Pay-per-view giveth and pay-per-view taketh away January 20, 1999 by Brian Ackley/Sue Fox

Pay-Per-View fiasco – January 16, 1999 -“This is a fight on Tyson’s undercard in Las Vegas at the MGM.  Heather Shoffner, 136 lbs.,  vs Corinne Vanreykdegroot, 136 lbs. Shoffner did not have any business in the ring,  and  she was KO’ed in  1:05 seconds of the first round! She did not appear to have any idea what to do! ”  A match on a TYSON card in Jan, 1999. Insiders told WBAN that Shoffner didn’t even know how to box very well, and that Corinne was a personal friend of Tyson’s!

Was it really three years ago when Christy Martin and Diedre Gogarty thrust women’s boxing on to the American sports scene? You bet. That pay-per-view event, March 16, 1996, is universally recognized as the singular most important event in women’s boxing, maybe ever.  Martin and Gogarty was a pay-per-view feature on a Mike Tyson undercard.  The women even showed Tyson up by putting on the best fight on that card.

Judging by what we’ve witnessed in recent pay-per-view events, it was not only the beginning, but could be closer to the end, with what has been happening lately on pay-per-view cards.

In the latest PPV undercard offering, Mia St. John and Amanda Skeleton “battled” it out for four rather lackluster rounds. Mind you, anyone who steps into the “ring”  is already a winner in my book, regardless of the outcome of the fight.

I know the courage it takes, the fear that festers inside you, the anxiety and exhilaration of a professional bout.  St. John is under the tutelage of Bob Arum, who, I can tell you from personal experience, long ago recognized women’s boxing as a viable public offering.

More than two decades ago, Lavonne Ludian, Theresa Kibby, Darlene Buckskin and I (exhibition according to my manager Dee Knuckles due to the weight difference) were featured on CBS Sports Spectacular, undercard offerings on a heavyweight show featuring contender Ernie Shavers and Olympian Michael Spinks going into his fourth bout as a professional.

We were offered five-figure contracts to fight three times in the following year, although the contracts were never finalized.    I can tell you that Ludian and Kibby put on a much better show than many of the recent undercard bouts.

WBAN™ owns the rights to the original contract document that we were given from Bill Dickson, promoter who has since passed away.

The difference now is that the public has come to accept women’s boxing.   Women need four round bouts just as much as men when starting out.

But they shouldn’t be the token “women” attraction on these PPV cards.    If we don’t start getting more top quality matches on these major cards, women boxers everywhere will be the losers. The sport will never gain acceptance and/or respect staging four-rounders where one or both of the combatants look like they just spent 15 rounds with Ali.

There are no shortcuts in the fight game. There is no substitute for training, running, jumping rope, working the speed bag, endless rounds of sparring. The top competitors of the day know this, and have dedicated themselves to a level that earns the public’s respect.

But there are far too few fighters out there — and fewer still getting any decent exposure — at this level. Tickets to boxing matches are not cheap. Fans have a right to expect better matchups and performances.

That is especially critical for Pay-Per-View offerings, boxing’s equivalent of a bi-monthly Super Bowl or World Series.

It’s OK if Butterbean wants to be PPV’s “King of the Four Rounder.” We just don’t need anyone filling the role of Queen.