Boxing And Free Speech From April 2012

Boxing and The First Amendment

By Martin Wade

 

I have bad news to announce boxing fans; from the looks of Max Kellermans “Face Off” and the first episode of 24/7 Floyd Mayweather won’t be saying anything that challenges your humanity. Miguel Cotto is just too damned worthy of Floyd's respect as a fighter and more importantly as a man, there’s nothing in his “story” that will attract Floyd to cross the line-this may be a much needed departure for Floyd’s pastor but boring for the sycophants. In the meantime many of us are either counting the days until the NBA play-offs or listening to the grainy Gregg Williams audio encouraging violent men to be violent. Mind you his words led to an ass kicking courtesy the San Francisco 49’ers but it was the “intent” that on many levels have many “thoughtful” fans who scream for murder on Sunday to question the assistant coaches “morals”. Or just maybe you’ve dined on the Ozzie Guillan apology press conference where he expressed remorse (to Miami’s Cuban elite) for the dumbass “big ups” he gave to Fidel Castro. While the hypocrisy is filling my throat like a room with no windows and Snoop Dog I think about the Right to Free Speech and how our “sport” in some ways function within the true spirit of the First amendment.

For Better or Worse.

Like most people with nothing to lose there’s a true liberty and ability to play it fast and loose when nobody gives a damn about you. A speech like the one Gregg Williams made (to the Saints Defense) is not only tame but low functioning in a sport like ours, where the sole object is to injure the man across the ring from you. Essentially what he “suggested” is put in even more graphic terms between every round of every fight witnessed by viewers; hence there is no sponsor funded delusion about what it is your watching on HBO. When Boxers or those associated with Boxing say something that may not be politically incorrect our more civilized brethren simply shrug and say “of course, it’s boxing”. While whiny ex athletes line up to tell Skip Bayless he hurt their feelings boxing is an arena where feelings are the LAST thing to get hurt.

Investigator to Ray Robinson at 1947 Jimmy Doyle manslaughter hearing: When did you (Robinson) know you had him in trouble?

Robinson: “They pay me to get him in Trouble”

Martin Wade 2012: "Only a Boxer can say some shit like this".

 Unlike Football Fans we aren’t sheltered from the coarse, rough language of the sport, many of us use it ourselves when discussing fighters. Mike Tyson may have brought the Prison to the microphone but the Prison was in the sport as far back as Sonny Liston- face it, in highly masculine environments cats “say stuff” that would make a Croc wearer look for the exit. Could you see a vintage Don King talking to a mostly black defense about a white quarterback? Convincing them that the QB is a symbol for white male oppression? Boxing now yawns at the race card because it’s been on the table since Johnson vs. Jeffries in 1910. What men like King have done over the years is the opposite of Pete Rozelle; he used Free Speech to repel Corporate America from a violent product. If Boxing makes a Billion dollars in revenue it wouldn’t be to the benefit of many and there’s no infrastructure in place that would allow a network to simply buy all the rights to broadcast it. When Ricardo Mayorga insults a deceased parent or Mike Tyson threatens to rape journalists who do you turn to for economic sanction? What entity keeps Boxers from expressing themselves? Fans? Floyd Mayweather may have been “hatin” on Jeremy Lin but one thing he said does ring true, team sport athletes are bound to political correctness contractually-it’s called a morals clause.

Football Players, even the borderline convicts have to put on an appropriate face despite a work environment that is rooted in violence, homophobia and all manner of social debauchery. Dan Lebatard, Miami columnist while speaking about the recent pro Castro Ozzie Guillen statements put it best when he said “ if you’re gonna offend someone pick on someone with a poor advocacy group”. Howard Bryant called the Guillen situation a matter of “audience” not speech, Guillen would fit right in with Boxing. Boxing fans are nearly impossible to offend and even when we are we never take the next step because somewhere deep in our subconscious we know that the sport we love (legalized assault) is at its core offensive. We’ve yet to make the consumer connection between “withholding of goods and services’ and the Mayweather/Pacquiao debacle; that we pay subscription fees to entities that cannot guarantee us a “Super Bowl” in any division. Words can’t offend us because we’ve been bludgeoned into a perpetual state of desensitization -we’re numb to them because punches hold the real power.

