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UPTIGHT PURISTS GET OVER IT; MAYWEATHER VS. PAUL WON'T "RUIN" ANYTHING

By Paul Magno | June 04, 2021
UPTIGHT PURISTS GET OVER IT; MAYWEATHER VS. PAUL WON'T

Picture a dystopian sports future where boxing is little more than a series of exhibitions between crude, poorly-trained tough men, who formerly would’ve been elite-level pro boxers, and social media celebrities or retired stars from other sports. Six and eight-round fights with 16-ounce gloves are what make up “championship” fights in this bleak future where boxing historians clutch at pillows emblazoned with the image of Harry Greb and weep at the sight of their aging, musty Ring Magazine collection. 

This is the future brought upon our once proud sport, all because Floyd Mayweather chose to fight YouTuber Logan Paul. 

So sad...Tragic, really.

I always have a good laugh when outrages like this one about Mayweather v. Paul pop up. Boxing “purists” are the most uptight, humorless, joyless sports fans in all the sporting world and it’s fun to poke at them when their panties are in a collective bunch. 

I’ve already seen social media posts about how “if you order this garbage, don’t dare call yourself a real boxing fan!” 

After I’m done having a chuckle at this nonsense, I could very easily flip things around and ask these self-righteous pantsloads how they can call themselves “real” boxing fans when they sat idly by-- for decades-- watching the sport, for all intents and purposes, slowly work to commit suicide with poor regulation, rotten officiating, and one self-destructive business model after another. And not only did they do nothing as consumers and as “real” fans, they actually supported much of the nonsense with their money and embraced much of the sport’s corruption and general sleaziness as quaint realities of the sport, getting off on slumming it in boxing’s dark alleys. Spare me the pearl clutching and silly grandstanding.

The truth is that Mayweather fighting Logan Paul, at its very worst and most opportunistic, has zero impact on what the main stage boxing scene is doing. At it’s best, though, it keeps boxing’s name in the headlines and keeps the sport marginally in the minds of the mainstream as the “real” boxing world (hopefully) gets its act together. 

It’s not like Mayweather is an active fighter and we’re missing out on him vs. Spence, Crawford, Porter because he’s fighting Logan Paul. As I wrote before, all of this exhibition/celebrity stuff is just bonus material. When we start seeing active fighters opting to fight exhibitions rather than other top fighters, then I’ll have my shit fit. Until then, the “purists” need to get over themselves. 

Let people enjoy what they want to enjoy or be curious about what they want to be curious about. Let them impulse buy without the guilt trip. I don’t run into the supermarket and swat the TV dinner out of their hands because Swanson’s Hungry Man is an affront to proper gastronomy. Plus, nobody is beating down anyone’s door, forcing them to buy Mayweather-Paul or any other pay-per-view.

And if someone’s trying to argue that these celebrity/legends exhibitions are taking away from “real” boxing’s ability to sell events and get publicity. Well, then they just made an argument against the entire current power structure and business model in the sport, as well as all of the promoters, managers, networks, and other industry powerbrokers. If the active top fighters can’t outsell some fluff exhibitions with zero competitive relevance, that’s a boxing business issue and not at all the concern of those still able to make some money with a boxing product. 

The weepy laments of boxing “purists” would carry more weight if they came from a group that didn’t have their heads buried up their own asses, fixated on the past, always at the expense of the present and the future. These stodgy prudes don’t really love boxing as much as they love the nostalgia and the macho fairy tales they tell themselves about the sport. 

So, yeah...I’m watching Mayweather vs. Logan Paul and covering it as a boxing writer-- as someone with WAY more blood, sweat, and tears invested in the sport than the jerk-off-to-Ring Magazine “purists.” And  I really don’t care who decides to buy the event or not. 

This exhibition won’t “ruin” anything beyond the tighty-whities of boxing snobs sharting themselves in fits of self-righteous rage.

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