Boxing is Run by Complete Idiots, Part 648,362

This past Saturday night, June 21, in Birmingham, England, one of the most popular boxers in both the UK and the world, the 21-year-old Amir Khan, participated in a wild and entertaining brawl with Michael Gomez, one of the most reckless but exciting brawlers in that part of the world.

Khan, of course, is a 2004 Olympic silver medalist. He is now 18-0 with 14 KOs as a pro and still the Commonwealth lightweight champion after TKO’ing Gomez in the fifth round.

This fight, however, was one which many believed would be a one-sided blowout for Khan, who was dropped by Gomez in the second round and hurt later on by a vicious body shot. Khan, who dropped Gomez in the first round, did rally in the fifth to force a referee stoppage on a beaten Gomez, who falls to 35-9 with 24 KOs, with six of those nine losses coming by KO or TKO.

Gomez is actually an Irish-born fighter named Michael Armstrong, who has taken a Mexican name and wears the colors of the Mexican flag on his trunks, and sometimes a huge sombrero, in honor of the many great Mexican brawlers. At age 31, however, he is becoming almost a sideshow, guaranteed to come forward, throw lots of punches, and eat many more before being stopped by whoever the main attraction is.

This one belongs in the same category as the Gatti-Ward fights, albeit with even less technique and defense than those battles. Such slugfests, though, especially involving two popular figures, do have a place in boxing, and can help the sport. But this seesaw contest once again shows that the preferred rating given Khan at lightweight by ESPN.com (#8) and The Ring (#7, actually the same since they have a “champion”, Joel Casamayor, atop those ratings) is unwarranted.

All this, no doubt, should interest boxing fans regardless of where they live. It was certainly one of the most exciting televised fights of the weekend. How good Khan is or isn’t will be debated again for some time to come. Yet, because of the stupidity of the guys who run boxing, it was not televised in the U.S.

That, of course, did not stop many outside of the UK from viewing this fight. Because the dolts running boxing are largely still ignorant of the Internet, and especially online video, anyone can see this fight for free on YouTube. Anyone can also embed the videos in their blogs, as I have done so below.

This is also something about which the major boxing media idiots, who are mainly current or former newspaper hacks, do not like to discuss. They may offer occasional powder-puff criticisms of the promoters or networks, but real journalists should be acting as watchdogs for the public and educating the people to the realities of the woeful decline of boxing.

And here is the most feared word in boxing, for those few who even understand it: SopCast (http://sopcast.com). That is a site through which you can watch most pay-per-views for free, and without spyware or adware. Yes, it is a pirate site, but where else have you seen a boxing journalist mention it by name?

It is not the job of the journalist to conceal the existence of such sites, which are widely discussed on many message boards, just because the current technology has outstripped the business model of the promoters and networks. That fact should be openly discussed, and the fact that it is not just demonstrates how conciliatory most of the boxing media is to these promoters and networks.

If a free web site undermines the crux of their business plan, what does that say about the business and their understanding of technology?

While you mull all this over and get ready to post comments about these idiots, watch Khan-Gomez:

Part One, Rounds 1-3



Part Two, Rounds 4-5 and postfight interview