Is It Really All ABout The Money?

Boxing is a business. Of course it is, all professional sports are a business and that's why they are 'professional', people are making money. No one will ever deny that professional sports are about money.

Barring gimmicks, however, professional sports make the most money when they are the most competitive and the most focused on the 'sports' over the 'professional.' Between them, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought every comer for the heavyweight title during their eras. Their successes in an era of network tv coverage and competitive fights down at the corner club in nearly every big American city would sew the seeds for the modern era of fewer cards for more money and a sport where the most successful make more money than ever from the pocketbooks of pay cable while the sport as a whole brings in the smallest gates it ever has in the United States.

Clearly, if boxing is a business, it isn't a well run business. A few elite employees are raking in record paychecks while the business itself is doing comparatively poorly. It sounds like the American corporate world, doesn't it? Look at the economy and we can see where that trend ends.

Nigel Collins wrote an editorial in the current issue of The Ring magazine defending the upcoming Bernard Hopkins-Joe Calzaghe fight and the Floyd Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya rematch. I want to say that, as a fight fan, I don't think the Hopkins-Calzaghe fight needs to be defended. The light heavyweight champion defending against the super middleweight champion is entirely legitimate, and the top light heavyweight contenders need to fight each other a bit more to prove who is really most deserving of a shot at the top spot.

On the other hand, the Mayweather-De La Hoya rematch is only defensible in terms of De La Hoya's mainstream exposure and the money it will bring in. The original Mayweather-De La Hoya fight was not defensible on any other grounds. De La Hoya hasn't done anything to deserve huge paydays against top fighters in a very long time. That awful decision against Felix Sturm should have had Sturm in the ring with Hopkins instead of De La Hoya, it didn't because as awful as it was it went De La Hoya's way and the money was there.

Collins' editorial embraces 'the money' and the business aspect of boxing in a way that is disappointing to see from the official view of 'The Bible of Boxing' and which I can't help but think goes against Collins' real feelings on the matter. Oscar De La Hoya is on the front cover of the same issue of the magazine, the back page is an advertisement for his autobiography. De La Hoya's company, Golden Boy, owns Sports and Entertainment Publications, the parent company of The Ring. When the buyout occurred, we were assured that it would in no way skew the view and content of the magazine in any way and that management was confident that Golden Boy really wanted to protect boxing's best journalism. It can be argued, very effectively, that the De La Hoya story is warranted by Oscar's mainstream appeal and that advertising space is sold to whomever will pay for it. The editorial still raises an eyebrow. It appears, in its embrace of the purely commercial aspects of the business of boxing, to defy the message of the very magazine whose official view it is supposed to express.

An article on East Side boxing, by Michael Herron, defended the rematch and Mayweather's career as a whole even more aggressively. The same article defends Mayweather's upcoming adventure into the world of professional wrestling. The article holds Floyd Mayeather Jr. and Roy Jones Jr. up as the examples of all a prize-fighter should be. Fortunately, The Ring isn't willing to go anywhere near that far.

Mayweather and Jones are gifted talents who are very possibly the most talented fighters of their generations, though in my personal view the 'best' fighter of the period bridging both of these phenomenal talents is Bernard Hopkins and the 'greatest' (greatness, as I have mentioned time and time again in this blog, is about accomplishment and legacy) was Lennox Lewis or Kostya Tszyu.

Mr. Herron suggests that professional boxing is all about the money and that there is a need for boxers to branch out of their chosen profession. He applauds Floyd Mayweather's intelligent business acumen and extols the amount of money that will be rolling in as a result of the schedule he believes to be fully formed in Mayweather's mind. Clearly, all of this is very good for Mayweather and no one believe that Floyd should not be thinking of his own interest.

At the same time, what about the interests of boxing? It is in the interest of boxing for Floyd to fight the best welterweight challengers available, as welterweight champion. In defeating Ricky Hatton, Mayweather fulfilled his duty as best pound for pound fighter in the world. He defended his championship against another undefeated champion hungry to take it from him. Good. I am glad the Hatton fight happened. However, he should now be defending his title against the best of his own division.

I understand the desire to make money, I understand the desire to protect one's health. As Joe Louis discovered to his sorrow, a great legacy won't pay the IRS. As Wilfred Benitez and Wilfredo Gomez's loved ones might testify, a great legacy won't get you out of your wheelchair to hug your family. However, Mayweather is already extremely rich and has made millions. If he truly wishes to protect his health, the best thing he could do for himself and boxing would be to retire and let a hungrier man step to the plate.

If he does not retire, as he constantly suggests he might but never seems to do, the best thing he can do for boxing is to fight the best available challengers and to fight often. Quality fights between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto and other top welterweights would do more for boxing than a hundred wrestling matches with Big Show, and be a lot less risky for his health. Joe Louis could tell Mayweather the risk of grappling with naturally much bigger men, as well.

The die-hard pro-Mayweather contingent professes total lack of understanding as to why hardcore boxing fans don't show Floyd the respect he deserves. The answer is sadly simple.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has not shown boxing or its hardcore fans the respect they deserve.