Broken Records And Bloody Noses

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By Jason Petock, Doghouse Boxing (March 14, 2014)

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Boxing, much like life itself, is a true paradigm - complete will all of the ups and downs, highs and lows, and everything else in-between that you would typically expect to find in existence. Yet there are facets of boxing that many people do not experience in their lives, mainly the pain, blood, sweat and often tears that come with years of abuse to your body and mind for the chance at glory and notoriety in an unforgiving and relentless discipline that favors brutality for our sole entertainment. Some would argue that boxers have made that selection and do not deserve any pity or regard. Others, adverse to such an opinion, might say that the fighters are products of their environment and had no other choice. Whatever a person's stance on boxing or boxers, one thing is certain, and that is the persistence and unyielding influence that the media has on the spectator sport.

The boxing media is an interesting thing to behold. Watching it manipulate and mold the minds of even the staunchest of boxing fans is as much a display of the inner mechanism of sociology as it is psychology. Legions of writers and reporters scribe their thoughts and ideas about this fighter or that, often with only the exclusive purpose of building their own fan base and egos in the process. The boxer is secondary and only a platform for the critic to pass judgment on, over-analyze and construct his or her own reputation and false sense of intelligence about all things boxing. Experience has been known since the dawn of time to be the best teacher, far better and more grounded than mere supposition and conjecture. But guesswork is what these "experts" make a living off of. Estimating this and figuring that. Backpedaling when they make a mistake and flip-flopping like a slimy politician in front of the cameras.

And slimy is what writers are. The majority of them do not speak from the heart or from a place of honesty. They speak from the ego and self. Far be it for any of them to think of humbling themselves and honoring what they supposedly know everything about. Because here is a giant news flash, a blast from the past if you will. They do not know anything. Everything is a well-formulated (or not so well-formulated) "educated" guess. Which translates into layman's terms as this - pretty much everything that you read from these industry "giants" is bullshit. Plain, simple, equivocated bullshit. The boxing media is there to deliberately be unclear and speak as vaguely as possible in terms to not only what they are covering but their thoughts on how all of the events are unfolding. They do not have much faith in the intelligence of not only the fans but of everyone else involved in the sport, from the managers, trainers, cut men, everyone else in-between, right down to the fighter who does all of the work in the ring.

So this exposure here which really isn't any kind of reporting on any fighter, or upcoming fight, or past fight could be seen as a broken record to many. Which is fine considering that the majority of any if not most of what you will read today on the boxing threads on any site will be just that - a poor attempt at a repeat. You will see 4 or 5 writers writing about the exact same thing almost identically. Then you will see articles that are almost carbon-copied from other "journalists." The best ones to read though, so you get the most bang for your buck (thankfully you're smart enough not to pay for this crap hopefully), are the ones that look as if they scanned through another writer's work and then pulled specific things and called them their own. Original thought is a tough sell in this country and free ideas and thinking for yourself is a dying art and scarce. Besides, most fans don't appreciate or enjoy hearing about ideas that are outside of the limits of boxing journalism. They want consistency, mass agreement, and most of all - familiarity in what they read.

The false dichotomy that exists in this world, especially in boxing, is what creates so many blinded fans and writers. Of course there are rivalries in boxing and competition, which is to be expected. It is the name of game. And what a brutal game it is. I have been a boxing fan for as long as I can remember and the one things that hasn't changed much is the politics, bickering, division, and glory hounds that surround pugilism on every level. These things don't have to be a part of anyone's life if they do not want them to be. So many people say, "That's the way things are," or "That's the way they've always been." But this is a falsity. They remain that way in boxing because people allow it to be that way. And as long as there remains a collective consensus that believes everything they read out there, then nothing will ever change and I think that's the way a great deal of people out there want boxing to be sadly. That's why I don't bother writing as much these days, mainly because I'm not looking for a fan base or an argument. I just respect the activity and what it represents that much. Maybe that's been my problem all along.

If you have any questions, comments, complaints, kudos or anything else you can e-mail Jason at boxingwarrior@hotmail.com.
Always remember when in doubt knock ‘em out!

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