An open letter to the Australian Sports Media

Dear Biased Morons

In the wake of such a roller coaster ride for Australian Boxing during the first week of this month, I just wanted to say how great it is that the mainstream sports media in Australia has finally decided to cover local boxing again. The main problem I have with your coverage is what it was that you actually covered. In the past seven days we had one of our own fighters unify the titles in a weight division in which the titles had never been unified in, yet what you covered in detail to those people who aren’t as interested in boxing was a bunch of young, stupid and missguided (and probably drunk) thugs who don’t represent this great sport in any way, shape or form behaving in an appalling manner.

(For those of you who read this and don’t know what I’m referring to, check out the youtube clip below)

My main problem with the way you cover boxing is the bad message you always seem to try and send. It’s very rare that you’ll cover boxing on the news and when you do it’s because of something like this. How is boxing in this country meant to get anywhere when the only time it gets mainstream coverage is because of a rare occurance like what happened on the Central Coast last night? What sort of message does this send about boxing when you show the one card that ends in a brawl out of the countless cards that have gone smoothly that you haven’t shown? It wouldn’t annoy me as much if boxing was shown on mainstream news shows more and shown for the boxing, but your frequent attempts to label boxing as some sort of freakshow I frankly find quite insulting.

Last Sunday we saw Vic Darchinyan accomplish something that only a handful of other Australian boxers have accomplished in winning a legitimate World title, yet this achievement earned zero coverage the following morning on all of the mainstream morning shows. However, every station was quick to show an Englishmen winning his first World title in Formula One. Why would you give so much coverage to a foreigner accomplishing something like that, yet ignore one of our own when he does exactly the same thing. You give Rugby League players who come over to the sport of boxing and fight stiffs more coverage then you gave Darchinyan which I also find extremely insulting.

Imagine if you covered Rugby League’s State of Origin every year in extremely small detail yet showed every local match that had a massive punch-up involved in it? Imagine if the A-League Grand Final got a 20 second wrap-up like Darchinyan’s fight did last Sunday and then you showed a reserve match in Sydney Club Football where the local supporters who didn’t like each other decided to duke it out? This is exactly what you do when it comes to boxing. These other sports have the exact same problems when it comes to local competition, yet it’s only ever boxing that you show when things turn ugly.

Boxing is a very controversial sport and I’m not going to try and claim it isn’t no matter how big a fan of the sport I am, but the way in which you cover it makes it seem like its a place where the lowest of the low gather and carry out some sick sadistic ritual. When you cover the sport with such bias it labels people like me who appreciate the sport like the martial art that it is as freaks who get off on watching violence.

Basically all I’m trying to say is that if it’s alright for you to show local boxing on free to air news where the masses can watch it, then at least have the common courtesy to us boxing fans to show the good part of it at some stage. We have some good quality boxers in this country (who aren’t Anthony Mundine or Danny Green) like Michael Katsidis, Jamie Pittman, Daniel Geale as well as Elomar and Kickett, yet they get less coverage then you’re average Rugby League player who isn’t half the athlete that any of those guys are. Be reasonable and show the sport for what it is, not what you think it is.

Yours sincerely
‘Angry Fight Fan’

PS- if any of you have any rebuttal, my email is angryfightfan@hotmail.com

Did the Hopoate fight suck or is it just me?

I’m always very firm in my stance on issues in boxing. There are times when people will make me see the other way and I’m always the first to admit when I’m wrong. On Wednesday night I was roped into watching the Australian heavyweight title fight between ex-Rugby League player John Hopoate and Australian veteran ‘Big’ Bob Mirovic at my local pub by my mates. This fight had a bit of a hype behind it and for some reason was shown on pay per view (thats another issue for another day). What I saw was easily the worst main event I’ve ever seen on a pay per view broadcast, which when I’ve checked the various message boards I lurk around in from time to time is in complete contrast to everyone elses opinion. This has really left me wondering where people set their standards or if it’s just me who thought this fight made Holyfield-Ruiz look like Castillo-Corrales?

The fight basically consisted of Mirovic doing nothing but tying up Hopoate and letting him fight the fight he had to in order to win the fight. Mirovic is usually very good at controlling the center of the ring, yet he was contempt to go to the ropes in this fight and let Hopoate wail away at him with his right hand (note that’s not an exaggeration or anything, Hopoate threw basically nothing but overhand rights until he strung a few punches together at the end and knocked Bob out with a left hook). The few times that Mirovic did back Hopoate up, he made him look very ordinary. I really don’t see where the quality in this fight lay? The action was sporadic at best with Hopoate winging wild right hand after wild right hand and Mirovic doing nothing but holding and throwing shots in the clinch. Yet both commentators labelled the fight as ‘the best heavyweight fight in the last 10 years.’ Yet you only have to go back to the Nathan Briggs vs Colin Wilson bout last Friday to find a better heavyweight scrap.

