“The NOI, The Mob,
,
and Sonny Liston”
By
IsHMael REED
from the forthcoming book The Complete Muhammad Ali
12
Boxers have had to contend
with members of organized
crime since the early period
of the sport until today.
During August 2014, Teddy Atlas, the
commentator on espn’s Friday Night
Fights accused Golden Boy Promotions
and Bob Arum’s Top Rank of contriving
to tilt decisions in favor of their fighters.
He was speaking about a fight between
Erislandy Lara and Saúl “El Canelo”
Álvarez, which took place at the Las
Vegas MGM Grand on July 7, 2014.
A fight that Teddy Atlas said Lara clearly
won. I agree. Canelo, however, is a
big box office draw. Another outrage
occurred in September when José
Benavidez was awarded a decision over
Mauricio Herrera. Benavidez was Bob
Arum’s boxer. It’s obvious that boxers
need a union to protect them from the
likes of Top Rank and Golden Boy.
BRN-SPRING-2015.indb 12
The television sports commentators
cooperate with the promoters to
endorse stars and attract pay-per-view
customers. Suckers like me. Becoming
a boxing analyst doesn’t seem to require
much talent. During the commentary
of the Canelo-Lara fight someone
who earned his credentials in the ring,
Paul Malignaggi, had to explain to
his fellow commentators what “ring
generalship” meant. George Foreman
quit as an announcer because he
complained that his fellow commentators
lacked knowledge of the sport.
Perhaps he had Larry Merchant in mind.
Just as baseball promotes home runs,
basketball slam dunks and three-pointers,
in tennis, it’s an ace, boxing is supposed
to have a moment of artistry. Merchant,
for one, seems to prefer boxing in
which the contestants stand toe to toe
and slug it out; boxing that utterly
lacks artistry. It was inevitable that
something called Big Knockout Boxing
would debut on August 16, 2014.
It promises “a smaller fighting space,
shorter rounds, and more knockouts.”
While the contemporary promoters
put their stars in soft, there seem to be
a growing number of fights in which
their opponents only have a short time
to train or are in at the last minute.
3/29/15 11:41 AM