By Jason Peck: Walk into the average American sports bar on fight night and watch the other patrons in between rounds. Odds are they haven’t seen a fight in some time. They couldn’t name a dozen active fighters. Hell, try a half-dozen. But they do know that at the end of this broadcast Manny Pacquiao will fight. Too bad all these other bums get in the way.
Who cares about them? You’re not supposed to care. They weren’t in HBO’s 24/7 specials, they didn’t make the rounds on Jimmy Kimmel and Sportscenter. And so when these undercard fighters thrown on a hell of a show like Jorge Arce and Wilifredo Vasquez did last weekend, the kind that sizzled more than the main event – those patrons don’t really notice. What a shame. If Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley had fought like those two, it would have shocked an apathetic public to its senses on boxing. And by the way, Arce entered the record books last night.
Former flyweight Jorge Arce finally became the first Mexican fighter in history to win world title in four weight divisions – light flyweight, flyweight, super-flyweight and finally super-bantamweight. I always fought it rather amazing that Mexico of all places never produced a quadruple-weight champion, considering the huge volume of fighters they produce.
Nevertheless, the best Mexican fighters – meaning some of the best in history – failed. Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales are both guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famers when they hang the gloves up (hopefully soon!) but both of their well-hyped attempts fell short. Juan Manuel Marquez’s chances of landing four divisions appear slimmer whenever he moves higher than lightweight. Four divisions even eluded Julio Cesar Chavez, arguably Mexico’s greatest pugilist.
I mean come on – this is a big deal for boxing buffs. And even if the history doesn’t matter, then you have another bonus – that was one helluva fight.
And yet the next day I checked the news and had a hard time finding any mention of Arce’s milestone. Instead every spare scrap of attention went toward lauding a certain fighter from the Philippines. Did you know that he might fight Floyd Mayweather? That’s right – other fighters exist.
That’s why I’m cynical about mega-fights like the hypothetical Pacquiao-Mayweather match. It’s good for the sport in the short-term, it’ll make a bit of money and put us on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Hell, maybe it’ll happen twice – once for the lead-up, then once for the winner. I think the fight could be that big. But what then?
My real question…what does the public really come out for when a fight of this magnitude is thrown? Do they come for the sport, the pure love of pugilism? Or…do they come for the spectacle?
If it was really the love of boxing, there would have been a few more people watching Jorge Arce make history.
Congratulations at any rate, Jorge. You looked pretty good out there and made your people proud, but just make sure that you know when to call it quits. After more than 60 fights, you’re not a young 31.