“War is a Racket, Always has been and always will be. Few
profit and many end up paying”
Smedley Butler
Truer words have ever been spoken, only a select few know the
truth behind a war and yet in boxing everybody “knows”. When rich men in suits
posture and feign disgust while both providing a watered down service at
inflationary prices only boxing fans believe they deserve that product. Now
that Floyd Mayweather is searching to do business in this so called hostile
environment we are confronted with a “product” guaranteed to be overvalued in
this surreal marketplace- Amir Khan. Yes, he of quick hands British accent and
shaky chin is now available to you at a 75$ clip because Golden Boy is taking
their act global! War usually leads to shortage of supply in commodities and in
this case the shortage is of welterweights who the public believes can beat
Mayweather. But it won’t matter once the Showtime hype machine starts rolling,
when they’re done with him many of you reading this will believe he’s competent
at your own peril. And those of you already committed to the (cough) “war” will
say he’s even more live than Pacquiao, Hall of Fame credentials be damned.
Cue the lights and camera’s because the boy can talk shit
too, a great “fight selling” tool when you’re woefully overmatched and lacking
credentials. War profiteers often exploit the largess of the state by
overselling them commodities they really don’t need like mosquito nets and
second tier junior welterweights. Few contractors profit from the
delusional premise that Khan should be on this stage but War offers advancement
to he who is willing to propagandize a meritless cause. Floyd Mayweather has an
online propaganda arm in full bloom for those acolytes willing to obsess on
Manny Pacquiao’s finances and Virgil Hunter calls Khans “troubling speed”. He
also has family members as disinformation agents belittling Manny Pacquiao just
enough to keep you from focusing on the fact that turning Khan into a threat
will be a feat insurmountable by even Don Draper himself. Amir Khan will profit
greatly from all of this because anyone approaching truthful analysis about the
Brits “level” will be shot down and called a “broke hater”- and many of you can’t
stomach the thought. This synthetic War apparatus will protect him as it will
those who engage in staging “Pacquiao vs. Marquez 10” in 2015. Once a profiteer
has his claws into the revenue stream of phony war it’ll be hard to get him off
of the Government dole-which is why we still care about what Victor Ortiz is
going to “do” in the future.
Khan is so intent on getting his Government bailout that he’s
hinted at fighting Pacquiao if the Mayweather deal falls through; he’s no
stranger to the fact that these two have been “using” one another to market
themselves for years. Remember, in fake wars profiteers have no real allegiance
and will sell pieces of themselves to whoever is willing to overpay; only
Miguel Cotto swam this political swamp having delivered valuable services. Shane
Mosley? not so much. The “state” (Top Rank/Golden Boy) only appear to be at a
stalemate much like Democrats and Republicans but the truth is war allows them
to inflate value and further control those already under contract. They also
have the ability to govern with the consent of the fans who don’t realize our
PPV “buys” are construed as votes for the continuation of shadow Government.
They are behind the scenes a single monopolistic force who leverages one
another as the NFL leverages existing franchises with the threat of expansion
to LA.
War profiteers are shameless creatures who exploit the
suffering of the whole to become one of the benefiting few. Khan is a product
of this designed chaos, he’s seen guys of his ilk line up and get paid so he
wants his handout too-and why not? He’s got 1.4 million twitter followers mate.
This war seems to be designed to deny the historic and important and replace it
with rhetorical fan chatter and a ton of rushed, not ready for primetime
puppies. You know how I can tell Danny Garcia will be an All Time Great?
because he’s clearly better than Khan and Broner and yet he isn’t itching to
get at Mayweather. Somehow (unlike the guy he beat handily) Garcia knows the
machine can turn him into a credible B side for a career high payday but he’s
content with the long play that he may possibly
be
Floyd in 5 years. Without a bunch of youngsters with instant gratification
issues this war is at a standstill, under peacetime coherence the Brandon
Rios’s and Amir Khans of the world sort themselves amongst each other while
Manny and Floyd tend to historic business. But no, we are led to believe that
incredibly wealthy men simply don’t like one another while men with similar grievances
make BILLIONS with one another in every other industry daily. The belief in a
War that makes grown men act like middle school girls is the belief in the
cover story being fed the uninitiated-when the truth is somehow this thing is
more profitable for all involved parties this way. One would have to suspend
his faculties of reason to accept Amir Khan as anything more than another line
item of the overhead needed to keep the charade (I mean war) going.
Amir Khan is doing his part by acting as if he wants
Mayweather more than he wants money, when you sign a bout agreement before your
number is called son it’s about the money. By round 4 like most Mayweather foes
Khan will run out of answers and his true colors will show. He’ll behave like
the paid patsy he is and start protecting future paydays as opposed to fighting
with little regard for tomorrow, you know like the guy he barely survived back
in 2011. Back then he was fighting for more, back then he at least had the
inkling that he might be special. That ship has sailed, and all that’s left is
to exploit the Cold War to get paid like he’s special. In May he’ll be
reminding us of our complicity and apathy, and our willingness to accept
anything power tells us is reality- and yes “power” includes the networks who
KNOW their use of the phrase “Cold War” is legitimizing to the promoters.
Speaking truth to power is hard in wartime, and few benefit from pointing out
the obvious-those who tell you to accept life as a casualty are usually those
who like to call themselves the winners. But history can be cruel to many Wars
and boxing history is only kind to wars that occur in the squared circle.
The History of Boxing will not forgive for the things we
obsess upon daily, and there’s no room for larva like Tommy Summers or even the
esteemed Al Haymon. History is for the fighters and what they did and didn’t do;
history is cold and devoid of nuance much like accounting. Maybe one day there
will be a book about these fascinating times (look for a subsidiary of Ring
Magazine to publish it) but characters like Khan won’t register in real history
books. When independent historians who aren’t beholden to the machine look at
it they will examine it as political scientist does this country “after” JFK.
Without the “WAR” you cannot justify how soon guys like Khan and Ortiz have
reached this PPV status, with the War Mayweather and Pacquiao function as tools
meant to add value to the whole stable of Welterweight talent regardless of whether
they’re ready or not. “Bigger Checks Sooner” is what I call it. The model
works, and we’ll never know if any of them could have grown into fighters who
could legitimately retire Mayweather or Pacquiao because it don’t pay as well
nor as soon. Amir Khan is perfect for this climate and if he’s OK with being “cash
out” insert
opponent here then more power to him.
But just don’t tell me it’s a War.
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