By Joey Combs, Doghouse Boxing. - With so much talk of "boxing is dead" or, god forbid, someone says that MMA (UFC) is what boxing "used to be", is better than boxing, etc.., you'd think that boxing forums would be going the way of the dodo. Having been in a boxing forum, practically living here for going on 8 years I have seen a lot.

Not to get into my personal biography, but I joined this very forum I'm now, eh-hem, "writing for" (if you can call it that), early 2004. I first joined, IMMEDIATLY after one of my heroes, Roy Jones Jr. was knocked unconscious by Antonio Tarver. I came, because, well ironically perhaps, because I no longer really have any boxing friends that I could cry on someone's shoulder and hopefully have someone to share my shock and grief with. Anyway, to make it short, that's how I come to know this aspect of the sport..."THE BOXING FORUM".

I don't believe I had ever, or at least rarely, met as passionate a fans, at least not in mass, as I did the first day I signed up for that forum. Of course, that night, Roy Jones greatness, or lack thereof in some cases, was the hot topic. But what amazed me, having found less and less "real life" fans to talk about this sport with, was there were tons of fans on the boxing chat portion of the forum that night. We were a relatively new forum at that point but the amount of members online was amazing to me. Opinions about that fight aside, almost EVERYONE knew boxing. I don't mean they knew how to box themselves, or all the technical fine points, but they knew, at least, the recent history of the sport and the intelligent debate was really quite a humbling experience for me.

I guess, at the time, I really wasn't thinking about "the decline of boxing". I know I had been aggravated for years that less friends of mine were watching boxing (since the fall of Mike Tyson) so the boxing forum was like candy to me, a real treat. Of course there was some not so tasty candy in the forums (guys that totally disagreed with me, lol) but it was just a pleasure to share what knowledge of the game I had with likeminded individuals.

Over the years, we went through many hot topic debates, beginning with the greatness of Roy Jones Jr. vs. the legitimacy of his opponents, then on to the great debate of the best Mexican fighter in boxing, Marco Antonio Barrera or Eric Morales (although that debate was going on when I joined the forum, and carried the forum for several years). As far as boxing forums go, this was the golden years, the Barrera/Morales feud, the final realization, amongst us all, that Bernard Hopkins might just be, "SOMETHING SPECIAL". Still, in my personal life, personal friends, almost none of them were talking boxing, even the old diehards. Only when Tyson fought Lennox Lewis, and when Lewis put my boxing friends’ dreams to bed, no more boxing talk, except the good ol' internet boxing forum.

By the time the third Barrera/Morales fight took place, the forums were abuzz again, new life. Again, a little controversy made for a whole LOT of debate. I mean it's amazing really, one great fight, two equally great followings can sustain a forums activity for at least a year. Fewer members might be posting in between fights, but come fight night and you look at the bottom of that page and we are a full house. Really, if you're off work, out of work, work in an office, who else are you going to just break into a conversation of who could beat who, Marvin Hagler or Bernard Hopkins? In reality, you can't fully debate someone face to face over some of these things, even if you have dozens of boxing buddies, not without a real life fist fight breaking out. At this time, probably 3 years in I was beginning to see where the real fan hangs out, boxing forums, and what truly is keeping the sport going. I mean with prediction leagues, national rivalry, even the racial rivalry, keeps ALL of us interested, keeps the diehards appetites just satisfied enough.

But after Barrera came out, clearly to some of us, not so clear to others, as the premiere Mexican fighter, a little known, not heard of for awhile anyway, "oddity" was about to make some noise. Manny Pacquiao shows up on an HBO card, just another Asian fighter that doesn't have the skill to compete against the premiere fighters at the top levels, and he walks through a really solid fighter, laughing, throwing up his hands and mocking after each punch connects to his face, in route to an exciting knockout victory. I'm sure a few of are interests were peaked, but I also doubt that many of us were thinking "that's the next number one pound for pound fighter right there". There may have been some small chatter in the boxing forums, nothing really noteworthy or major activity pertaining to Manny. However at this time I do believe a large number of Filipino fans were scooting closer to the edge of their computer chairs, just waiting to see what would happen, waiting to have someone to cheer for wholeheartedly once again, dreaming of a great heritage of guys like Pancho Villa. Heck, Pancho Villa (born Francisco Guilledo in the Philippines), the greatest Filipino boxer of all-time changed his name to the great Mexican revolutionary (ironic) now we have one of the latest greatest national rivalries in boxing; the Mexican boxer/fan vs the Filipino boxer/fan. At least I find that ironic and interesting...This lead into the demise of Marco Antonio Barrera, to some extent, as the best "little man" in boxing. Yes I know, we had Floyd Mayweather Jr., but Floyd was just big enough not to be a true little man, and Floyd was starting to contemplate his move to higher weights, for bigger money. Floyd, at this time, was generally thought of as ultra talented and extremely skilled but wasn't quite going over with fans. There were some diehard fans who love the technical aspects that were already starting to tout Floyd as the best fighter in boxing, over Roy Jones Jr., since Roy's TKO loss, and also over Bernard Hopkins who I think had taken over the pound for pound number one position on Ring Magazine's list, after Barrera's loss to Pac...speaking of which, a whole NEW set of topics for all our forums, and new life into boxing, the newfound Mexican/Filipino rivalry. Now we were searching for, or at least Mexican fans and forum members were, a "Mexican hope" to beat this little Filipino boxer (who I think reminded them a little bit too much of their own fighter's best attributes).

