|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
(JULY 5) Boxing fans have definitely heard it before, that slight air of
amazement which seems to involuntarily slip into an announcer's description
of a bout between two quality female fighters. It happened again last Friday
night on ESPN 2 as Joe Tessitore did the blow-by-blow of an exciting ten
round bout between Chevelle Hallback and Layla McCarter for Hallback's
junior lightweight title.
It's just that boxing fans have heard it all on the same network before; as
long ago as five years when ESPN telecast Hannah Fox battering a very game
Leah Mellinger over ten rounds; they heard it again the next year when
Margaret Sideroff outpointed Jolene Blackshear in ten very skillful rounds
of boxing; and fans certainly heard the ESPN announcer's sense of awe at the
punching power of Sumya Anani when the network broadcast her four round TKO
of a tough Jane Couch in June ' 02.
It's almost always the same litany as the ringside announcers intone, "this
is the type of women's boxing that needs to be shown on TV, these women
(whether it was Fox, Mellinger, Sideroff, Blackshear, Anani, Couch or, on
Friday, Hallback and McCarter) really know how to fight." Now while ESPN
deserves credit for telecasting Women's boxing, certainly in relation to the
other broadcast and cable networks, their announcer's sense of amazement at
the fact that there are two women boxers who actually know what they're
doing in the ring takes on a disconcerting sense for the fan of "been there,
heard that".
Such "faint praise" was repeated on the air, almost word-for-word, on Friday
night as Hallback and McCarter went ten rounds that was so clearly the best
fight of the night in San Diego that it would have qualified as the top
fight on almost any boxing card. It was once again proof that "styles make
fights." This was a classic matchup of a heavy punching, straight ahead
fighter in Hallback, against a clever counter-punching, ring wise boxer in
McCarter. Such matchups are always difficult bouts to score, given the
historical difficulty that counter punchers have getting points from ring
judges (think back to Billy Graham, the Greenwich Village boxer, not the
preacher, of the fifties). One ringside judge, on Friday, had the fight
99-91 Hallback, while Teddy Atlas, doing "color" on ESPN and an astute
"judge" of boxing ability had McCarter in front 96-95 (I had it 6-3-1
Hallback, 97-94). No one, however, had the slightest disagreement with the
fact that such a fight and such fighters deserve regular exposure.
However,as stated, boxing fans who follow the sport of Women's boxing have
heard this before. Following a quality female boxing bout, and
Hallback/McCarter certainly was that, there is always a brief public clamor
for additional exposure for the sport of Women's boxing. Just as surely,
however, that ground swell expires and ESPN moves on to the next boxing
card, usually a male-only card, and then another and then another and soon
the memory of how really good the Hallback/McCarter fight or the Anani/Couch
or Sideroff/Blackshear or Fox/Mellinger fight really was fades from memory
until the next two quality women boxers climb up the ring steps and the
cycle begins once again: The conversations go something like this:
During the telecast: "Wow, these women can fight"
Next Day: "Lets get more of these type of fights on the air"
Next Three Weeks: Silence....Silence....deafening silence
Three Months Later: "Hey, you know what, we haven't had a women's bout on
the air in a few months, lets put one on" During that telecast: "Wow, these
women can......", well you get the idea.
The sport of Women's boxing has never had so many quality fighters than at
the present time. The problem is that the sport and these fighters are only
getting sporadic exposure on ESPN, the only network whose coverage of the
sport could, charitably, be called "regular." Sumya Anani, for example, has
not been on ESPN for over a year and then for only one round. The fighter
many consider the best pound/pound boxer in the sport has been on the
network for two minutes in fourteen months. The word for that is "absurd."
Thus, in the interest of good fellowship and my natural instinct toward
helpfulness, let me proffer a matchup that ESPN could utilize as a follow-up
bout to Hallback /McCarter. Both Chevelle Hallback and Layla McCarter have
fought and lost to a fighter who has not, as yet, gotten the recognition she
deserves. Her name is Mary Jo Sanders and she has a ten round win over
Hallback and a six round decision over McCarter. It was established on
Friday night just how good Hallback and McCarter are; one can only imagine
how good Sanders is. A matchup with Sumya Anani is a natural; Sanders is a
terrific boxer, Anani, is a.... well, an Anani, a heavy-handed puncher who
knows only one direction, forward. If styles make fights, Anani/Sanders
seems to have "great one" written all over it.
The ESPN announcers were deservedly effusive in their praise of Friday's
Hallback/McCarter bout, but boxing fans have "been there, heard that".
Praise for two skilled female fighters is wonderful, but boxing fans can't
watch praise. They want to watch good fights, good female boxers. Those
boxers are "out there"; two of them showed up on ESPN on Friday night, and
were the highlight of the night. But, Friday night is over, the time for
"talking the talk" about the sport of Women's boxing is over; the time for
stepping up, the time for "walking the talk" and providing the sport of
Women's boxing the type of ongoing network exposure it deserves is here.
It's been here for a long time. Here's hoping ESPN is up to the challenge.
Start with Anani/Sanders and go from there.
Bernie McCoy
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
To Comment
about this article, Go Here
Hot Top Comments will be Published! |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
