Do boxers hate boxing? An interesting piece with a renowned trainer

ESB has always been a great place to post these pieces because of the diverse amount of feedback. As always, I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Q: You've said in interviews in the past that part of the problem with developing talent in boxing is the infrequency that boxers fight as compared to decades ago. Why do you think there are so few fights now?

A: I'm going to be honest with you on this. I'm seeing this more and more now and I can't ignore it anymore. I really believe that boxers today and the people associated with boxing hate their own sport.

Q: That's pretty explosive. Can you elaborate?

A: It was something in the back of my mind for awhile, but this year, two prominent heavyweight boxers, David Haye and Derrick Chisora, have both gone on record with retirement plans even before they accomplished anything. I was shocked to hear Chisora the other day say that he's only fighting 21 times and then he'll retire. It's unbelievable.

21 fights in you're not even close to your prime. You haven't learned your craft, you haven't developed a track record of achieving anything. And it's unbelievable to me that he would have that sort of plan going in.

Q: Which is very similar to David Haye announcing plans to retire October 2011

A: Exactly. He announced that a full year or two in advance. It's a disservice to the sport that's paying for your lifestyle. It's an insult to the sport because it means your dedication isn't to boxing, your passion isn't for boxing. You're just doing it because you think it's a quick and easy way to make money and become famous.

Can you imagine if LeBron James said the day he was drafted, "Enjoy me while I'm here, because I'm retiring at 28"? Can you imagine if Tom Brady said, "My goal is to win one championship. Once I've done that, I'm gone"? Yao Ming walked away in tears because he wanted so badly to keep playing. That passion doesn't seem to exist for a lot of the marquee names in the sport, at least in the US and Europe. It's run like a business, and treated like an obligation.

Q: Floyd Mayweather too, because of how he fights once a year or less

A: Forget Floyd for a second - let's look at his uncle and father. They're in charge of developing the fighters of the future. Yet in every interview, they almost have a disdain for the sport. You ask them about Sergio Martinez, they don't even know who he is. You ask them how much boxing they watch, they dismissively say, "just my fighter". It's as though the only reason why they do this is because it's the only skill they have, but would rather be doing anything else. It's a contagious mentality, and it's spread everywhere.

In my opinion, it's one of the big reasons why the US performance in Olympic boxing has declined so much, one of the big reasons why fitness is a major problem in the heavyweight division, and one of the reasons why the American style of boxing has become so defensively-oriented. These kids are born dreaming about careers in football and basketball, they realize it's too hard and too competitive, and they end up doing something "easy". They figure they can throw a punch, so why not? Because of that, we end up with the least disciplined, least athletic, least passionate practitioners of just about any sport. Because they fundamentally dislike boxing, they do it long enough to become famous and then immediately leave without attempting to leave a legacy. And why should they care about a legacy if they don't know anything about the sport, never thought about it before they took it up, and probably won't think about it again after they retire at 28 years old?

Q: You make some great points. Do you see this as a worldwide problem?

A: No, I think it's just the "civilized world" that has this problem. There are a lot of third world countries that still have that passion for boxing, and I think you're going to see more and more boxers coming from those countries. I know a lot of boxing fans in the US and England can't appreciate or embrace boxers from new countries, but I would rather have a Cambodian fighter who truly loves what he does than an American who is content to tag his way to an HBO contract doing as little as possible in the process.

 

That may be the case, but he gave everything he had for it. You can be passionate about something you don't like, odd as that sounds. And that's why SRR fought so often when he probably didn't have to when he was at his best, and why he wanted to fight the best opponents too.

 

it's funny that you would mention that when talking about a trainer. As a trainer, shouldn't Roger be responsible for ensuring the quality of fighters remains high? If he's lost interest in the sport because of "quality issues", I would expect he would share some of the blame for that, since he's one of only about 10-15 top level trainers in the world.