Is 'The Contender' boxing's saviour? by James Howard Oct 22nd 2007

The recollection is so vivid in my mind it could have been yesterday. The excitement electric as the atmosphere would reverberate around the arena or stadium as the volume cranked up to ensure Tina Turner's 'Simply The Best' would accompany the snarling Chris Eubank to the ring. You certainly wouldn't describe my family as massive boxing fans or fans of the sport at all, if the truth be known. Mild interest would be apparent from time to time, usually dictated by the good fortunes of a fellow country man such as Barry McGuigan. No such connection was required for the Eubank-Benn rivalry, the events screened on Saturday evenings in a prime time slot Amir Khan would be lucky to get close to, the build up to the Eubank-Benn rivalry receiving almost as much attention as the fight itself. Millions would tune in hoping to see Eubank trip as he entered the ring, booed and abused on his way yet remaining calm, confident and arrogant with a steely fixation in his face which read, "Yes, I really am the best". Launched himself into the ring, ducking and diving with real swagger, Reg Gutteridge announced to his ITV audience that "The ego has landed". My family would be shouting raw negatives to Eubank while I would defend him resolutely; it was as if we thought he could hear us through the medium of Saturday night ITV. It was the tense and often hateful build up to the fights between Benn, Eubank, Watson, Collins et al, which so captured the imagination of the public, which made average 2.4 families such as my own tune in to watch as the best from our middle/super-middle divisions battle each other to be named champion of the world. There was always something, the famed Eubank and Benn rivalry, the Spurs fan Eubank who was negative towards boxing, fighting passionate boxer and gooner Michael Watson at White Hart Lane; Gerald McClellan coming over to the UK to take on the Dark Destroyer Nigel Benn; Irishman Steve Collins claiming hypnosis before his dual with Eubank; it was a marvellous time for PR in boxing. As night follows day, tragedy will follow glory and the era to which I will always be thankful to for lighting my passion for the sport is now oft-remembered for the tragic incidents which changed the lives of Gerald McClellan and Watson, Benn and Eubank, and many more. Despite the tragic events of the time, I can't forget that it was the entertainment of this time that initiated my love affair with the pugilistic art. And so the purpose of the wistful reminiscing, in an era where the younger generation are increasingly swayed to the bright lights of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), boxing has got to say, ‘Oi, get back here, don't forget us!' To my mind, the strongest argument for the MMA distinctions such as UFC is the philosophy much lost in boxing today, the best fight the best. A world champion is respected for being the elite fighter in his weight and will not be allowed to be protected; a war can usually be expected in each fight. To consolidate this position, the status of an 'undefeated' plays less importance in MMA as opposed to boxing where a 20-fight undefeated fighter might consider retirement after a loss or two. If the best continually fight the best, they will win some and lose some, and MMA companies recognise this does not mean a fighter's career is severely tarnished. Of course the marketing success of the UFC could be given as a lesson to boxing chiefs in terms of spreading the appeal of a sport once considered by many to be barbaric. MMA groups are stealing fans and fighters from each of its rivals (boxing, WWE, judo) and the respective sports seems helpless to respond. I object to the idea that you can not be a fan of both boxing and UFC but I do feel you will form an allegiance to one of them, consciously or subconsciously, which dictates that if there is a massive fight in each sport at the same time, you go with your loyalty. Equally, I bear no time for the argument of would a boxer beat a mixed martial artist; I don't consider it a valuable comparison. Incidentally, I watched boxer Julius Francis' attempt to gatecrash the MMA scene with UK-based Cage Rage. The ageing Francis arrived at a career heavy twenty plus stone and with defeats in his last 14 ring outings, not a lot could be expected from him in the cage. To be fair though, by the time he had been announced to the crowd with a cluster of credentials and nothing to suggest he wasn't in his prime, I was thinking that perhaps I had it wrong and it was a different boxer with real world title aspirations. Butterbean conqueror Gary Turner, defeated in K1 by Matt Skelton in a previous life made easy work of the faded boxers challenge. Heavyweight boxing has been an object for ridicule domestically, but I would argue that it simply reflects the lack of quality of heavyweight boxers on the world stage. The champions in the supposedly show case division these days tend to be of Eastern European origin and adopters of the traditional less than exciting Eastern European style. Certainly no match for the Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis era I grew up in. In fact, some of the era I grew up in are still fighting for, or fighting to position themselves in line for world titles into their 40's. Kelly Pavlik's recent capture of the middleweight crown from Jermain Taylor is being lauded as something to be proud of for boxing. The 'Ghost' Pavlik, who apparently earned the nickname for his near non-existent elusiveness and not his colour, is a promising hope for boxing in the US. In a country where race issues play more prominently than on these shores, white superstars are hugely more marketable for guys like Bob Arum than their black counterparts. Indeed Arum hails Kelly as the man who will bring fans back to boxing in the masses. What about the UFC? Do the same prejudices exist there? The truth is that it probably doesn't have to. The MMA divisions have a plethora of white superstars, as does wrestling which has become the metaphorical fountain for potential MMA's. Today there are many instances of the MMA institutions diverting their attention to the Latin American audience which is traditional boxing territory. The history of boxing (and indeed Latin American boxers) coupled with the young promising fighters still emerging should be enough to ensure against the mass migration of boxing fans, but the targeting of audiences does exist. Boxing promoter Gary Shaw has a