxing are not respected merely tolerated as functionaries . Hall of Fame boxers and retired fighters are more apt to create trust . Many are already judging on a smaller amateur scale, or training the next generation of fighters. In order for changes to occur this individuals need to be coaxed into other roles. Referees must be taken from the same genre.

A public relations campaign on the safety of amateur boxing , the great conditioning aspects, and fitness virtues of the sport must commence quickly. Boxing is a low cost, low overhead, and high yielding sport that most all school districts can afford. It builds strength, stamina, and self confidence. It damn sure teaches humility and the careful selection of words in a conversation (thus increasing vocabulary skills).

HBO , ESPN and SHOWTIME could serve themselves well by spending some time during preflight and intermissions by having a Champion explain and demonstrate in detail with participants the various boxing skills and techniques. Drive the bus don’t just be a passenger. Take a page from football, and educate future fans. The biggest swell of fan base football has received in the last ten years are with women partly because men like Madden decided to stop assuming everyone knew what they were talking about and he started diagramming it.

Publicly donate 20 or 30 tickets to a big match. Give them to an area Boys and Girls Club that has a good program where kids are getting good grades and learning the art. Take the time to introduce the public to the many boxers that have survived adverse conditions due to a dedication to the sport. Play up the virtues and fight like hell for fair standards. The problem with the televised media is when boxing gets to big of a black-eyed persona , these entities suddenly slink off into the background and latch on to the next big fad. Leaving in their wake the refuge they helped create for their profits, only to return when the next savior of the sport arrives.

This is where boxing has failed. Mothers across America get in their SUV’s and mini-vans, pick up their kids from school and drive them to Karate classes , then go to meetings to ban violence on television, screaming that boxing is a vulgar and brutal disgrace to humanity. Though Boxing is a Martial Art it is not respected for the ART part. Not due to the sport but due to the men that run it. dedication to the fundamentals are equal. The benefit to mind and body the same, It is the perception that is different. Imagine the horror of a mother as a young man says to his friends " I want to be like Mike Tyson.". Bruce Lee gets a smile, Chuck Norris a swell of pride. These martial arts legends are perceived as fighting for good not evil. The best fight films ever show punch-drunk men to stupid to pay taxes, mixing with the mob, and beating their wives. Not quite "Wax on Wax off".