Enter Eric Morales, although Eric had lost 2 out of 3 to Barrera, he was still probably edging out Barrera in terms of popularity. Eric had always represented the more working class Mexican, coming from the streets and poverty with his great heart, hard work, and learned craft and just had the ultimate fighter's attitude. With his size, range, and fierce national pride, he was the man that was going to take the cocky Filipino out, and shut up all the "NEW" Filipino fans (who, according to most forum members that weren't Filipino, didn't know anything about boxing, unless it was a Filipino fighters) were thinking he was just another Mexican that couldn't take their man's fierce onslaught. Again, the forums, everywhere were rejuvenated with this upcoming matchup. Mouths were constantly running, excuses were being made for Barrera's loss and predictions of how a focused Eric Morales was going to bring about the end of Manny's little "Mexican killer" run brought out the best, and worst, of boxing discussion in the forums. Boxing wasn't dead, it really wasn't even having a hard time breathing, we were breathing new life into her and she was inhaling it and starting to thrive again. Morales of course won, although not by a wide enough margin to convince any of the Filipino fans to think it was a clear cut win. That left us in even better shape. Manny had a rematch coming, and he had been coming on a little in the first fight. A loss in between for Morales didn't stop any fans from prediction Eric would whip Manny, yet again, and maybe stop him this time. Of course the Filipino forum member knew Manny had been working on his game with Roach and rumors of his newfound right hook was a topic. Manny won this fight, by knockout, and the forums were again bustling with Filipino fans, some not so gracious, others fairly gracious, giving it to our Mexican fans and Morales backers. I was, at this time, starting to hear a little more about boxing on regular sports shows on ESPN, Manny's name was getting mentioned some. Floyd's name was also getting in the picture.

Not that Floyd is lesser than Manny, it's just that Floyd was so dominant, so precise, but wasn't really struggling and wasn't fighting these great Mexican champions, he wasn't quite as topic friendly or popular as discussing Manny, at least for a 3 or so year period there when Manny was fighting, Barrera, Morales, and Marquez (who I'm leaving out of this for now). But Floyd made a buzz because, smart as usual, he decided to move up in weight for bigger paydays, but by doing it against possibly the most popular fighter of the mid 2000's, the late, great, Arturo "THUNDER" Gatti. Now this lead to some interesting forum topic discussion, especially from a few diehard Gatti fans. Of course most of us, the general consensus, knew that Gatti was in over his head. But the popularity of Gatti, the heart and will, the memory of all those old comeback wins, we were wanting to see this fight. Floyd, at this time we were just starting to realize the smarts this guy had. His normal greatness, with a little bit of bragging, and in my opinion, slight lack of that "catchy" personality that just reaches out and grabs a fan (Muhammad Ali), decided to become "THE BAD GUY". He drove Gatti fans irate with his belittling Gatti, brining Gatti's personal demons into the discussion. Floyd was just starting to become "Money". This brought out a whole other group of fans, just like with the new Filipino fan, now Floyd was beginning to get some new fans, younger fans that maybe hadn't grasped on to Floyd's pure virtuoso skills before, they did like his embracing the role of the bad guy. Now the forums, yet again, had a new pick me up. It seems every time there is a little bit of a let down, boxing finds a new drug (no, not EPO) for a "pick me up" to get us out of our boredom. Unfortunately Gatti couldn't muster anything against the supreme skills of Floyd. The fight may have lead to a little interest, or maybe like throwing a napkin on a fire, for the diehard Floyd fans, it quickly burnt out simply because no one really gave Gatti a chance. But Floyd had other things in mind, money was the main thing, in his next 5 out of 6 fights, all against big names and at least once upon a time, great fighters. Floyd's dominance over each man, from Judah all the way up to urine ingesting Juan Manuel Marquez, had gained him ultra fan support from his diehard fans, a lot of purists, and also the growing young crowd and new fan that liked his brazen ways.

But the fuel to the recent fire, what has kept a whole lot of boxing fans, forum members appetites not quite satisfied, but the smell of that dinner is still out there, is of course, Floyd "Money" Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, "The Pacman". This fight has been about 3 years coming, still doesn't seem a damn bit closer than it did 3 years ago, but it's the most hotly debated topic in the forums, all forums, everywhere that are boxing related. And it's basically due to great fans, on both sides, yes I said, BOTH sides, the Pac fan and the Floyd fan. Boxing may be practically dead in my small community, but on these boxing forums, it is very much alive. We have went through a fairly extensive "down period", longer than normal since Barrera and Morales were defeated and went past their primes, and waiting, waiting, and more waiting for "dirty Manny to take the test", or for "chicken Floyd to man up and not ask for extra stipulations". We've had some good scraps waiting though, Katsidis and Marquez, Berto vs. Ortiz, and even recently with the Rios/Antillion fight, but we are still waiting. The forums, at least here at DHB, are seeing less traffic through the week, or not on a fight night. Boxing isn't dead however, it is waiting, waiting for these two great fighters, and they ARE both GREAT fighters, to sign the contract. We aren't dead, we are the boxing fan, we are the thriving force that keeps this great sport alive by supporting the brave contestants that compete in it. We won't let her die, but maybe we will let her take a little nap...until an exciting offensive heavyweight comes along, or until Floyd and Manny meet in that squared circle, nighty-night.

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Write for Doghouse Boxing: anthonyc1974@gmail.com.

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