Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2001 | 10:59 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.
Over the weekend a local casino executive and a boxing promoter were lamenting the fact that recent fight cards in Las Vegas haven't been drawing large crowds.
They made a couple of good points but they failed to identify a couple as well. Plus, they made the critical mistake of failing to look in the mirror.
The truth is, it's a wonder anyone goes to boxing anymore, given that most of it is junk and that the fans are frequently treated in a distinctly second-rate manner.
At its best, boxing is competitive and exciting and the fan paying his $20 (or $1,500) will see a steady parade of interesting bouts. But that formula is rarely, if ever, on complete display.
The situation is worse, far worse, in other cities, yet the typical boxing fan in Las Vegas is subjected to almost absurd demands. He or she is asked time and again to support a sport that appears to operate as if it has a death wish.
What raised the subject was the predictably poor turnout for a Feb. 3 card at Mandalay Bay that headlined junior welterweights Kostya Tszyu and Sharmba Mitchell, plus this past Saturday's card at the MGM that had Erik Morales vs. Guty Espadas as its main event.
In both instances there was no widespread interest in the featured fights, nor was there a compelling reason to sit through the marginal undercards.
Factor in fairly high ticket prices and the experienced fan's knowledge that delays in the card brought on by TV's influence are virtually inevitable, and it's hard to justify dragging yourself down to the Strip for something you can watch at home or simply read about the next day.
I cover boxing for this paper and see my share of fights, but I no longer go just for the heck of it. Here's why: It's tedious and it can be offensive.
The average fight card is overloaded with one-sided matches, or, maybe worse yet, fights between guys you never heard of who are both 8-3 and who you will never hear from again. There's just no reason to care who wins.
And the delays (brought on by TV) that interrupt the flow are stupefying. I've seen big cards that open at 3:15 p.m. have a one-round fight and then go into a one-hour holding pattern. By the time you get to the main event a few hours later, you're fried.
A slimmed-down card that moved without delay -- and didn't feature exotic dancers and loud music, as we're now seeing at some venues -- would be a godsend. But there's no sign of that happening.
Las Vegas has several mid-level fight cards lined up for the next few months and, without exception, not only I but almost anyone with an interest in the sport can already tell you who's going to win. So where's the incentive for the fan?
If it's common knowledge that the star of the show is going to win -- as will be the case with Shane Mosley (March 10 at Caesars Palace), Oscar De La Hoya (March 24 at the MGM) and Naseem Hamed (April 7 at the MGM), among others -- it's tough to build up much in the way of enthusiasm.
This city's boxing fans are as resilient as any, even after being hoodwinked many times over. But they're not idiots.
So maybe the casinos and promoters should quit treating them that way.
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