For those of you that haven’t heard about the tournament, and due to boxing’s perilous standing in the world, the Super Six World Boxing Classic involves six boxers who will fight a series of fights over eighteen months to determine the best Super Middleweight in the world. Indeed, it’s an attempt to boost the profile of the sport itself.
Jermain Taylor, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Andre Dirrell, Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler are the six entrants in the Super Six and, to be fair to the organisers, they are six of the top ten in the world. Indeed, only Lucian Bute can feel aggrieved that he wasn’t invited to take part – he is the IBF World Champion. And Super Middleweight is one of boxing’s most vibrant divisions. Froch fought Taylor last timeout in a bout that ended in a twelfth round knockout for the Nottingham man, while Mikkel Kessler has been involved in plenty of scraps too. They’re good boxers, and good boxers to watch – this should work, right? I doubt it.
The problem with the Super Six is the very problem that it is trying to fix. Boxing’s profile is low, and isn’t helped by the media coverage. It’s on Showtime in the States, the second biggest premium channel for boxing in the States, rather than HBO or (in a dewam world) ESPN or one of the networks. At least it’s on an established channel – in the UK, tonight’s action is on a channel called Primetime, it’s first ever program. And it’s pay-per-view.
So, good as the tournament is, it will battle to register beyond the boxing community. I hope it does, like I always do when it comes to boxing, but I’m pessimistic.
Abraham won, by knockout. It’s one of the knockouts of the year. I thought I was going to be proven correct on the scorecards. I still may have been. I’ll have to get a video of that punch up. Yowza it was a good ‘un.
Only a very good hellie watches boxing with gav.....pity I missed the start. Boxing needs pizza methinks
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