Sports days of yore

I just finished watching an interview with Bert Randolph Sugar on ESPN's show, First Take. I have never heard of this guy before this morning and he is no real significant sports figure that was stuck in the minor leagues for his entire career. Not some guy from Indiana who could make three point shots with his eyes closed and never played in the NBA. He isn't even the fastest person to run the one hundred meter dash. He is a boxing historian. Today is the fortieth anniversary of Ali v. Frazier I. Giants of a sport long gone.

Why was this interview so intriguing? It's because boxing is a dying sport and to listen to sports historians talk about events of years past, it makes me want to invent a time machine. It was intriguing because the sport has lost it's luster. Gone are the days of the Brown Bomber. Gone are the days Jack Dempsey. Gone are the days of 'The Greatest'. Smokin' Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson, Max Schmeling, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, all names and faces of this dying, gallant sport. Men standing toe to toe for ten, eleven, twelve rounds and beating the holy hell out of each other to become the world heavyweight champion.

Bert Randolph Sugar covered the fight and as he reminisced about how great the fight was, about who was there, about everything that the event stood for, it made me want boxing to come back to the limelight. These types of fights were the event that people went to. These were the events that people overpaid for. It was also the events that 'anyone who is anyone' attended. Actors, musicians, politicians, presidents. Everyone.

We don't have that anymore. What do we have? Mixed martial arts? It's entertaining, yes. It's even fascinating. It can also be over in thirty seconds (but so can a boxing match). Here's the problem with mixed martial arts: there are too many events. It seems that every month there is another UFC event and another title defense. Maybe it is because there are so many people participating. The sport is diluted by the popularity. There are several sports writers that I enjoy reading and listening to on a consistent basis, and my views reflect their views and opinions. There are many that want boxing to return to prominence and re-establish it's dominance in the physical sports landscape, but it won't happen. The one thing that is missing from the sport of boxing is a face that everyone knows. A hero, a villain, a marque match. Get those things, and you get a resurrection. But who will carry the bloodied banner?


I wrote about missing out on historic baseball a few months ago, and as a sports fan, I feel that the one events that I would love to see come back to life is boxing. I didn't have a chance to see these events, I didn't get slapped across the back of the head for walking in front of the television while my uncle was trying to watch the fight like my dad did (always a great story). I get to see these fights in pictures. I get to hear about the greatest sporting events of the day through interviews and glorious descriptions.