“Boxing needs more superstars”

By Bart Barry

There’s a certain kind of casual boxing fan who makes serious fans wild. He imagines himself the final arbiter of what’s important in our sport though he’s usually too busy with the Patriots’ undefeated season or the Yankees’ resigning of A-Rod to watch prizefighting. He loves spectacle. And he likes to reminisce about Muhammad Ali – even if he was born in 1980.

Anymore, this guy makes derisive comparisons of boxing to mixed martial arts. He says, “I used to watch boxing all the time, but when I saw MMA, man, it was like a first taste of filet mignon after being raised on hamburger!”

Worse yet, many of his boxing criticisms are valid. After a rambling dissertation – seasoned with the word “y’know” – he often arrives at a remedy for boxing that goes like this: More violence. Ultimately, he’s right. But his enthusiasm is a bit unsettling; his sadism unrefined.

Have you got a bead on this guy? Good. Because you’re about to see a whole lot of him in the next two weeks.

A couple of Saturdays from now, Roy Jones and Felix Trinidad will fight in Madison Square Garden on pay-per-view. Don King will promote the show. On paper, it will be a scrap between two prizefighters who are 0-5 against world champs, in their last five tries. But who needs paper?

Jones and Trinidad are about the closest things to household names that boxing currently has. Neither one has Oscar de la Hoya’s drawing power. But together Jones and Trinidad are close.

After being knocked out twice in 2004, Jones has defied the advice of concerned bystanders by plying his craft in boxing hotbeds like Idaho and Mississippi. Trinidad, meanwhile, has remained relevant in an opposite sort of way by retiring prematurely and fighting only twice since 2002.

This is a fight only Don King would, or could, promote. In the last two years Top Rank has proved itself the heavyweight champion among promoters. And Golden Boy Promotions, when teamed with HBO, has set box office records and then broken them. But nobody understands a casual fan’s lust for spectacle like King.

Only King can make this fan feel like he hasn’t missed a thing since Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield. King has a connection with him because King empowers him: You don’t care about those younger fighters? Me either. I make the shows that are important. You buy the shows that are important.

Then the casual fan goes to the gym, the water cooler or the message board and begins to lecture boxing’s serious fans. Israel Vazquez, Juan Diaz, Paul Williams? Never heard of them. “RJJ” and “Tito”: Those are brand names. You need more guys like that.

But ask this guy who he picked when Jones fought Bernard Hopkins 15 years ago. Ask him if he was surprised when Trinidad blew out Maurice Blocker to become the IBF welterweight champ in 1993. For that matter, ask him if he knows what a welterweight is.

Then smile and pat him on the shoulder and tell him you’re just messing around. Why? Because we need this guy. A boxing show needs him to exceed 1 million pay-per-view sales. And before your indignation rises with the thought of enriching King, Jones or Trinidad, millionaires all, remember our sport’s ecosystem.

More interest in our sport means more money in our sport. Trickle-down economics may not work as reliably as we wish, but reality says at least some of those pay-per-view dollars eventually find their way to local gyms. Places in Puerto Rico where young men emulate Trinidad’s stalking style. Places in Florida where, for better or worse, young folks throw leaping left-hook leads like Jones.

After you’re finished telling the casual fan how appreciative you are of his attention every 20 months, remind him that a good bit of boxing actually happens every weekend. Some examples to use? Here you go.

Friday night on Telefutura, junior-lightweight prospect Juan Garcia made an excellent six-round fight with Gamalier Rodriguez. Garcia had his forehead split open by an elbow and bled everywhere for much of the fight. He was rocked in Round 4, too. But he showed resilience and won a fair decision by outslugging Rodriguez in the last two stanzas.

A few hours later, the Peterson brothers, Anthony and Lamont, went on Showtime and won a pair of entertaining prizefights. With a cumulative record of 50-0 (30 KOs), the Petersons are true contenders. Both may someday have their defenses tested by world champions, but those exams will be fun to watch.

Saturday night, IBF light-welterweight champ Paulie Malignaggi made the first defense of his title in a tough match against Herman Ngoudjo. Malignaggi had to fight more than he boxed in the bout’s second half. Though he’s wanting in power, Malignaggi has a world-class chin, and he remains one of the few stylists fans will pay to watch.

Prospect, contenders, titlist. All four fighters were on television. And Showtime’s West Coast viewers didn’t have to miss a snap of the Jaguars-Steelers game to see Malignaggi on Saturday. Nobody knows what the future holds for Garcia, the Petersons or Malignaggi. But there’s no reason to think at least one of them couldn’t be a past-his-prime superstar in a pay-per-view extravaganza sometime in 2020.

Let’s stay our rage at casual fans and their condescending thoughts in the next few weeks. Let’s be grateful, not furious, when Jones-Trinidad outsells Mosley-Cotto. For all our bluster about what has-beens Jones and Trinidad may be, Jones-Trinidad is going to be a suspenseful fight.

Jones, Trinidad and King aren’t going to lose any serious boxing fans. And they may just convert a few casual fans. Sure, we’re going to have to suffer some fools’ rediscovered boxing wisdom. But if it brings a trickle of needed revenue to local gyms, really, is that such a bad trade-off?