Asian American advocacy groups went after the ESPN anchor that used Jeremy Lins name in stereotypical word puns and ignored “world famous” Floyd Mayweather. Why? Because ESPN and their corporate sponsors pay millions to stay above the fray and Floyd Mayweather is only financially tied to the IRS, his Children, and Sports Betting websites. Mayweather (episode 1, 24/7) even used a dogfighting analogy and dared PETA to confront him because “ima rock my mink coats”, but the people at PETA are big game hunters and Floyd (to them) is a corporate Welterweight. Even Larry Merchant can threaten to kick Mayweathers ass on live TV with no repercussions, can you imagine an NFL anchor expressing a clear negative bias towards a team or athlete? Would the NBA who (with kudos from black journalists) enforced a dress-code for the comfort of Corporate fat cats in the wine and cheese section allow an on air anchor to say what he really thinks of the baller formally known as Ron Artest? Freedom of speech is not immunity from consequences, especially when that speech interferes with somebodies money. In Boxing when PPV sales are weak you can count on inflammatory speech to drive the ‘buys” up in the week before a fight. Like pantomime theatre Bernard Hopkins tells an assembled media that no “white boy” will ever whip his ass, but the cynic in me believes he played the race card because it’s one of the few remaining dog whistles in the sport.

What would have tested the bounds of Free Speech is Naseem Hamed had he made an honest effort to avenge his April 2001 loss to Marco Antonio Barrera. Already an obnoxious lightning rod the well paid featherweight was known to express his Islamic faith after each and every fight. America was bloodthirsty back then and Islamaphobia was just starting to kick in after the atrocity of 9/11, had Hamed turned the tables on Barrera in the spring of 2002 we would have probably witnessed the most despised Boxer since a Vietnam draft era Muhammad Ali. By the way we owe a lot of our wiggle room to Muhammad Ali who covered more ground (as an active boxer) than most Politicians. He even made it possible for promoters and media types to flex their blowhard muscles and say whatever the hell they wanted during the buildup to major fights. In a lot of ways we are all verbally inheritors and the “Children of Ali”.

 No wonder the fight game is the last bastion for mavericks, charlatans and carnival barkers. Our media contingent is filled with individuals who tend to take their First Amendment Rights all too (cough) literally, including yours truly. Proudly, we boast the most interestingly wide spectrum of voices and our Internet presence is so ingrained that mainstream outlets have to go through us just to find the best writing on the sport. Frankly, I’m not sure I would know what to do if I witnessed a Boxing press conference that was politically correct. No scantily clad women because Women’s groups were watching, no profanity nor threats to render a foe KTFO-despite that being the safest and quickest way to avoid long-term health issues. Maybe Tecate could be attacked for financing such offensive behavior but can you see their customers calling for the cancellation of a fight?, hell, when Mexicans are offended they want their fighters to kick somebodies ass, apology not accepted. Even Freddie Roach (sadly) endured sickening attacks on his Parkinson’s condition with no intervention from Parkinson’s Advocacy Groups; this is because Roach even before being a Hall of Fame Trainer is a Fighter, he hits back. Boxing will always exist in the alternative universe where people say and do things without fear of censor because it isn’t something you play-and the people who do it aren’t the kind of people you golf with, it’s something you “live” because the fighters know the truth is in that squared ring- not in the spoken word.

 So, in the Spirit of my First Amendment rights I hope you enjoyed this article and if not you can kiss my black ass.

Saul Canelo Alvarez: Mayweather Is Next, I'm Ready!

