Boxfest XX: Hidalgo TX
Top of the Rumble feed last Saturday AEST was a live telecast by a company called Red Owl Boxing.
The mission statement from this company is interesting. (check the video on this page).
I was trying to kill time at work on this very sunny and thus quiet Saturday (cos no one comes in to get their electronics repaired when the weather is good on a Saturday).
Boxfest XX, I have to say, was pretty good. I thought both the headline fight and the grudge match at the end were great and very entertaining. (the latter won by a bloke named Serrato and it was either he or his opponent who entered the ring accompanied by some kind of mariachi troubador).
Some people who wax nostalgic about the "highlights reel from late 20th-century Boxing Heavyweight title-fights might complain about the scrappiness and imperfection, but that to me is looking at the past with rose-coloured glasses. Real fighting is raw, and sport is better and more relatable when it involves real people, not self-absorbed celebrity pros. You definitily got that sense watching these fights.
According to the promo-vid in the link above, the CEO of this company purpose-built a 1500-seat arena specifically for boxing, which he believes might be the only one in the US.
There were male fights and lady fights. The company CEO brags that he and his team pick the fights, no one else. This is designed I suppose to make sure these fights are an entertaining spectacle for fans.
It’s hard to get the real story as to what happened with old-school boxing that had it fall off the radar. The rise of MMA/UFC, which has been a well-run organisation by Dana White, is certainly a factor. And this would’ve pulled in the best fighting talent of the past generation. But you also hear stories of mafia/gambling-associated corruption in the old Boxing circuit. I would add to that too few regular fights, the lack of solid airtime, the mismatch of values and cultural-aesthetics with the younger generation, the lack of hype, and the inability of boxers to gain a following as people.
That last point is pretty important. If the fans don’t like you because they can’t relate to you, then they aren’t going to watch. I think this is where too many establishment sports lost touch. You don’t want too much egotism. At the same time however you want your competitors to be interesting and compelling to watch. Someone that viewers can attach a story to.
The consistency of identity is also helpful. In a world with a confusing mess of cultures and last-names thrown together, it’s hard to make sense of anything. This tournament benefitted from it’s cultural homgeneity. The majority of the fighters were Hispanic with the remainder being Black or White American. Thus what I Was watching demonstrated some form of cultural cohesion.
Maybe the other appeal is that it made boxing seem fresh and new again. Boxing might’ve needed some time in the wilderness to shed all its bullshit and regain its essence. And the audience needed to be hungry enough to see this kind of fighting again. Boxing imo is better sport for spectators than MMA and UFC. I’m not into seeing sweaty guys clutching each other on the floor. I want a fight to look like a fight. Contact, movement, jabbing, pace. There’s something rhythmic about good boxing.
The added aesthetic elemnts of Red Owl Boxing are fun. Fighters get entrance music, the ringside ladies look nice but not too plastic or woke-troll. The aforementioned backgrounds of the fighters reflect who I suppose currently takes an interest in this sport. (Boxing history entusiasts will know this changes throughout the eras). Commentary was good, online chat was fun. The company’s posture seems welcoming to new fans and not too bogged down in arcane and cryptic terminology. You can basically get in on the ground floor now with little-to-no previous knowledge of boxing and get into it. And promises of more events to come, which should be good.