What are your thoughts on this article: Boxing doesn't need a Mayweather vs Pacquiao

Boxing doesn't 'need' a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight to save the sport

By Mike Samuels

January 14, 2010, 3:00PM

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AP PhotoBoxing is in good hands with athletes like Andre Dirrell (left).
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Sometimes, the less you say in life, the better.

It may be an old adage but perhaps someone over at 107.3 FM (WBBL, The Ball/Grand Rapids) could pass the memo over to Bill Simonson, host of the Huge Show weekdays from 3-6 p.m.

Simonson has been blogging for the Grand Rapids Press for over a year and while I acknowledge he’s only using the forum to create controversy and buzz for his three hour radio program, I rarely object to his extreme and highly predictable opinions.

After all, we as Americans have the right to freedom of speech, don’t we?

I could no longer bite my tongue, however, after reading Simonson’s latest piece in which the Sparta native uses all but 30 sentences to destroy the credibility of not only Manny Pacquiao and Grand Rapids’ own Floyd Mayweather, but also the entire sport of boxing and everyone involved in one of the oldest forms of combat in the world.

The sheer fact that Mayweather and Pacquiao were unable to come to terms for a proposed super fight on March 13 is very disappointing. It’s a tough loss for the casual boxing fan – enter Simonson – and an even harder pill for the legion of hardcore pugilist fans to swallow.

There’s plenty of reason for people to be bummed out or discouraged with boxing as an entire sport. For one, there are too many sanctioning bodies, seemingly a hundred belts that share no significance, too many undeserving champions who are crowned because a belt is vacated, too many weight classes, corrupt judging and stubborn promoters who are running the sport.

And yet the sport still survives. The fighters march forward the same way baseball survived a strike and steroids.

The same way the NBA survived [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Jordan-Rules-Sam-Smith/dp/0671796666"]The Jordan Rules[/ame], the lockout shortened 1999 season and [ame="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/04/60minutes/main5880547.shtml"]Tim Donaghy[/ame].

Sports are filled with hype and drama and even more than that: let down. That doesn’t mean you destroy the hard work for the athletes who participate just because something doesn’t go as planned. Simonson made a weak attempt to label boxing “dead” because Mayweather and Pacquiao negotiations fell through. He screams at the top of his lungs in defiance for the sport, even going as far as the following:

“There is no one to save [boxing], and there is no big name on the horizon. Both fighters think they can make some mid-level money by jumping into the ring with a bunch of no-name opponents and show people they are the best.

“No sports fan is buying this or anything connected to Pacquiao or Mayweather again in the United States unless they make this fight happen.”
​

Statements like the above show a true lack of intelligence on Simonson’s part. It’s one thing to have an opinion, but for God's sake, it doesn’t serve you well to just make an uninformed statement without any background, ideas or original thought on the topic you’re speaking about. Its evident Simonson wanted to create shock-value and nothing more – and perhaps he’s gotten it by the fact I’ve devoted the time to fire back – but is it too much to ask for a little professionalism?

Seriously.

Pacquiao is set to face Joshua Clottey on March 13. Clottey is no Mayweather, but he’s far from Glass Joe. And I’m not sure what type of paper Simonson is bringing home for his on air talents, but last time I checked $5-10 million is hardly mid-level money. That’s exactly the kind of paycheck Pacquiao is sure to cash for signing to fight Clottey.

Simonson doesn’t realize that boxing doesn’t need to be saved.

Improved? Without a shadow of doubt.

But in order to assume the sport has no one on the horizon to save it, Simonson must first realize that boxing doesn’t revolve around Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson or Oscar De la Hoya.

2010 promises to be a great year for the sport with a ton of exciting fighters who are expected to take giant leaps from years past. Those fighters include but are not limited to:

• Paul Williams.
• Timothy Bradley.
• Edwin Valero.
• Shane Mosley.
• Andre Berto.
• Kelly Pavlik.
• James Kirkland.
• Andre Ward.
• Mikkel Kessler.
• Arthur Abraham.
• Andre Dirrell.
• Carl Froch.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, Huge.

Of course, you would know that if you actually gave two you-know-what’s about the sport in general. I understand radio is a business driven by ratings and you’re not going to devote three hours to talking about Joshua Clottey or Vitali Klitschko – and that’s fine. It’s your show. I don’t know the first thing about the business side of radio (is it really necessary to plug every damn advertisement that’s paying you at every chance possible?) so I’m not going to use this as a forum to rip the show to pieces. I’d look like a moron if I tore the show down and graded it low simply because that’s what I’ve been hearing from avid listeners. Either way, you’ll still be on the airways at 3 p.m each day just as boxing will continue to produce highly competitive fights with some of the world’s greatest athletes.

If I have to hear the phrase: “This is the fight to save boxing” one more time I think I’m going to puke. Every other year the media labels a fight as the fight to save the sport.

1999’s De la Hoya-Trinidad fight was supposed to levitate boxing back to the golden era. 2002’s Lewis-Tyson bout was next in line. Don’t forget about 2007’s De la Hoya-Mayweather. And, low and behold ... it was Pacquiao-Mayweather in 2010.

In a couple of years another mega fight will be hyped by ESPN (hell, Pacquiao-Mayweather could be finalized by the fall of 2010 for all we know) and the pundits and critics will start screaming at the top of their lungs about boxing needing to be saved. Newsflash: This isn’t church. The only thing that needs to be saved is sinners. Sports fans – boxing fans, in general – will come out just fine in the end.

Boxing doesn’t need to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated and it doesn’t need to be the lead story on ESPN’s Sports Center. All in all, boxing would serve better if it wasn’t covered at all by any main street media outlets. Because the only time they run a story on the sport is when something negative occurs like ear biting or death in the ring.

Sadly, your latest piece is nothing more than the same song and dance that has been regurgitated over and over by every Tom, Dick and Harry with a background in media. Instead of offering solutions to the problem, they jump on the bandwagon and offer no original thought.

You are entitled to your opinion, Huge. Just know that while you’re complaining about things you know very little about, the rest of us boxing fans (all six of us ... just kidding big guy) will be enjoying the fights that matter.

The ones fought inside the ring.