The International Business Machine
company, known to most as IBM, had, at one time, a one word
directive for it's employees, "THINK;" a simple, declarative
reminder that when doing business, it is best to give thought to all
aspects of the enterprise.
Upon reflection, one wishes that those
connected with the three bout female boxing card televised, on a
delayed broadcast basis, last Thursday on Fox Sports Network, from
the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA, had followed the IBM
directive a bit more closely. They put together three female bouts
for the Fox Sports network telecast. They got one right.
The eight round bout between Chevelle Hallback and Terri Blair, the
first fight on Thursday's telecast, was an example of Women's boxing
at it's best. It was a sixteen minute exhibition of what talented
females can bring to the sport of boxing; a clinch-free, back and
forth battle between two skilled fighters (emphasis on two), neither
of whom stopped throwing punches from the opening bell to the end of
the final round.
The only downside of this bout was that it was
limited to eight rounds. It must have provided most viewers with
hope that the Thursday Fox telecast, the second of the year on the
network, would pick up where the March card from Isleta Casino in
Albuquerque, NM, topped by Holly Holm's win over Ann Marie Saccurato,
had left off. That hope wasn't realized.
What followed on Thursday's telecast was two IFBA "championship"
bouts which were unfortunate examples of a matchmaking plague that
has become all too common in telecasts of Women's boxing, "the one
good fighter" bout. Kelsey Jeffries and Elena Reid were cast in the
role of the "one good fighter," Donna Biggers and Shin Hee Choi were
the overmatched opposition. On the official scorecards, Biggers and
Choi failed to win a round, Jeffries winning over Biggers 100-90 on
all cards, while Reid shutout Choi 100-89. The scoring was all too
accurate.
Let me be clear about one thing: Donna Biggers and Shin Hee Choi are
professional boxers and as such they deserve recognition and
admiration for competing in a dangerous and brutal sport and, like
all boxers, they have mine.
However, neither Biggers nor Choi
possess the level of talent that would reasonably put them in the
same ring with Kelsey Jeffries and Elena Reid. This is not the fault
of the fighters, Biggers, Choi, Jeffries or Reid, fighters fight.
The fault lies squarely with those who made the bouts, the IFBA and
the local promoter. Neither the sanctioning body nor the promoter
seemed sufficiently influenced by IBM's long ago dictum and it is
only fair to ask, what were they thinking?
Rick Kulis is head of the IFBA and that organization sanctioned the
two "championship" matches on the Pechanga card. Roy Englebrecht was the
promoter of the program.
Both Kulis and Englebrecht are experienced
boxing people with good reputations in the sport. Kulis put the
first all female boxing card on ESPN and Englebrecht has been the
promotion force behind the long running "Battle of the Ballroom"
cards in Orange County, CA
. It is, therefore, surprising how little
thought seems to have been given to the competitive capability of Biggers and Choi and their suitability for bouts with the likes of
Jeffries and Reid. Is it possible that the matchmaker and promoter
never looked past the top line records of Biggers and Choi, which
were 19-4-1 and 8-1, respectively? One hopes not, but despite the
reputations of Kulis and Englebrecht, the Pechanga card, the two
main events in particular, was not a "Highlight reel" evening.
Donna Biggers' 19 wins have come against opposition who had,
cumulatively, 15 wins at the time of the bouts (including 7 wins for
one opponent, Joy Irvin). Shin Hee Choi, who had never fought
outside Asia, had one win against an opponent with a winning record
and was awarded the IFBA flyweight title in March, 2005, under
somewhat murky circumstances, a technical draw with Maribel Zurita
in a bout in China, that was stopped in the seventh round of a
scheduled ten round fight. Neither Donna Biggers nor Shin Hee Choi,
based on even a cursory examination of their records, could,
reasonably, be expected to provide nominal competition for Kelsey
Jeffries and Elena Reid.
The disparity in talent in both bouts was
further magnified by the fact that the fights were televised.
Television coverage comes hard and infrequently to the sport of
Women's boxing. It is in the interest of the sport to present the
best and most competitive bouts when television presents the
opportunity. This didn't happen with two of the three bouts on the
Pechanga card.
However, the fact that Fox Sports network continued it's support of
Women's boxing with it's second all-female telecast of the year,
albeit, this one on a delayed broadcast basis (the "live" event took
place July 2.) is an encouraging sign.
This card, however, was a
significant drop-off, in talent, from the Albuquerque program, which
in addition to Holm and Saccurato featured Kelsey Jeffries against
Rhonda Luna and Lisa Brown and Jackie Chavez. Rick Kulis, it must be
noted, was also the guiding force behind the Albuquerque bouts,
proof positive that the IFBA head knows how to put together a good
female fight card. Let's call the Pechanga card an "Off night" for
Kulis.
The Fox commentators didn't have an off night although they managed
to show real enthusiasm only for the first bout of the evening.
During the last two fights, the ringside commentary seemed
distracted and reflected a lack of interest in the one-sided action
inside the ring. Barry Tompkins, the primary blow/blow Fox
announcer, was missing from the Pechanga telecast and Rich Marotta,
Tompkins usual color commentator, handled the action. Marotta is
better at color, although he had the comment of the night wondering,
aloud, why the Hallback/Blair bout hadn't been scheduled for ten
rounds, given Blair's two late round stoppages of Sumya Anani. An
MMA fighter, Frank Trigg, was alongside Marotta and seemed limited
to generalities in his commentary, a trait he carried over into his
lone post fight effort, an interview with Kelsey Jeffries. Trigg
also exhibited a tendency to talk much too fast, a characteristic
common to many on-air newcomers. Trigg's future probably lies in the
MMA ring.
Holly Holm filled out the trio of announcers and succeeded
in making some very good "inside boxing" points about each of the
fighters' styles, during the three bouts. Holm was also refreshing
in the way she minimized talking about herself and her own career,
concentrating, instead, on the on-screen action. Holm needs to learn
to keep her comments to "sound bite" length, since when she tends
toward lengthy commentary, she inevitably ends up "talking over" her
colleagues. However, Holm's performance leads one to surmise that
her future in the boxing business need not be limited to inside the
ring.
It was, indeed, a mixed night for the sport of Women's boxing, one
eight round fight that should have been ten rounds and two ten round
fights that should have been shorter. Television time, even on a
delayed broadcast basis, for the sport of Women's boxing simply
cannot be wasted on "one good fighter" bouts.
On Thursday night Fox
Sports network had two of those bouts and let's hope, for the sake
of future telecasts and for the sport of Women's boxing, it's the
last two. Let's also hope that Fox Sports continues it's support of
Women's boxing. It had a wonderful three bout card in Albuquerque
and a wonderful eight round fight last Thursday. The good fighters
and the good matches are out there. Matchmakers and promoters like
Rick Kulis and Roy Englebrecht have, in the past, and can, in the
future, make those good matches. All they have to do is keep in mind
IBM's long-ago admonition: THINK.
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