The good news about the "Wednesday Night Fights" telecast on ESPN2 was that the network's main event featured two well known female boxers. The not so good news is that ESPN's knowledge of the sport of Women's boxing continues to be stuck in low gear. A rudimentary fact check, by the network, of the records of Holly Holm and Chevelle Hallback would have yielded the following pertinent data: since November, 2005, Holly Holm has fought and defeated Mia St. John, Shadina Pennybaker, Jane Couch, Tricia Turton and Ann Marie Saccurato; since November, 2005, Chevelle Hallback has fought none of these fighters and, in fact, Hallback has fought no one in those past eighteen months. Hallback is a good boxer and has been in with some of the best fighters in the lightweight division and, at one point in her career, Hallback would have made a very tough opponent for Holly Holm. That point in time, however, was not Wednesday night on ESPN.  The network opened the telecast calling Holm/Hallback a "meaningful" women's fight. It was not.

The rust in Hallback's rhythm in the ring was apparent from the opening bell. For the ten rounds, she fought only in spurts and once Holm recognized that she was not in with the Chevelle Hallback who had pressured Mary Jo Sanders over ten rounds before dropping a close decision, the Chevelle Hallback who owned decisions over Layla McCarter, Melissa Del Valle and Belinda Laracuente, but rather a Chevelle Hallback who was having difficulty reorienting herself back into the ring against a quality opponent, Holm settled into a comfortable pattern of movement and quick handed punching and an inevitable decision loomed for all at the Tingley Coliseum and in the television audience to anticipate well before the final bell.

Fortunately, for that television audience, ESPN had the varsity announcing team of Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas on hand for a Wednesday night telecast, usually the junior varsity night for boxing, and Tessitore and Atlas were in their usual fine form. Atlas, at times, seems a frustrated professor of the sport and his "lesson of the day" for Wednesday was "distance (between fighters) and how to reduce it." Teddy introduced this theme during the first bout of the evening between Bones Adams and David Martinez, continued through the four round "gap" bout and reiterated the point during the Holm/Hallback bout when he continually noted that Hallback simply could not get close enough, often enough, to do any damage to her clearly superior foe.

Joe Tessitore has become a very capable blow/blow announcer, smart enough to yield to Atlas when the technicalities of the sport come up during the action. Tessitore has improved considerably with his boxing commentary since his debut and much of that improvement can be attributed to his (Tessitore) sitting next to Atlas at ringside. Much the same thing happened with Bob Papa, who was Tessitore's predecessor on ESPN, until 2003. Papa morphed, before the TV audience's eyes and ears, from a neophyte boxing announcer into one of the best in the business, not coincidentally during his time in the seat next to Atlas. Papa has since gone on to "bigger lights" at NBC's Budweiser boxing series.

Tessitore, on Wednesday, segued easily, during the Holm/Hallback fight, to an interview with Mary Jo Sanders who sat at ringside for two rounds during the middle of the bout. Much of the talk with Sanders centered on the possibility of the Detroit fighter eventually matching up with Holly Holm. Sanders noted that prior negotiations had not succeeded in making that fight, but that she continued to remain hopeful that Holm/Sanders could be worked out. Tessitore held out the possibility ("teased" in TV jargon) that a post fight interview with Sanders and Holm (at this point the Holm/Hallback bout seemed to Tessitore and the vast majority of the audience, a win for Holm) could prove a the perfect opportunity for Sanders to "call out" Holm on "live" TV. Sanders, exhibiting what has become her trademark, graceful out-of-the-ring demeanor, fortunately sidestepped this WWE-like antic and when that subsequent post fight interview materialized, it went smoothly without any silly antics as both Sanders and Holm expressed respect for each other's boxing ability along with the hope that their match might, indeed, come to fruition. Both fighters, however, agreed that certain points of negotiation, most notably, location of the bout, needed "work."

As expected, the final decision in the Holm/Hallback bout was purely anti-climatic, Holm winning an unanimous decision by a decisive margin, including two, seemingly obligatory for New Mexico, 100-90 scorecards from judges Levi Martinez and Jesse Reyes. The third judge, Anita Aragon had the bout at, to me, a more reasonable 98-92. Atlas had the bout 99-92, while I scored it 99-94 (giving Hallback round four and seeing the first, eighth and tenth rounds even).

In the final analysis, the night was an improvement for ESPN and it's telecast history with Women's boxing, which had been, recently, characterized by an unfortunate string of "one good fighter" bouts. Holly Holm was clearly the better fighter this night against a fighter, Chevelle Hallback, who has been a much better fighter in the past and will be much better in the future if she avoids 18 month layoffs between bouts.

Holly Holm has become a star attraction in the sport and a match with Mary Jo Sanders may be the future superfight of Women's boxing. Holm and Sanders are both backed by first class organizations, managements and promoters and both fighters are not only talented boxers inside the ring but are articulate spokespersons for the sport outside the ropes. There has to be a negotiable location for a fight like this. Even ESPN knows that.

Bernie McCoy

 

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