YO! Rocky Where Are You?
by Ivette Ricco, President of Femmefan.com

June 3, 2001

It was a typical Friday night, in the year 1950 something, in the South Bronx.

My dad, my mom, my sisters, my cousins, my uncle, and my aunt gathered around the TV to watch the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, and Friday Night Fights.

This was the golden age of boxing. With the likes of Rocky Graziano, Kid Gavilan, Floyd Patterson, Emile Griffith and Sugar Ray Robinson to watch and admire, this young girl became a boxing fan. In later years the fight game still had the wondrous talents of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and others.
When you grow up in the inner city and your sports and athletic world consists of dodge-ball, stick-ball, Johnny on the Pony, and hand-ball in the schoolyard, you are in serious awe of these powerful warriors. I admired their speed, agility, and physical beauty. In addition, within the Spanish-speaking community, boxing is the equivalent of Nebraska football in Nebraska. It is the most highly regarded of macho endeavors.

If you are like many, especially most women, boxing seems like the most barbaric, brutal, and inhumane sport on the planet. If you don't know what the training regimen involves or what physical skills are necessary to become a highly ranked boxer you would think these guys were just dancing around for 10-12 rounds. Gee, how hard can that be?

But, the combination of speed, skills, physical and mental endurance, in a one on one confrontation is unmatched in any sport. The drama of a championship bout is possibly the most thrilling contest in the world of sports.

But, here we are in the year 2001, and where have all the heroes gone?

The fight game was never pretty. It was never what one would call a squeaky clean sport. There have always been nasty, sleazy, ugly, and corrupt people involved this sport. The Queensbury rules, notwithstanding, boxing has never enjoyed much of a reputation as the prototype for sports integrity. The Olympics, long regarded as the prime example of all that is good and pure and beyond reproach in the world of sports, has fallen victim to the temptation of the almighty dollar. If corruption can rear its ugly head within the inner sanctum of sports virtue, then what can we expect from the boxing world? Sad isn't it.

The world of boxing has left a very bad taste in the mouth of this boxing fan.

When Mike Tyson entered the ring and destroyed fighter after fighter, the world of boxing, Don King, and the rest of his cronies were just drooling over this kid's power and inner rage. Now we know that "Iron Mike" has personal demons more powerful than his fists.

"On the surface, people like Tyson attempt to portray themselves as being nasty, tough, invincible, and arrogant. Snarling at the press, demeaning of opponents, showing no respect for the media or for that matter anyone else. All a front." "Men with Tyson's personality traits are often unable to project the consequences of their actions or even learn from them." Courtesy of PschologyofSports: Iron Mike Tyson.

Scholarships are not handed out for boxing superiority as they are for football or basketball. The boxing ring is still one of the few places a poor kid can use as a launching pad out of the ghetto and poverty. In every metropolitan area of America they pound the bags in the local P.A.L. gym. They work and dream the "Rocky" dream. They dream about beating the odds and becoming a world champion. They dream about the money and the fame and the adulation. They listen to those promoters who want to make a buck off their broken bones, and broken noses. No one has told them about the broken lives, and dreams that line the halls of boxing-dom. No one has told them that they will sacrifice their future for a quick and elusive buck that will go into someone else's pocket. But they dare to dream, and when you are living in poverty, when your greatest accomplishment is making the next rent payment, then the promise of a better life, of a star's life is much too tempting to turn away from.

Legislation may help the fight game's image.

Since World War II boxing has continued amid corruption, chaos and controversy. Pay Per View fees, the confusing and varied standards used by the three "sanctioned organizations" the IBF, WBC and WBA, leave most fight fans scratching their heads at the lunacy of it all. Each organization with its own set of fighters and titles. Each claiming the champion in each weight classification. There are 17, count them, 17 distinct weight classification.

Recently, Senator John McCain held hearings on boxing reform. There is little doubt any change would be a change for the better. The key to creating a climate of legitimacy in boxing is the creation of a national governing body. Let's start by installing a boxing commissioner, and making sweeping reforms. The fight business needs to organize into a boxing "league" with standard guidelines. These changes would go a long way towards cleaning up the boxing world's dysfunctional act.

Financial scandals, injuries, deaths and the exploitation of the lower-class fighters by greedy self-proclaimed promoters have boxing on the ropes. The recent deplorable actions by Mike Tyson have left the fight fan agonizing over the sport's questionable decisions and dubious self-regulation. Yet, the sport continues to attract large audiences and deep pocket investors.

Is there another great man out there waiting to inspire the "lost fight fan?"

The great American fighters, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Sugar Ray Leonard elicit admiration and fascination. Unfortunately, too many of today's fighters elicit disgust, controversy, and sorrow.

Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley, Roy Jones, Virgil Hill are all fine fighters, but they don't yet inspire awe, and only time will tell if they will make their mark in boxing history.

But who will make his mark in the heart and soul of the boxing fan?

Yo, Rocky, where are you?

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