Looks that could kill; intimidation ploys; verbal warfare and entourage scuffles in the days leading up to a title fight, and then actual boxing when the bell finally rings; that’s what title bouts in the heavyweight division are all about, right?
Well, Saturday’s heavyweight championship match for the unification of the WBO, IBF, and WBA titles serves as proof that heavyweight boxing, unfortunately, is now officially challenging professional wrestling for the undisputed championship of smack talk and juvenile behavior leading up to heavyweight championship fights.
In short, everyone’s worst fears have been realized, as the antics of Apollo Creed and his cronies in the Rocky films have now become the norm in championship heavyweight boxing, instead of just an exception to the rule.
By far the most distressing aspect of this is the following: It’s no longer enough for the hot air to stretch for months on end, before a title fight actually takes place; it must literally be dragged from the locker room kicking and screaming and dancing to the beat of blaring music and pre-match light shows which rival Pink Floyd, until the last bitter moment before a boxing match eventually begins.
All the extra-curricular “activities” associated with the title fight between Wladimir Klitschko of Russia (56-3) and David Haye of Great Britain (25-2) set the tone for a below-average boxing match before the two fighters ever emerged from the locker room area.
Haye, who had earlier been a party to a veritable barrage of threats, insults, and predictions via an onslaught of pre-fight video montages, as to complement his mumbo jumbo in the previous months, deemed it necessary to up the ante as far as pre-match blather and procrastination are concerned.
After all the HBO-driven montages of Haye and Klitschko trash talk were sufficiently out of breath, Haye chose to deliberately hang around in the locker room area for what seemed to be ages, before finally dragging himself to the ring, as though his actions may just annoy Klitschko into submission; perhaps it would be the world’s first TKO by way of mouth, or by way of wasting time until an opponent expires of natural causes.
One might think that Klitschko, who kept his own pre-match talk to a semi-reasonable minimum, would opt for a more deliberate approach, as to finally get the title bout underway.
But instead of speeding up the complicated process of walking to the ring when your name is announced, Klitschko returned the favor, and in turn played Haye’s original yet pointless kindergarten games to a tee.
All told, it took both boxers sixteen minutes after pre-match rituals and HBO-associated excesses to make their way towards the boxing ring.
That’s how the jazz surrounding today’s heavyweight title boxing works: No one takes the high road; no one takes a classier route, or lets their actions in the ring speak for themselves.
In fact, after the match was over, Klitschko treated himself to an interminable period of outlining Haye’s lack of class, and it was especially ironic to hear the word “class” attached to this boxing match in any shape, form, or fashion.
As most of us know, it would be erroneous to insinuate that this general lack of class and sportsmanship only occurs in heavyweight boxing; it has become an affliction associated with all levels of professional boxing, although heavyweight boxing is usually quite a bit worse, as it’s designed to be such an overly-hyped, gala spectacle by boxing promoters.
Promoters and all the evils associated with the promotion of professional boxing is a discussion better left to an entirely different article/day, and associated media/television entities fall into that category, as well.
Predecessors and precursors, as far as boxers, are much easier to identify.
Since the great Mohammed Ali joined the ranks of heavyweight boxing with his fiery words and his brazen demeanor, and the more forgettable middleweight Jorge Paez started wearing modified hula skirts into the ring, attitude, as a whole, has taken a turn from the inherent toughness at the heart of boxing, to a b-grade production that is often downright tacky.
Flash, attitude, and banter with an edge have always been a part of boxing to a degree, but here’s the difference: Ali and others could back up the talk and had substance at the core, while a vast majority of today’s professional boxers do not.
As for technical analysis of the actual boxing match, it is not hard to summarize: It consisted mostly of Klitschko jabs and Haye wandering aimlessly about the ring; power shots and flurries were few and far between, as it appeared that Haye had tired himself out all with all of the talk, literally.
In the end, Wladimir Klitschko won by unanimous decision, with Klitschko’s punch total eclipsing the 500-mark, while Haye’s punches numbered roughly half of that output, at less than 250, as Klitschko retained the WBO and IBF titles, and attained the WBA title from Haye.
Klitschko now has three of the four heavyweight title belts in major championship boxing, while his brother, Vitali, still possesses the WBA championship.
As icing on the cake, Haye refused to shake hands with Klitschko after the fight was over, and instead thrust his hands to the sky as though he’d actually be the victor in a fight that wasn’t close, before finally succumbing to a Klitschko hug; it appeared that shame had to be the final motivating factor for David Haye to allow some show of sportsmanship from Wladimir Klitschko.
Perhaps the best analysis was offered by Larry Merchant, an HBO boxing analyst: “Everything leading up to this fight was humiliating.”
It was humiliating for the fans in the arena; it should have been humiliating for the fighters themselves, and it was humiliating for the fans at home relaxing on a 4th of July weekend.
At least this much can be said for the WWE and professional wrestling: The smack talk and the lackluster sportsmanship are totally fabricated for entertainment purposes and dramatic effect.
As for championship heavyweight boxing, not so much.