My theory on the whole thing is that Australian boxing promoters are trying to attract more fans from Rugby League. Thats why John Hopoate and Solomon Haumono have headlined pay per view events. Thats why that moron Andy Raymond who’s a Rugby League commentator with as much boxing knowledge as my left toe always commentates Australian Boxing outside of the Mundine shows. Thats why these so called experts are always talking up the Rugby League players and not rating them purely on their ability (or lack thereof) and their fights. Thats why we have people who don’t deserve to be on top flight professional cards like Lance Thompson end up as co main events on pay per view cards.

It seems boxing can’t survive as a proper sport in this country without having to resort to attracting the average moron from Rugby League as a fan. I find it completely insulting that hardworking top flight Australian boxers are looked over in favour of rugby league fans. If boxing in Australia is going to survive it needs to be because of the sport itself. There are plenty of good fighters out there, there just isn’t enough exposure to them. Boxing needs free to air coverage for domestic cards like there is in other countries and it needs it’s journalists to grow some balls and say it how it is. They need to bag Mundine when he fights a bum and they need to say Hopoate’s fight was shit when it was shit.

Nazi Josef Goebbels said ‘the bigger the lie the mroe people will believe it.’ That line fits this situation well here. The pay per view in Australian domestic boxing has to stop. When Mundine fights you get idiots like Barry Michael talking up this average Argentinian who got gifted a shot at the World title as a legitimate contender and the public soaks it up. When Hopoate and Mirovic wrestle for 9 and a half rounds and do a bit of boxing on the side you get Paul Upham and Fuck Face Andy Raymond saying it was the greatest heavyweight fight in recent memory. If people are going to to take boxing seriously they need to sell boxing for the boxing and not for the sideshow. They need to get some proper experts who aren’t going to suck the promoters cock like Andy Raymond as commentators and they need to put boxing back on free to air. And most importantly, they need to stop showing garbage like Mirovic vs Hopoate on pay per view and then try and convince the public it was a great fight!

Breaking down Azumah Nelson vs Jeff Fenech III

This fight is only a few hours away. I’ve been racking my brain, but I can’t think of a time ever when two guys who have both already been inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame have fought each other inside the ring. This has to be a first. While it’s not really a great record, I think this will be an interesting fight.

Being Australian, I want to see Jeff Fenech avenge that ridiculous draw. The first fight between these two had to be the worst decision I’ve ever seen in boxing. If anyone found 4 rounds to give to Azumah Nelson in that fight, they should pluck their eyes out and give them to someone with some use for them. However, unlike most Australians, I don’t hate Azumah Nelson. The man is an absolute legend of the sport. The way he bounced back to avenge the loss to Fenech is stuff I really like to see in boxing. While I think Fenech may not have had his best night in the rematch, Nelson proved that he was a much better fighter then the first fight showed.

This fight is hard to pick a winner in for a simple reason; we don’t know what either man really has. Fenech hasn’t fought since being knocked out by Phillip Holliday in a bid to win the IBF lightweight title, and Nelson hasn’t fought since losing a decision to Jesse James Leija. Both of these fights happened 10 years ago. Predicting a winner in this fight is really a stab in the dark, but it’s not impossible

What we did learn from the first two fights is that Fenech is going to have to crowd Nelson like he did in the first fight (and to a certain degree in the second fight before he was knocked out) and Nelson will want to keep this fight on the outside. Even in the first fight Nelson had his success fighting from the outside in the early rounds before Fenech started to repeatedly trap him on the ropes and punish him. I think the two big factors in this fight will be Azumah Nelson’s punching power and his stamina.

Fenech didn’t like it when he tasted The Professor’s power in the rematch, he was dropped three times and hurt on a few occasions by big shots from Nelson. Nelson is an incredibly technical puncher who puts a lot of power into each shot he throws, and with Fenech’s advanced age his reflexes will be slowed meaning he’s going to have to taste it at some stage. Fenech though looks in incredible shape for a man of his age, so I think the longer this fight goes the better chance he has.

I’m picking Nelson to win by knockout in the first 5 rounds. I think people underestimate how seriously he’s taken this fight and forget the fact that he solved the Jeff Fenech puzzle in the rematch. I’m also a tiny bit concerned that Fenech was seen drinking alcohol in every episode of the reality show that was being taped in the weeks leading up to tonight. You can bet everything you own that Nelson hasn’t touched a drink since he knew about this fight. Even though Fenech looks to be in better shape, I think Nelson’s stamina will be just fine. If Fenech gets through the first few rounds unscathed I think he’ll win a close, but unanimous decision. However, I just can’t see him handling Nelsons power. Azumah Nelson by 4th round knockout!