|
Pay-Per-View fiasco -
January 16, 1999 -"This is a fight on Tyson's undercard in Las
Vegas at the MGM. Heather Shoffner, 136 lbs., vs Corinne
Vanreykdegroot, 136
lbs. Shoffner did not have any business in the ring, and she was KO'ed
in 1:05 seconds of the first round! She did not appear to have any idea what to
do! " A match on a TYSON card in Jan, 1999. Insiders told
WBAN that Shoffner didn't even know how to box very well, and that Corinne was a personal
friend of Tyson's!
Was it really three years ago when
Christy Martin
and Diedre Gogarty thrust women's boxing on to the American sports
scene? You bet. That pay-per-view event, March 16, 1996, is universally
recognized as the singular most important event in women's boxing, maybe
ever. Martin and Gogarty was
a pay-per-view feature on a Mike Tyson undercard. The women even
showed Tyson up by putting on the best fight on that card.
Judging by what we've witnessed in recent pay-per-view events, it
was not only the beginning, but could be closer to the end, with
what has been happening lately on pay-per-view cards.
In the latest PPV
undercard offering, Mia St. John and Amanda Skeleton "battled" it out for four
rather lackluster rounds. Mind you, anyone who steps into the "ring"
is
already a winner in my book, regardless of the outcome of the fight. I know the courage it takes, the fear that festers inside
you, the anxiety and exhilaration of a professional bout. St. John is under the
tutelage of Bob Arum, who, I can tell you from personal experience, long ago recognized
women's boxing as a viable public offering.
More than two decades ago, Lavonne Ludian,
Theresa Kibby, Darlene Buckskin and
I (exhibition according to my manager Dee Knuckles due to the weight
difference) were featured on CBS Sports Spectacular, undercard offerings on a
heavyweight show featuring contender Ernie Shavers and Olympian Michael Spinks going into
his fourth bout as a professional.
We were offered five-figure contracts to fight three times in the
following year, although the contracts were never finalized.
I can tell
you that Ludian and Kibby put on a much better show than many of the recent undercard
bouts.
WBAN™ owns the rights to the
original contract document that we were
given from Bill Dickson, promoter who has since passed away.
The difference now is that the public has come to accept women's boxing.
Women
need four round bouts just as much as men when starting out.
But they shouldn't be the
token "women" attraction on these PPV cards. If we don't start
getting more top quality matches on these major cards, women boxers everywhere will be the
losers. The sport will never gain acceptance and/or respect staging four-rounders where
one or both of the combatants look like they just spent 15 rounds with Ali.
There are no shortcuts in the fight game. There
is no substitute for training, running, jumping rope, working the speed bag, endless
rounds of sparring. The top competitors of the day know this, and have dedicated
themselves to a level that earns the public's respect.
But there are far too few fighters out there --
and fewer still getting any decent exposure -- at this level. Tickets to boxing matches
are not cheap. Fans have a right to expect better matchups and performances.
That is especially critical for Pay-Per-View
offerings, boxing's equivalent of a bi-monthly Super Bowl or World Series.
It's OK if Butterbean wants to be
PPV's "King of the Four Rounder." We just don't need anyone filling the role of
Queen.
|
