ninja fights on tv.
chuck lidell wouldn’t stand a chance.
don’t ask me why, but i just watched the plastic-faced sylvester stallone beat up antonio tarver in “rocky balboa“. while viewing this movie, a couple of thoughts occurred to me. first – so much of this franchise’s success is owed to a GREAT theme song. i defy you to resist the urge to begin shadowboxing after listening to that “gonna fly now” soundtrack. the thought also dawned on me that nothing mma can do will ever make me (and fans like me) give up on the sport of boxing.
right now a lot of people are making noise about how fighting sports like mixed martial arts are supplanting boxing on the american landscape (mixed martial arts? why stop there? lets have ninja fights on tv. better yet – how about a bear vs. an eagle? why not a wizard vs. a cowboy? ok, i’ll stop hating).
some say that boxing is too boring these days. the sport is ruled by hucksters and con men who hype an inferior product. there are no stars to root for anymore. other, less violent sports (like american football) are stealing the talent pool. the showcase weight division – the heavyweights – is littered with plodding, european fighters with little persona and questionable skill.
despite the many flaws boxing has, i still love the sport with a passion and can never envision a scenario where i will care less about it than i do the mma. some new game in town supplanting boxing is just as absurd as the idea that baseball is fading from the scene. lets face it – no matter how much people love the n.f.l. in the u.s., baseball isn’t going anywhere. one reason for that is because baseball is so perfectly linked with this country’s history and tradition. but if you look at it, boxing has the same kind of parallels with american history that the much hallowed sport of baseball does.
looking at just the heavyweights – jim braddock’s career mirrored america’s fall and eventual resurrection during the depression era. joe louis defeated germany’s max schmelling as world war II was beginning. ali defied convention and authority in the sixties. tyson ruled and then crumbled in the corrupt eighties. even now, as america has lost its prominence, heavyweight fighters from around the world have taken center stage.
it’s this connection to american society that mma lacks. the problem with new sports is that they’re NEW. history means something to people, and boxing has a brilliant tradition. yes, the present isn’t anything to write home about. things change. quit bandwagon jumping and support something that still has some meaning.
besides, boxing inspires great movie moments…like these:
rocky – training for apollo creed
raging bull – deniro’s “you never got me down” scene
ali – ali sees the murals in zaire
