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Gatti and Micky Ward
It's trite already, but Gatti and Ward are the kind of humble, stout-hearted
pugs that make us proud to be fight fans. You can have your Kobe Bryants
and your Latrell Sprewells and your Jason Seahorns and Derek Jeters and
all your other millionaire ballplayers. We have Gatti and Ward. They're
tough and real and proud and every time out they remind us why we fell
for this business in the first place.
The
Internet
Let's face it: with a couple of exceptions, the daily newspapers have
completely turned their backs on the fight game. To a good degree the
Internet has filled the void they left. It's true, the writing isn't Red
Smith or Jimmy Cannon most of the time but the news is current and usually
accurate, you can get fight results from around the globe almost instantly,
and there are dozens of websites from which to choose. Perhaps most importantly,
it gives fight fans a place to gather.
Friday
Night Fights
The fights aren't always top-notch but they're good enough, and when they're
not, the rest of the show makes up for it. Brian Kenny and Max Kellerman
are stellar in the studio, and Teddy Atlas and Bob Pappa are among the
game's best broadcast teams. The show's production values are high, and
there's news, gossip, previews and predictions galore. What more could
you ask for?
The
Ring Championship Ratings
Ignore the one or two misguided voices you hear carping about how The
Ring shouldn't be in the business of naming champions. It's nonsense.
Nigel Collins and his staff provide an excellent alternative to the sanctioning
bodies, who have been squeezing credibility out of the game for as long
as they've existed. Not everyone is a champion. The Ring lets you know
who is.
Oscar
De La Hoya
You can hate him if you want to, but be happy De La Hoya is among us.
He's the game's only crossover star and if he didn't exist there would
be a lot fewer fans to keep the business going. Look at the pay-per-view
numbers he and Fernando Vargas did. Every sport needs an athlete who is
bigger than the sport he competes in. For us it's Oscar.
Journeymen
We all write and talk so much about the stars in the game that we forget
about the guys the stars have to go through to become stars. If not for
them the sport wouldn't exist. So the next time you see a journeyman crumple
at the feet of this or that prospect, don't curse him for so falling so
agreeably. Appreciate the contribution he made.
Cable
Television
How many fights appeared on network television last year? Zero. The year
before that? Zero. We can dream all we want to of a return to the networks,
but it's probably not going to happen any time soon, if ever. So celebrate
HBO and ESPN and FOX Sports Net and Telefutura and even that other major
cable company that shows fights occasionally. We're competitors but we're
all in the same business.
The
International Boxing Hall of Fame
There is no other venue anywhere that makes it so easy for you to meet
your heroes. Check out the hall during induction ceremony weekend in June
and chances are you'll run into Alexis Arguello or Aaron Pryor or Jose
Torres or Gil Clancy or Ken Norton or Gerry Cooney. There are fighters
everywhere you look and they're just as happy to see you as you are to
see them.
ESPN
Classic
Where else could you possibly see Joe Frazier's 1972 kayo of Ron Stander?
How else would you get tape of Sonny Liston's win over Eddie Machen, or
his loss to Leotis Martin? Or Muhammad Ali's win over Chuck Wepner? Ten
years ago you could only read about these fights. Now you can see them
and others like them every week. It's a beautiful thing.
The
Junior Welterweight Division
The featherweights are good and so are the lightweights, but for my money
no division can touch junior welter. The class is ruled by one of the
best in Kostya Tszyu and there isn't a bad fight or a bad fighter in the
top-15. Tszyu could fight four times a year until 2010 and not run out
of challengers. And it's only going to get better.
This Article is © William Dettloff/www.hbo.com
2004++ all rights reserved.
Featured at Aussiebox with the kind permission of the author, William
Dettloff.
Bill Dettloff can be contacted at: dettloff@ptd.net
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Fight Game Thanksgiving