Like/as a fool, I paid $30 to watch a not-even-really-good-on-paper fight between Tomasz Adamek and Kevin McBride tonight. It was a one-sided cakewalk for Adamek, whose biggest problem was McBride kept resorting to dirty tricks like stepping on Adamek’s feet to trip him up.
I’d say the fans who paid $60+ to attend in person were even more sorely ripped off but (and this is the source of my soft spot for Adamek) I’ve been to one of his fights and the incredibly cheerful, friendly, down to earth Polack crowd is just thrilled to be there and chant and sing there Polish slogans.
Even so – how does boxing get away with such systemic fraudulence? McBride weighed in at 290 lbs. He was a plodding tub of lard. This is a PPV fight? The only funny moment came when one of the PPV commentators said “McBride told us he was hungrier now than at any point in his career.”. I’ll say.
he only thing I’ve seen in sports that exceeds the contemptuous treatment of fans, the meaningless mismatch, to this extent, might be the fakey exhibition matches you sometimes see between superannuated tennis players.
I guess I’m proof that boxing fans are masochists. I am sure I will pay (even more) this Fall when Adamek fights (and is probably killed by) one of the Klitsckos. And I’ve already reserved for the Manny-Mosley fight that nobody but nobody wanted to see.
Anyone else carrying a torch for an abusive lover in the Sweet Science?
Don’t watch heavyweights. The only heavyweight matchup that looks good on paper is for the Klitchko brothers to fight each other, and they’ve vowed to never do that. Also, I’m starting to think a maximum weight, or splitting the division between heavyweight and super-heavyweight might be worth considering. There’s no way a 215 pound guy belongs in the same ring as a 260 pound guy.
But things are pretty good at the lower weights, especially from junior welterweight through middleweight.
There is way too much record padding. Fighters fight opponents who don’t have a chance. You can get rich doing that. Roy Jones built a huge following dredging up competition or picking them out of retirement homes. Then it was hit and run ,hit and run. his fights were boring.
I’ve always kinda wondered how boxing worked. From what I can pick up from listening to fans, it sounds like fighters just sort of challenge each other at random and then find a venue to host the fight. It seems really bizarre compared to other sports, where there’s an organization that matches people/teams against each other and organizes championships and the like. Boxings less organized structure seems like it would lead to, well, stuff like what the OP is complaining about.
Don’t blame the sport, you just picked the wrong card lol. I heard the Morales vs Maidana fight was great the same night. Kirkland got ko’d in 1, and the katsidis fight was good also. That’s three entertaining fights on 1 card. We all knew Mcbride sucked when he fought Tyson 5 or 6 years ago so you can’t expect much from him now. Wlad vs Haye should be good, and Vitali might turn old overnight vs adamek in Sept.
No, you have it right. Fighters more or less individually arrange matches against other fighters. Well, it’s really the promoters doing all the arrangements. There is also an Alphabet Soup of boxing organizations that each have their own champion of the 17 different weight classes.
It’s a colossal mess, and contributes to fan disinterest. Back in the heyday of boxing, you had just 8 weight classes, and one recognized champion for each class.