Boxing is exciting.
The essence, skill and artistry of pugilism is an art that few truly master. Politics and bickering aside, boxing is special.
But lately, entertainment has exploited and denegrated the proud sport.
This weekend another example of this humiliating trend occurred when Lamar Odom stepped back into the ring and, once again, made a mockery of the “Sweet Science.”
This time Odom faced J-Lo’s ex-husband, Ojani Noa, in a pathetic three-round event that was worse than watching a middle school fight by the flagpole.
Odom was flailing punches that would make the Rock ’em, Sock ’em robots cringe and hang their heads in shame. In one pitiful exchange at the end, he connected more with his wrist than with the glove!
Not to be left out, a winded Noa literally walked around the ring.
Not jogged.
Walked.
The event featured a “ref” straight out of the barbershop. He wore a sleeveless hoodie and baseball cap, the latter of which should have been prohibited for safety reasons.
And the “fight”, which is astoundingly generously to call it that, was almost as bad as Odom’s fight against Aaron Carter in June.
The 6’10” Odom was reminiscent of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar facing Bruce Lee in “Game of Death.”
In this case, Odom made both opponents look like members of the lollipop guild.
Even worse is the fact that Odom was originally supposed to face 54-year-old former professional boxer, Riddick Bowe.
Bowe was ultimately removed from the card, a smart move after watching Evander Holyfield’s humiliating demise against Vitor Belfort last month.
It was heartbreaking to watch the 58-year-old former champion in the ring and it should never have happened in the first place.
Boxing is not a game.
You don’t play at boxing.
The event promoters should be ashamed that they pursued Holyfield and Bowe, much less continue to promote these boxing abominations.
Official Celebrity Boxing, promoters of the Odom event, only removed Bowe from the card after pressure from boxing organizations.
Their CEO Damon Feldman issued a statement last month regarding Bowe’s involvement.
“Official Celebrity Boxing prides itself on being a safe, fan-friendly, and low-impact alternative form of boxing entertainment. As such, all of our celebrity fighters are required to wear protective head gear and over-sized boxing gloves to addresses the inherent dangers normally associated with a professional boxing match. We fully understand the commissions’ concerns and know that nothing is more important than the continued safety of our participants. For those reasons, we will be announcing a replacement for Riddick Bowe in our Celebrity Boxing Miami 2021 event on Oct. 2.”
One look at Bowe’s shadowboxing video and you’ll understand why he has no business in the ring.
While there’s obviously a fanbase clamoring for these events, a travesty into itself, the promoters are treading in dangerous waters.
Eventually, someone will get hurt, and hurt bad. It’s inevitable.
Even with headgear, all it takes is one inadvertent rabbit punch and their lives can change immediately.
Look at what happened to Pritchard Colon.
In 2015, life changed in an instant for the promising fighter.
He was hit with multiple rabbit punches, suffered a brain bleed, and went into a coma for more than 200 days. Now he’s permanently injured and needs constant care to eat, walk and talk.
It’s a shame that media outlets cover these events and actually give them exposure and analysis.
For one publication to say that Odom “looked considerably better than in his first fight in June against Aaron Carter” is laughable.
The only way to describe his performance is that he simply went from horrible to horrible “light.”
This adds to the current trend of boxing entertainment made popular by the Paul brothers, and it’s something that needs to be scrutinized a lot more.
Social media influencers use their follower clout as a qualifier to enter the ring, where clicks and views amount to nothing when you’re getting punched in the face.
To be fair to the Pauls, at least they train and have real boxers on their cards.
But these particular types of celebrity events are a ridiculous trend and it’s a shame that they’re chosen boxing as the sport to exploit.
It doesn’t deserve it.
Odom’s latest fight, a card that included former welterweight champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi against TikTok star Corey B, is boxing’s wake-up call that it needs to schedule more big fights so fight fans are not exposed to these PPV monstrosities.
Then fight fans can watch Errol Spence fight Terence Crawford instead of seeing ridiculous highlights of Lamar Odom vs. Benzino.
