Boxing: Down for the Count

What ever happened to boxing? In the 1950s it was on prime time television twice a week. We had Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson.

 

Everybody talked about it. Was Jersey Joe Walcott going to whip Ezzard Charles? There was the Yvon Durelle-Archie Moore fight, which was the most exciting I ever saw.

 

Next came the well-promoted championship fights only on radio and pay per view television and movies. I got out of the car once to cover a city council meeting as the Floyd Patterson-Sonny Liston fight began on the radio. By the time I got into the meeting room, it was all over, won by Liston.

Then there was the Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali)-Liston fight in Lewiston, Maine, in 1965. It’s the only time I paid good money ($15) to watch a bout at the movies. After endless boring preliminary events, Liston went down in the first round and couldn’t get up. They have been examining the “phantom punch” that sent him down for years. A leading boxing official told me the fight must have been fixed. I felt cheated.

So did I give up on the sport? No.  I actually started covering boxing myself just when it was going out of style. First came the Wednesday Night Fights in Las Vegas. I was warned not to wear a white shirt at ringside when Roger Rouse “the bleeder” was in action. Bikini-clad girls roamed the stage between rounds right in front of me with signs of which round it was.

The spectators had no interest in the boxers, only the money they were betting at the Silver Slipper casino. Once, there was a better fight going on at the bar, but few paid attention.

At another time, I was thrilled to ask Muhammad Ali a question at a press conference. Years later, that was the only thing that interested the kids when I was invited to talk about my career at a class.

 

My big moment came when I was assigned by the AP to cover a doubleheader in Las Vegas: George Foreman’s first professional fight, followed by Liston’s second to last. It was exciting to sit at the ringside near Howard Cosell at the International Hotel.

 When Liston was floored by Leotis Martin, I dictated a story over the phone to the Los Angeles bureau, but at the same time, I multitasked to see if Liston was dead. I’m told the smelling salts to revive him were quite strong.

The country and I both lost interest in boxing over time. There were pay per view events featuring Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather and Sugar Ray Leonard, but they were so expensive that they drew small crowds.

Three other reasons: Many former fans couldn’t identify with the minorities that dominated the sport. Corruption was rampant. And the brutality of the sport justifiably turned off many people.

In that case, why are kick boxing and mixed martial arts so popular on TV now?