Boxing...where are you?

What has happened to boxing?  It seemed that as I was growing up in the 80s, the sport was just more...prominent.  It was there.  You had access to the sport that wasn't a disappointing sixty dollar pay-per-view.

The premise is simple.  Two men walk into the ring and square off.  One wins either by knockout or decision.  However, in execution by two professionals, it becomes a true sport.  It becomes the "sweet science." 

Back then, I believed that the guys on top were truly the best out there.  It wasn't hard to do.  As a third grader, Mike Tyson was the scariest guy on the planet to me.  He decimated opponents with these amazing flurries of hard, fast punches.  Like many people my age, I became a huge fan, helped along greatly by Mike Tyson's Punch Out on the Nintendo.

Remember this guy?  He didn't bite ears or cameo on The Hangover.  He won fights. 

Tyson wasn't the only fighter out there.  Michael Spinks, Marvin Hagler, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Evander Holyfield were all names that you actually got to see fight.  There were stories and we saw brief videos of past greats such as  Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman.  I saw them at greater lengths later thanks to ESPN Classic. 

That just doesn't happen today.  Sure, you have the ever-popular stars such as Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, but do they even begin to compare?  Seriously, what's a Klitschko? 

Wladimir Klitschko

I can't tell you, because I'm not dropping sixty bucks to find out.  And from the looks of it, not many other people are either.



Yes, I do have a basic understanding of how the sport works now.  I don't care.  Bring boxing back to the masses, please.