different take than many promoters by teaming up with Showtime to broadcast MMA events; he clearly sees the sports cohabiting side by side. And what about the amount of titles in boxing today? Never before have so called 'world' champions been less known than they are today. I actually enjoy the fact that there are a variety of belts for boxers to aspire and win in preparation for stepping up the ladder to the more prominent titles, my problem is the incursion to put 'world' before everything. It dilutes the whole process and many fans just don't know where to look anymore. I thought the Ring magazines pound for pound ratings would eventually take over as the de facto rankings but following the Golden Boy Promotions' purchase of the magazine, this simply won't happen for obvious reasons. For some reason Amateur boxing doesn't seem to have the pulling power to interest the neutral any more. Having completed a brief canvassing of opinion, I'm informed that the head guards and vests make the fighters all look the same, removing the chance to get to know the fighters and their characters better. The scoring is also a gripe for many with amateur boxers' individuality at risk in aid of scoring points exclusively with head shots. I don't pay to much heed to the doom and gloom mongers predicting the diminishment of boxing in its current form - there's too much heritage and history for that. It is imperative though that new ideas are adopted to encourage the next generation to be a part of the sport. Plainly boxing needs a fairground attraction; some bait which will bring new blood into the sports fan base in the way Rocky did in the 70's and 80's. Ironically, I believe it might be 'Rocky' who has part of the answer. The cage might be pushing the squared circle all the way in terms of audience share, but problems in boxing were born earlier than the likes of the UFC, which merely expose them. Television stations do not have the same inclination to show boxing as they have had in the past and the decision was made alongside a carriage train public opinion (aftermath of Watson, McClellan etc, more recently the BBC having their fingers burnt with the £1 million Audley deal, ITV fed up of the Skelton/Harrison/Sprott/Williams roundabout decided they would just take popular Olympian Amir Khan). The trends of the current day revolve around the publics desire for 'Big Brother' style reality TV (Barry McGuigan in an apron, Mayweather waltzing in the States [now knocked out of the competition]), largely thanks to Mark Burnett, the main widely acclaimed for bringing reality to the USA. In 2005, Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard teamed up to head the Contender's East and West coast teams. The teams clad in blue and gold respectively consisted of five boxers each, all hungry and with stories to tell. Stars were made from the show and the world was introduced to the likes of Gatti-conqueror Alfonso Gomez, Joey Gilbert, Joe Calzaghe victim Peter Manfredo Jr and the eventual winner Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora, who reportedly rejected a world title fight with recently dethroned Jermain Taylor. It was Series Two though, that showed me the potential such shows have of grabbing the attention of the public - when Cornelius "K-9" Bundrage was picked last into the teams and effectively made into a laughing stock by cocky Michael Clark who believed K9 had no defence. The typical school yard story of the underdog, the victim being cajoled into a fight your not sure he wanted to be in, before emerging victorious. Eureka! I had finally found a method of getting my girlfriend to watch boxing on a weekly basis. From this episode onwards, once a week we would sit down in front of the television as one hope or another would describe his hard times, his hopes and fears, his losses in life and excuses for losses in the ring, his schoolyard sweetheart, the children who he wants to give a better life to... In many ways it was a realisation to my girlfriend that boxers are normal people! She could never understand their reasons to want to step in and fight, truth told she probably never will, and it's an irrelevant argument. What is important is that it made her see boxers as 'normal' people, some brash, some loud, some cocky, some nice, some humorous, some charismatic, but all normal none the less. Additionally, to my equal surprise, she also realised that she could actually enjoy the visual pleasure of a good scrap! Despite being obviously clichéd and at times downright cheesy, I'm willing to put up with dramatics involved to have a tool whose equivalent (Ultimate Fighter) proved very successful for the UFC. The current season (3) is in full swing, up to semi-final stage now with British hope Paul Smith unlucky to be knocked out (not sure if the terminology is evicted?) from the competition despite winning as the four clearest victors qualify for the semis. The next round sees Jaidon Codrington take on Wayne Johnson, and a rematch between Sakio Bika and Sam Soliman. Yes, some fights in the series are edited to appear closer than they actually are. Yes, some punches have the over emphasised drumbeat to accompany them. Yes, sometimes the stories are just to one way hard luck to be believable. Yes, some people have issues with the way the fights and weigh ins are staged. But I remain happy with the product and believe a home-based version of the programme (not a country vs. country event) would be of huge beneficial significance to the UK. I'm fed up of boxing not being considered one of the major sports in this country (normally I find Football, Rugby, Cricket and then ‘Other Sports'). Despite the Contenders critics, it's important to remember that it has the potential to bring the mainstream back to our sport, and surely that's good for everyone. Except, perhaps, MMA.

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Contender in Europe Oct 23rd 2007, 10:17:14 by ardybo Excellent article,it would be nice to see a European or Britsh version of the contender, and for it to be aired prime time. with Frank Warren leaving ITV my concern is boxing is not getting enough airtime on terrestrial tv. Boxing should be for the masses, not for the few. Greedy promoters have contributed to boxings decline by tucking their fighters away on statalite TV where there only watched by a fraction of the audience thet could be watching them. (As far as I know, Frank Warren is still working with ITV, albeit it at a reduced level from recent years - Ed.)