By Jack Hirsch
AT THE press conference to announce the big bill in Saudi Arabia on December 23, Jarrell Miller and Anthony Joshua had a back and forth which brought more attention to themselves than anyone else on the Dais. And they are not even scheduled to square off. No matter, where there’s a grudge there’s a way.
Unlike other sports, in which most competitors try to keep things cordial beforehand, boxing trades on hatred. And with the toxic world of social media now the promotional platform of choice, don’t expect it to stop.
Boots Ennis started a war of words with Terence Crawford. Shakur Stevenson threw reciprocated insults at Devin Haney. And Ryan Garcia is never far from engineering a grudge with his fingers and thumbs on social media, where his fight with Tank Davis was essentially born.
After all the trash talk between Davis and Garcia it certainly seemed like a grudge match, but they hugged afterwards and posed for pictures together. Which brings up the question of whether the act of disrespecting an opponent before a fight serves any useful purpose? Does it really give one fighter a psychological edge over the other and does it add to the appeal of the match? To a degree, yes. Without the animosity between them, Carl Froch-George Groves would not have been the rivalry it was. But there is a limit. For example, we don’t need the utter nonsense we are subjected to by the likes of Tyson Fury whose sideshow, once all part of his charm, has become downright boring by now.
Stop and think for a moment. If another person repeatedly insulted you over a long period of time, would you be quick to dismiss what was said? Maybe eventually, but not instantly. Someway, somehow, when the final bell rings the hostility between boxers nearly always evaporates no matter how ugly things were beforehand. The lead up to David Haye-Derek Chisora fight was as explosive as it gets, yet as soon as it was over the men paraded around the ring together shaking hands. Haye would even manage Chisora later on.
Johnny Tapia-Danny Romero, Oscar De La Hoya-Fernando Vargas and a whole host of other fights were sold on the hatred the boxers had for the other. There’s certainly a place for it, when it is managed effectively, but on occasion it does become deeply personal. Like for Joe Frazier, who took Ali’s barbs to heart and was bitter toward his rival for many years after they had hung up the gloves.
Sometimes, it doesn’t even result in a fight.
A post-fight press conference in 1989, from Madison Square Garden, following Saoul Mamby’s points loss to Glenwood Brown has always stood out in my mind. Fellow welterweight Aaron Davis showed up, challenging Brown with some spiteful words. Old pro Mamby, who had seen it all by that point, imparted some words of wisdom on his young opponent. Turning to Brown, he said the best way to get back at Davis was to not give him a shot. Brown never did.
Junior Witter miscalculated when he spoke negatively about Ricky Hatton who took the words personally. As a result, Hatton refused to box Witter, thus depriving him of a lucrative fight that might have taken place otherwise.
Which brings us to Aaron Pryor and Alexis Arguello, who were in a studio together to promote their rematch. Pryor was going on a rant about how the two hated the other. Arguello turned to him in a soft voice and said “Aaron, I don’t hate you, I’ll never hate you.” A suddenly humbled Pryor then took a different tact. “But you do want to win badly,” he said. “I do,” Arguello agreed.
And that is the way it should be. A certain amount of hype is okay, and a grudge can heighten the intensity inside the ring, but not every fight needs to be a grudge match.
