Boxing isn’t a sport, boxing is a business.
It’s not always the “BEST” that rise and the “WORST” that fall, but it’s the people who know how to play the game who succeed.
The SPORT of boxing didn’t kill Patrick Day.
He was a highly tuned, body-conscious athlete who took good care of himself and paid strong attention to his fitness, nutrition and training.
It wasn’t dehydration, or the results of that one fight that made the difference (which is a lot of what I’m reading). It’s the BUSINESS of boxing that is responsible for this young man losing his life.
People are wondering…. what can we do to change this? How can we make the SPORT of boxing safer for its combatants? And I think the answer is simple. Change the god damn BUSINESS of boxing.
B side fighters are sent into fights with little to no chances of winning. Barring the occasional KO, the B side fighter usually returns to their dressing room, head hanging low, listening to words of encouragement from the promoters.
“Your stock went up this fight, kid”…. “you were really tough out there, you did so many good things”….. “that was so good, if you had another couple of rounds I bet you could’ve turned things around.”
And they hype you up, like we can do it again. One better fight I can get back on the A side. If I train harder, spar more… fine tune. And the truth is, you’re just becoming a good opponent. A decent record on paper, and you put up exciting fights for the fans to see. You essentially just become a punching bag, for fighters who have already been financially backed and invested in… a practice test for them on the come up.
Sure, some promoters would like to see you win…succeed. They’ll clap for you and hope for you… but they don’t expect it.
And we are fighters, we are stubborn and naive and we think, man….I can do this. We believe in hope, in comebacks, in the possibility of success. RISK over REGRET! But at what price?
I’m not saying this is how it ALWAYS happens. You have elite fighters like Claressa and Loma, who came out of the amateurs straight challenging world champions- and that’s how it should be.
Fight on your level, always. They do that shit in MMA.
