For the two of you that watches boxing in this country, this weekend served as a true measure of history. Heavyweight champion Vitali Klistchko became the first man ever to defend his heavyweight title live on ESPN. By all means, this should be a historic mark for boxing fans, since after all, it would be a major match in millions of homes and would get Klitschko the recognition that he needs to be a major star presumably.
Except it didn't quite work out that way.
The telecast ran at 5 PM Central, and was bucked off from airing on ESPN because of SportsCenter, which must never be interrupted, and because of the College Wrestling finals, which no doubt is a high ratings draw. ESPN single-handedly said that a championship boxing fight is not even on the same level as amateur wrestling, and a final is sort of like the championship bout of the sport.
Add to that burial the fact that the link to the fight's result (which, surprise, Klitschko won) was further buried within three pages of stories and the headline for the story read "Sleep Inducing." They justified it by bringing up Vitali's punching power, but even then, such a headline's existence that reminds people of the relic this sport has become is outright stupid. Not to mention that I discussed this with this site's own Endless Mike, who merely watched highlights and discerned that the fight itself was horrible.
I can't imagine what the rating for this would be, because the show ran on an hour's tape delay on ESPN 2, which really isn't a step up all things considered. It won't be anywhere near a 1.0 mark, though, and I'd imagine that the goal of building Vitali Klistchko's small appeal failed miserably.
Unless this Floyd Mayweather comes back to kick some ass and be awesome, I suspect that we're in line for HBO and Showtime to try their damndest and fail to revive the body of a once proud sport that continues to have a niche that's as loyal as wrestling fans but also smaller and smaller in number by the day.
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