Tyson Exposure

By Ron Widelec

25.02 - After a nine-month layoff, boxing once again had a fight. The last boxing match was three quarters of a year ago, when Lennox Lewis defeated Mike Tyson (Photo: Tom Casino) in defense of the heavyweight title. That fight was in June of 2002. Finally, in February of 2003, after so long with out any boxing matches, there was another fight. Coincidentally, it was another Tyson fight. In this fight Tyson blasted an overmatched (and chinless) fighter named Rhino or something like that. What I am curious about is why there was such a long period when there was no boxing at all. Nine months is a long time to not have a fight, is it not?

This is how a casual observer of the sport might see boxing these days. Last weekend, for the first time since last June the mainstream sports news, with includes ESPN, finally decided to acknowledge the existence of boxing. In the months between the last two Tyson fights there has been a plethora of excellent fights; none of which have made the news, except for a few minor blurbs at best. By excellent fights, I mean top rated fighters, fighting for real titles, in competitive and deserving matches. Yet these fights never even occurred to the best knowledge of the American public.

However, all of the news watching public knows that a tattoo faced, Mike Tyson clobbered some guy that they know nothing about, with a name they have never heard. They know that Tyson broke his back "a little", whatever that means. And to most, they "know" that Tyson is one of the top fighters in the world, regardless of the fallacy of that statement.

It almost seems as if boxing does not exist to the mainstream public. There is baseball, football, hockey, basketball, tennis, and that spectacle known as Tyson. To most people, Tyson is boxing. He is the first person that comes to mind when boxing is mentioned, and the nearly the only boxing personality that can get time on regular television.

It is quite a conundrum in which boxing has landed itself. The only persona is boxing that is recognizable enough to get attention is the one fighter that represents boxing in the worst way (can't you just taste that irony). In many aspects, Tyson represents all of the worst characteristics of this once popular sport. He is an ex-con, ear biter, that threatens children, and starts brawls (outside of the ring). And it is for all of these reasons that he gets so much attention. He has, to boxing fans, become a sideshow; while to mainstream sports fans, he is the ONLY show.

This has become boxing's lot in the sports world. The once mighty sport has lost all respect in the public eye. Where once the name of Jack Dempsey was as well known as Babe Ruth, and Ali, Fraiser, and Foreman were household names,it is doubtful that most Americans can name the current heavyweight Champ, despite the fact that he is considered among the greats as well. It's a shame that Tyson's Tattoo gets more attention on the news than all the fights of 2003 combined!

This seems to be the way boxing is heading though. ESPN's Max Kellerman has been saying it all along. The news media has only mentions boxing when something bad happens, and therefore the public image of boxing continues to deteriorate. So many times we have heard people say, "Boxing needs to clean up its image". But how can this be done when there is no mass medium through which to show the world all the great aspects of the sport?

As for the news media, and their sportscasters, shame on them. How dare they think they have the right to mention boxing at all. They only chime in when something bad is going on, they refuse to acknowledge of the positive aspects of the sport, and when they do talk boxing they only spew out ignorance and stupidity as to the state of the game. It's a disgrace to journalism as a whole. Whatever happened to the news being unbiased, and gathering real, credible data? If they want to talk boxing, they need to get it right, or just not mention is at all. Boxing would be better off. Despite the popular saying, in this case, no publicity is better then BAD PUBLICITY!

Any questions or comments. Email me at Beowolf88@aol.com