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ISSUE 19 | NOV 2014 |
5
There was a time when everyone who followed sport knew who the heavyweight champion of
the world was. In fact, people whose only exposure to boxing was what they saw on the 7 o’clock
news would know names like Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman and Joe Frazier.
Then there were the true legends, like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. These men, for good and bad,
transcended the sport and became icons.
Now turn to the left. Ask the closest person who the current heavy weight champ is. Unless you are
sitting in Madison Square Garden watching a bout, there is a very high probability that you will receive
the answer of “I don’t know”, or - far worse for the sport of boxing - “I don’t care”.
Boxing, once one of the most watched and reported sports in the world, has slipped out of the public
dialogue. Many see it as redundant. Boxing, to many, is on the ropes.
But is it?
When boxing commentator Al Bernstein – a veteran who has spent decades watching the sport - comes
out and claims 2013 “was the best year in 25 years”, maybe we should start checking boxing for a pulse.
How can this be when everyone has almost given boxing up for a dying relic?
Timothy Mottram
looks at the evidence...
IS BOXINGMAKING A
COMEBACK?
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