Showtime’s Snake Bitten Tournaments
I don’t think it’s any big secret to my readers,(all 6 of them), that I have been down on the Showtime six man Round Robin Super Middleweight Tournament since it’s inception. On the contrary I was all in on the four man Bantamweight tournament that was set up for the winners to advance and give us a Champion in quick fashion. It seemed like it was a can’t miss proposition until early this week.
As we know Abner Mares was set to square off with Joseph Agbeko and we would have a definitive Bantamweight Champion. All that changed when Joseph Agbeko pulled up lame at the post and left Mares without a dance partner and likewise left Showtime without a conclusion to the tournament.
If ever there was a sport that does not lend itself to any kind of tournament that comes up with a defacto Champion, it’s boxing. There are just too many variables involved to screw the entire thing up. From Networks to promoters to managers to trainers and the fighters themselves, there are just too many ego’s involved to expect something like this to ever go smoothly. Throw in injuries, legitimate or otherwise, and it seems pretty easy to see this format should never rear it’s ugly head again.
Trying to save face this weekend Showtime bumped Darchinyan vs. Perez into the Main Event but after a fifth round head butt and sudden stoppage things did not get any better at all, especially for the Showtime viewers who were once again left empty with a less than stellar fight.
I don’t know why networks, promoters and managers keep trying to tell us who boxings’ stars are and I don’t know why they insist on forcing the issue by creating these Tournaments and shoving them down our throats. It seems to me that if you just get out of the way and let these guys fight the cream will naturally rise to the top and the fans can decide for themselves who their heroes and stars are.
Here’s a newsflash for you, boxing fans are very knowledgeable, they will be able to figure out who the real champs are all on their own. They don’t need the suits help…in fact I think they are insulted by it.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you in advance.
