How Will ESPN Cutbacks Affect Women’s Boxing? – 2003

By BRIAN ACKLEY –  WBAN Senior Editor

(DEC 5) It’s good news that the postponement of Ali-Wolfe apparently had nothing to do with the sad news leaked on the same day that ESPN is significantly cutting back it’s involvement in boxing.

Scheduled as a second straight Valentine’s Day matchup, the two rivals were scheduled as the main event on ESPN Feb. 13, but the fight will not take place on that date.

Don’t get the wrong idea. ESPN”s announcement can’t be good for the boxing as a whole, and — despite the hysterics of Bob Arum or Cedric Kushner — it can’t help women’s boxing in particular. But it is far from the death knell that skeptics would like to make it.

And, really, how helpful has ESPN been in women’s boxing? Too often, female fights were an afterthought, swing bouts thrown on the air to fill time with no thought as to the quality of the attraction.

And while ESPN and FOX have ratcheted back their involvement — in a sport in which ebbs and flows like this are as common as a bloody nose — ESPN is starting an all-Spanish network which is sure to feature boxing as a staple, and NBC is committing to five more network spring boxing shows off the solid performance of three similar broadcasts last fall. Now THAT would be a perfect spot for Ali-Wolfe, much better than ESPN, right?

If nothing else, it may force fighters and promoters to take a fresher look at how they do things, and concentrate on a more regional plan that has worked well when properly executed. Just because Minnie in Montana or Louie in Louisiana can’t dial it up on cable every time they want, the stage doesn’t go dark because of the sports network’s decision.

Until a recent win on HBO, Joe Mesi might be accused of a heavyweight toiling in anonymity by casual and even interested fight fans across the country. Would it surprise you to know that Mesi generated the largest live in-person boxing audience of any fighter in 2002? That’s right, the locally born and marketed Mesi packed some 16,000 people into Buffalo’s downtown hockey arena for a fight against a nobody. He’s called, and rightly so, Buffalo’s “third franchise”, as in third pro sports entity right there with the NHL Sabres and NFL Bills. In fact, it’s likely that Mesi will fight in the Bills NFL stadium sometime this summer, and don’t be surprised if 30 or 40,000 people show up.

On a smaller but still impressive scale, women fighters like Jennifer Alcorn and Vonda Ward have reaped great benefits, financial included, in becoming star regional attractions. The country is dotted with regional sports networks too, some of which regularly feature some of the best boxing on television. The red-hot Ballroom Boxing series from Maryland is a prime example, and has featured local talent Israh Girgrah on their card both in the ring and as a commentator. Because of excellent matchmaking, fans have come to associate Ballroom Boxing with the best of regionalizing the sport. There is hardly ever a dull fight on any of their cards, and people who buy tickets know it, and regularly sell out the venue.

Just because one of the big boys decided to take some dollars and go home — which is really the root of the Angst of higher profile promoters, and the like, that they might be able to rip off only hundreds of thousands instead of millions from the sport — televised boxing is far from being on the ropes. How about cards featured on the recently debuted “Spike” network, featuring programming aimed exclusively at men; or Oxygen network, aimed exclusively at women. Depending on how it is packaged and marketed, both could work, and work well.

Too often, the box in boxing can be too confining. Time to think outside of it for a change.