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Sport Of Boxing Far From Down For The Count

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 2, 2007

Updated: 12/02/2007 12:33 am

TAMPA - Looking at the landscape of boxing, one can see the constant ups and downs of the sport's popularity.

Boxing rode the wave of Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali and others in the past, and most recently has enjoyed the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones Jr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In an age when boxing lacks network television coverage, boasts skyrocketing ticket and pay-per-view prices and the best boxers haven't always fought each other, the sport has fallen off. In addition, when there has been a good main event, rarely has the undercard held much appeal.

However, in these days when mixed martial arts (MMA) has been eating into boxing's audience, the luxury of having one good fighter or fight on a pay-per-view card is gone.

With cards like Mayweather-Ricky Hatton on Saturday, which will feature the return of St. Petersburg super middleweight Jeff Lacy and Wauchula's Edner Cherry, as well as the Jones Jr.-Felix Trinidad fight in January and past bouts between Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor and Joe Calzaghe against Mikkel Kessler, boxing is still swinging.

"You're naming real high-profile fights," said boxing promoter Gary Shaw of Gary Shaw Productions. "Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley, Hatton and Mayweather, Mayweather and De La Hoya, Calzaghe and Kessler, those are real high-profile fights.

"They don't normally have good undercards or good supporting roles, which is a mistake, because the promoters of those fights feel, 'We're giving you this fight, we don't have to give you everything else,' and that's a mistake."

So much so that MMA has swooped in and built itself a solid foundation. The sport, which has moved away from its once-underground status and now garners huge pay-per-view buys, packed arenas and enough mainstream recognition for its own reality series - "The Ultimate Fighter" - and for other fighters to appear on television shows such as NBC's "Law and Order" and CBS's "The Unit."

Enough Fans To Go Around

"Whenever you can stir up emotion and passion and competition, and certainly sometimes you have a transition of fandom," said boxing icon Don King, "but the idea is, if you put on something that the people want - I don't care what it is, where it is, how it is - if they want it, they're going to respond in kind and come and see it."

Boxing isn't just lying on the canvas waiting to be counted out. It appears that the sport - inadvertently or not - is fighting back.

Shaw is in a unique position. In the boxing business since 1971, Shaw has witnessed the evolution of MMA.

While serving as the chief inspector for the New Jersey State Athletic Control Commission, the organization was approached to sanction MMA, but the request was denied. Later, as COO of Main Events, Shaw showed interest in MMA, but his partners didn't.

After cajoling from his son Jared, Shaw, who was also president of live events for EliteXC, went to Showtime in 2006, and along with his business partners, entered the MMA world with EliteXC having its first fights aired on the network Feb. 10.

Shaw said he can guarantee 4,000 fans in an arena for an MMA event, while the boxing crowd can fluctuate depending on the card.

"I don't think MMA will ever replace boxing," Shaw said. "Boxing has tried to kill itself a thousand times, but has been unable to. Other people have tried to kill boxing a thousand times, but have been unable to. So I think boxing has a place. It's not what it once was, where it was a staple, where it was a big Olympic sport, where it was shown on prime-time television. There was a time where ABC, NBC, CBS covered it ... and the demographic has gotten older in boxing."

Dan Birmingham, a two-time boxing Trainer of the Year, is not one of those boxing guys with a disdain for MMA. In fact, he earned a black belt in Kempo in 1978 and believes there is enough room for everybody.

"I think it's great, because the boxers aren't going to do MMA and the MMA guys aren't going to box," Birmingham said. "So it's just another avenue for fighters."

Other Disciplines Are Gaining

Though Shaw is convinced MMA will not overtake boxing, Rob Kahn, a 1995 New York Golden Gloves champion, who later earned a black belt in Brazilian jujitsu under the tutelage of Royce Gracie, is leery that his boxing past could seep into his present.

"I think boxing's biggest problem is boxing, not MMA," said Kahn, a trainer and coach for the Tampa Terror, a new team in the Bonecrunch Fighting League. "And unfortunately, I think it's a problem MMA is going to be facing soon, and that is the promoters and the greediness. Right now, there's one game in town in MMA, it's the UFC. What's great about that is, the UFC can make the best fights possible in the organization. The fans get the benefit of that."

The introduction of several leagues and others wanting to get involved in the MMA world, including Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, may thin the talent pool, setting up lackluster fights.

Ultimately, fans of boxing or MMA will respond to one thing - a good fight card.

"Certainly, MMA has cut into the boxing pie," said Kahn, who remains a lover of boxing. "They're both sports at this point, so I still think there's room for both of them. Look at me, I do MMA for a living. Obviously I live the sport, I breathe the sport and I still compete in the sport, but a good boxing match on Saturday night and I'm sitting on the couch watching a good fight. A fight's a fight."

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214 or edaniels@tampatrib.com.

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