Can boxing reclaim its past glory?

FROM THE SPORTS DESK

With Hartley Anderson

Sunday, February 05, 2012

THERE was a time when professional boxing rivalled any such activity on the international stage. Sadly, however, that seems a generation ago, and there is a reason for this.

At a time when every conceivable modern sport is governed by a world body whose duty it is to administer all aspects of their sport -- professional as well as amateur -- boxing remains at the bottom of the pile for the principal reason that it has no such centralising body.

Instead, there are four organisations that run their own version of the show of professional boxing; namely, the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Organisation (WBO) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) -- aptly and popularly called the 'alphabet soup' of professional boxing.

The disappointing result is the chaos which currently exists in the professional sport -- confusion as to who are the respective champions of the various divisions, and an assortment of boxing camps with too much freedom as to who their athletes can, will and would prefer to fight.

To compound matters, none of the aforementioned bodies is obligated to unify its respective divisional crowns; rather, the champions of the various divisions are mandated to fight the next in line as is dictated by theses organisations under whose portfolio it is to also award championship belts.

Understandably, the consequence is that there is rarely a unanimous champion of the world these days as each entity projects its fighters as the true world champions.

Logically, then, for a number of years the word has been robbed of many potentially great matchups and the opportunity of seeing authentic world champions emerge in the various weight categories of the sport.

With this proliferation of boxing systems, it indeed difficult to keep up with the respective champions of each division, to the extent that, rather than be unduly confused, a number of fans have simply lost interest and walked away from a sport that at one stage was arguably more popular than any in the modern world.

It is little wonder, therefore, that in a period where the majority of sports are cleaning up their acts in moving towards true professionalism, boxing appears headed in the opposite direction and is quickly losing its allure.

Now a metaphoric dinosaur of the sporting fraternity due to its disorderly and outdated structure and apparent refusal to move with the times, professional boxing is rapidly losing its credibility and is dubiously perceived consequent to the gimmicks, gamesmanship and widespread claims of corruption that currently plagues the sport.

A foremost complaint in boxing circles is that the camps are susceptible to bribes, with a typical compromise being the offering a fight to an opponent who is outside of the logical pecking order. This widespread practice impacts the credibility of the sport and leads to further disenchantment with boxing.

From a Jamaican standpoint, we have been privy to the frustrations experienced by former junior middleweight standout Mike McCallum, who was constantly denied a really big payday -- maybe against the likes of Thomas Hearns -- because of these antics as a number of eminent camps refused to take a chance against the dangerous 'Body Snatcher' at the peak of his career.

Unfortunately, this is the status quo of the professional boxing world, even as the fraternity mourns the loss of two of the greatest practitioners of their crafts in heavyweight fighter 'Smokin' Joe Frazier and veteran trainer Angelo Dundee.

True legends in their respective areas, Frazier fought in an age where the emphasis was on becoming the unanimous heavyweight champion of the world -- an achievement to be compared to the title of the world's fastest man.

Boxing skills apart, Frazier and contemporaries like Mohammad Ali, George Foreman, Sonny Liston, Ken Norton and Larry Holmes stood out for an even more eminent reason: they were not afraid to fight the very best and in fact, viewed this as a test of their masculinity as much as an evaluation of their sporting prowess.

Dundee gained renown for guiding both Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard to peak performances and was said to have been involved in the sport for over half-a-century. His ringside acumen was a rare attribute which propelled him to a revered position in the annals of the sport.

On local soil, with the legacy of Bunny Grant (and others of his time) forming an appropriate backdrop, professional boxing was extremely popular in the 1960s and 1970s. This culminated in a string of successful Jamaican fighters on the international stage later on. The list includes Lloyd Honeyghan, McCallum, Trevor Berbick, Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock, Simon Brown and Glen Johnson.

From the 1980s, however, there was a gradual falling off of the sport locally, with a few half-hearted attempts at resuscitation being made before last year's resurgence courtesy of the infectious Contender Series.

As the boxing fraternity pays its respect to two of its most eminent sons, therefore, the prayer is for an ultimate revival in the sport. However, from my position, this will never materialise until a unifying body hellbent on stifling the myriad of egos finally emerges.

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Can boxing reclaim its past glory?