Crime Pays... Especially in Boxing!

by Pedro Carrero Jr.

11.03 - Ever since the Nevada boxing commission denied Mike Tyson a license to box, Tyson has been on a safari throughout the country searching for a place that would welcome his bout against Lennox Lewis. Most states have either denied Tyson a license to box or have pressured him to simply pursue his license bid somewhere else. Finally, Washington D.C. and Tennessee have granted Tyson a license to box but until tickets are on sale for the public to purchase, the fight is still off.

Everybody has an opinion on why Mike Tyson should or should not be granted a license to box. Unfortunately, some of the opinions have no reasoning and simply hurt the overall image of boxing. In general, the sport of boxing has always carried a black cloud over it, while other sports seem to be praised and controversy is at the minimum. The NBA or NFL never gets this much bad press.

Nevertheless, boxing is what it is and if you read some of the articles that have been written about whether or not Tyson should receive a license, a boxing fan will still be shocked by the outrageous and stereotypical quotes and comments that have been printed in the media about this entire issue. I read an article in which a boxing commissioner from a certain district in Canada, was quoted as saying that he would grant Tyson a license to box in his district, regardless of his criminal antics. His reasoning was that if all boxers were not allowed to fight because of their criminal behaviors, then there would be no boxers left to fight each other! Could you believe this moron? You have to, because you and I have read similar quotes and comments in other articles recently.

Well, let me consider this slanderous belief of boxing for one time only. Is boxing a criminal sport? Are the majority of boxers just as crazy with a checkered past just like Tyson? Are boxing fans like me and you actually supporting and glorifying boxers who are nothing but ex-convicts? Is Tyson
part of long list of heavyweight felonious champions? I am not the FBI but one would have to go back 40 years to 1962, to find a legendary heavyweight champion who was an ex-convict, Sonny Liston. We would have to go through the legendary years of Ali, Joe Frazier,George Forman and Larry Holmes, some 24 years later to find another law breaker who turned champion the first time in 1986, Mike Tyson. Its now 2002 and the legendary careers of Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis will show that neither were criminals. Moreover, legends of yesteryear such as Rocky Marciano and Joe Lewis were solid citizens, too.

Besides that, if one was to name the current champions in any weight class, the majority are not past lawbreakers with few exceptions such as Bernard Hopkins. Still, Bernard Hopkins is a well-respected champion who can be a role model to any youth who wants a second chance. Current champions such as John Ruiz, Roy Jones Jr, Oscar De la Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Kostya Tszyu, Dariusz Michalczewski, Vernon Forrest, Acelino Freitas, Vassily Jirov among many others, are not law breakers either.

To achieve glory in boxing, one must possess skill, timing, mental and physical peak that cannot be achieved by living the double life of a villain. Of course, boxing does have its small share of athletes who have broken the law before, during or after their respective careers, just like any other sport. In fact, turn your newspaper right now. Former basketball player Jayson Williams has been charged with aggravated manslaughter for the death of his chauffeur. Besides that, O.J. Simpson, former football legend, was a convicted wife beater even before he was tried for murder. What has O.J. Simpson done for the county of Los Angeles lately? Nothing. He left L.A. and now hides somewhere in Miami. Los Angeles blew millions of dollars trying to convict O.J. Simpson. Yet, the same Los Angeles city denied Tyson a license to box. At least Tyson would have pumped millions of dollars in the economy of Los Angeles if he were granted a license to fight there. No harm done, because boxing always faces the double standard, anyway.

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