What's your take on the shaming of fighters on HBO?

They are not wrong, but I think they shouldn't be accepting, sanctioning and broadcasting the fight if that's how it is.

It's not like a team sport of a multiple participant event, where a couple of unfit players or an unqualified man on the starting line will be overshadowed but the vast majority of the field.
IT'S A FIGHT.
There's no point telling me one of the fighters is habitually out-of-shape and undisciplined, and the other one is a honed killing machine in peak condition, and expect me to take the contest as serious sport ?
And then the killing machine knocks the fat slob out in 2 rounds.
It's disgraceful.
Can't put on the blame on Tubbs, the people who offer him money to get in the ring KNOWING his condition and habits, are the real problem.

 

I found Merchant to be excellent. There's a lot of horse **** in boxing, and Merchant would not sugar coat it when it happened and said it in an entertaining style.

Yeah, Merchant slipped a bit in his final years but he was anything but an HBO cheerleader. His scorecards were also very good. Better than the judges scores in most cases.

Tubbs should have been in better shape. He's making a lot of money and getting an opportunity of a lifetime. He just wasn't hungry enough to get to trim, and because of that the greatest sports prize in the world had to watch his fleshy body shake.

 

I agree with the above.. There was some sort of clause in Tubbs' contract which stated that if he came in over a certain weight a back up opponent would take his place. They probably should have gone with it.

 

Tubbs put up a pretty brave fight and was in good enough condition to beat almost every other heavy at the time.

 

Merchant was disrespectful. He'd put his Mic in a guy's face right after he'd been through a life and death car crash and laugh "haha what do you think of so and so now?"

He also said "what Bryd is giving us is a load of junk" as he boxed cleverly with the dangerous ike Ibeabuchi. I'm sorry, but what qualified that smirking over grown rich boy with his blow dried candy floss hair to decide anything a boxer did within the roped square as junk?

 

"Shaming" as opposed to whom? Howard Cosell?

 

He was a good commentator but also sometimes overly blunt.

 

I don't care about a fighters' weight as long as it doesn't affect his performance. Tubbs always did have that puffy look about him, but nevertheless it did not seem to affect him. He still was in shape, had good skills, fast hands, and was game. So I don't fault him. He might have been better looking with less weight, possibly performed better lighter, but he still was an elite fighter with the extra weight. You can train your butt off and be in great shape, but if you still eat a lot or eat the wrong foods, you can be fat looking nevertheless. Heck, Foreman made a career being overweight in his comeback. Personally, I liked George lighter, but he still fought well for an old guy even big. I think he was at his best around 245-250. When he went over that, I think he threw less and slowed down even more. But even if you got rid of his belly, he'd still probably weigh about 230-235. Boxing is not a beauty contest. I've seen chiseled guys get pummeled by fat looking guys. However, there are some fighters who clearly fight worse fat, like Chris Arreola. There is a marked drop-off in his performances when he puts on too much weight.

 

I think overweight fighters or where there is noticeable flab/rolls tend to get that treatment on a lot of broadcasts. Some HWTs got away with some of the shaming, but am sure Teddy Atlas has said comparable things on ESPN.

 

I didn't like that rug wearing front runner either.

Cosell tried to make a name for himself being the man who killed boxing by creating phoney controversies. The ego on that dude! It was unforgivable. He never understood the sport either but he did know how to build an event.

 

Watch Tubbs title winning win over Page and his narrow, controversial loss to Rid**** Bowe. He was in better shape for those fights than against Tyson. He should have been no more than 230 for the Tyson fight. The extra weight hindered his movement. That said, yes, Merchant was a smug a_hole at times. I think he was, like many of us, flabbergasted that Tubbs wouldn't give himself the best chance possible to try to win the Undisputed title.

 

I actually thought Tubbs did well against Tyson, until he got knocked the **** out.

 

Whenever Merchant gets on my nerves I remember

"I think the myth of foreman's power has been exposed"

and then laugh it off. I hear you op