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Now the first thing I want to say about the Hopkins/De La Hoya fight is that it is just that: Bernard on top and De La Hoya beneath. I know HBO wants to put Oscar first because the ladies and general sports fans are more familiar with Oscar than Bernard, but Hopkins is the reigning champion and the WBO trinket does not change that. But I will admit something, and I feel guilty admitting this but ... I will take great pleasure in seeing Oscar getting knocked out. Not that I don't like the guy, but I have grown tired of him. I mean, before a fight, he's trained the hardest he's ever trained, but after the fight, he took the fighter lightly if the result is not as resounding as he'd like.
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The return of Trinidad exposed the hypocrisy within the boxing media. After Tito retired, so many boxing fans and reporters were saying, "It'll never last". This is understandable because most boxers end up returning to the ring after retiring for some period of time. But after about a year, people started changing their tune by saying that he was indeed enjoying life after the ring. But then after about another year and seeing how weak the middleweight division was and how boxing as a whole was suffering without Tito, they started clamoring for him to come back. That's the media for you…making sure that their prophecy of Tito coming back to the ring happens by consistently pressing him to come back.
Personally, I think Tito should have stayed retired. He has nothing to prove because everyone looks at him as a champion and he has earned a significant amount of money in the ring. But nonetheless, Tito is back, and his first fight back is against Ricardo Mayorga. I have to admit this, I'm ecstatic Tito is back. Before his fight with Hopkins, I didn't like Trinidad because he was getting so many props and I couldn't see how he was favored over the long standing champion Hopkins and I can honestly say that I thought Bernard would beat Trinidad, just not with the precision in which he did so. But Trinidad showed that he not only has the chin to go with his punch, but that he also has heart and determination; although neither was in question before the fight, he showed that he is indeed a true champion. Now he's back and taking on the wild man of boxing in Mayorga. Hopefully Mayorga can keep himself out of jail long enough to make it to fight night on October 2, but after the fight, he may wish he had never shown up.
But of those two guilty pleasures, none of them come close to the pleasure that I feel most guilty for enjoying and that, my friends, is the TV show "The Next Great Champ". I have been waiting for this show to come out and now that it's in the second week, I have to say that I'll be watching this show for its' duration. But not because it is such a great television event, but simply because it's boxing and it's on prime time.
For those of you who have not seen the show, there are 12 boxers, mostly amateurs but some having pro experience. Every week there is a challenge of some sort that not only ranks the fighters for the week, but the winner also gets $10,000. Now the challenges are boxing related; the first was the boxers had to do inverted sit-ups while being hung upside-down. I can understand how this shows how strong a guy's abs are, but I don't see how that can show who's the better ranked fighter. After the #1 ranked fighter is determined, trainers Tommy Brooks and Lou Duva, and Oscar himself (no wonder he was out of shape for the Sturm fight) rank the rest of the fighters. The lowest ranked fighter has to challenge one of the top three fighters; if the fighter in the top 3 wins, he receives $25,000, but if the low man wins, he gets nothing. Regardless, the loser gets the boot.
Now, is this a good television show? No, it's not, because I'm of the belief that most reality shows are terrible and not based on reality. Plus, Fox does a great job making situations much more dramatic than they need to be. For instance, each boxer is allowed to have a loved one with them. These confidants help the fighter get through the struggles that present themselves during the course of the show and this allows Fox to add unnecessary drama. Plus, I have a little problem with all the bells and whistles that Fox adds, like dramatic music during the challenges and fights, not showing the fight in its' totality, and purposely creating scenarios that will lead to problems. It is easy to see how boxing purists will be punching themselves that this show is even on TV.
But the main thing is that this is boxing on television. The show in and of itself is not that good, but boxing is the ultimate reality show. These are real boxers getting paid much more than the typical amateur turned pro. The winner of this quasi-tournament will have a nation wide audience that will be able to identify with the fighter personally and professionally. This can only benefit boxing as a whole. Even though the ratings are not as great as other reality shows, with 5.2 million viewers, this is more than enough fans to help boxing get back to the mainstream. And perhaps the best thing for these fighters is that the money they win doesn't get cut up between the promoter, the cutman, the trainer, the entourage, etc. It's their money.
So watch Oscar and Bernard this weekend; regardless of the result it will be a good fight. Two weeks after that superfight, tune in to see if Tito can handle the cigarette smoking Mayorga in his first fight in 3 years. And watch "The Next Great Champ" just because boxing is on network TV again. Who knows; if viewership if high enough, perhaps real boxing will come back to network TV. And perhaps "Champ" will become a guilty pleasure of yours as well.