WARNING TO PENN STATE: THE GLOVES ARE OFF

Due Process, oh don't worry Franco the Privileged always get due process-it's the underprivileged who don't have the luxury. This past Saturday's display of "us against the world" defiance from an institution who drew from the same arrogant well to cover up the abuse of young boys for YEARS was downright disgusting. And be forewarned that will be the last time i use the benign, quaint, generalized term "abuse" in this post. For you see i am not obligated to Disney, Nike, Fox or any other entity to keep my language palatable for apologist so if you don't like the gutter please stop reading now..but understand the gutter is where Penn State IS after Saturday. I also understand how language can be used to whitewash the most inhumane atrocities as white as the T-shirts worn at Happy Valley. Many of us don't realize that institutions who invest BILLIONS into social programs meant to Engineer and control the "have nots" use language that is quaint and seemingly benign. Like Due Process. Franco Harris is an intelligent man, like Matt Millen but I'm frankly sick and tired of people like him touting the accomplishments of Joe Paterno. Elite Football Players are identified by 12 years old, if they are smart, injury free and remain dominant in their age group they will do OK in life. A lot of the so called MEN Joe Paterno "created" would have been great football players ANYWHERE, many would have went pro, married hot women and made alot of money- None of their children would be underprivileged. None of them will have kids who are being raised with limited resources and mothers who jump at the chance to expose them to any male role models. The entitled students in that crowd Saturday who act as if something was taken from them will most likely be able to raise kids who don't have to sign up for programs like Sandusky's and that is the underlying class struggle. Nobody is going to ANALLY RAPE a child who is sheltered by two parents who have a College Education, and if they do there will be hell to pay. Franco is protecting an institution that showed it's true colors and he is showing his, instead of lowering their heads and being HAPPY they did not receive the Death Penalty, they chose the "WE ARE PENN STATE" route. They also brought attention to the fact that the gravy train driven by the Big 10 (AKA SEC Whipping Boys) and the NCAA is rolling right along. This defiance is a re-victimization of the children who were ANALLY RAPED ( that's right i said it again damnit) by those who don't have the decency to know when to shut the hell up and accept Moral Law. What message does it send? there is no Moral Code when you are privileged- when you are one of the haves you can make anything complicated much like the rationalizations we hear from the financial industry. Isn't it enough these children and the peons who witnessed them being ANALLY RAPED (3X's) had to suffer under the "Too Big to Fail" institutional control? must they continue to pile on with Proxies like Harris and the student body?. We don't want to see their stupid signs and bobble heads, and God Bless us all once this body of self righteous drones infiltrates an already broken corporate landscape. Joe Paterno was a MAN with many great qualities, but guess what? he liked money, he liked his stature and he minimized poor kids being ANALLY RAPED (4). Do you think if any of those kids had been the Grandchildren of donors who "broke PSU off" Joe would have played "out of touch old man"?. Please, if you do you need to grow up, if you do you've been drinking and smoking some of the same shit Franco's been smoking. I would like to think this display will serve as a lesson but i know I'm just letting off steam. The truth is this level of corruption is possible again because we LOVE unfettered Power and Monopoly, we love creating living Deities because it makes us feel good about ourselves...it's the American Way.

 

GOLOVKIN; I DONT KNOW WHAT "IT" IS BUT I KNOW WHEN I SEE "IT"!!

He was supposed to fight another European Middleweight strap holder that i like Dimitry Pirog, but injury and the bogus politics of Boxing /WBO got in the way. Instead he fought a game Grzegorz Proska who in his own way was getting buzz for his destruction of "world class middleweights", Proska showed he deserved your attention but Golovkin..something else. Max Kellerman was contemplating the last time a fighter of this weight appeared on the scene throwing this kind of heat, it was Felix Trinidad's march up the scale between De La Hoya and Hopkins. Felix's march ended with hand wrap suspicions that frankly isn't a surprise since he went against conventional wisdom and hit harder as he moved up in weight. Golovkin is not only a natural middleweight, he's on the Paul Williams plan calling out everyone from 154 lbs. up, that means you too Floyd Mayweather AND Andre Ward. What was so alarming about the 5'10 Golovkin is that even given his long reach he can do it in close behind a jab that can best be described as a "turn your ass around punch". He also found a way to whip body shots around the guard of his prey, an art form if your the one with the wingspan.Proska if not elite had never seen the canvas and it was clear early on that when Golovkin hit him, he stayed "hit", that for the duration of the bout he never seemed to adjust to that feeling. In TWO weeks you will call the winner of Sergio Martinez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. "the man" in the Middleweight Division, i will call the winner "the man trying to stay out of Golovkin's way". If you watch Boxing long enough and write about it you come to understand you can be rewarded for cynicism; all of us want to be the grizzled unimpressed onlooker because it gives us a fake veneer of AUTHORITY like the nerd glasses i wear. But Boxing also gives us the chance to Holler when we see "IT" even though you don't know exactly what it is. Something tells me nobody at 160 lbs recognized as an American Star will want any part of this 30 yr. old. Our only hope may come this weekend because Andre Ward is the only fighter with the competitive attitude to go at the German with no reservations.

 

Loaded Gloves Add: When is Boxrec going to develop a Boxing App that can spellcheck all of the hard to spell names in the sport?. It's a Global Game damnit!.

 

 



Symbolic Pics of the Month (09/12) | The Vigilant Citizen

Symbolic Pics of the Month (09/12) | The Vigilant Citizen