Avila Perspective, Chap. 97: No Reporters in Age of Pandemonium

Variety is the spice of life or as the other saying goes, the “more the merrier.”

Well, that’s not the case today in media coverage with this coronavirus pandemic changing the way sports and professional boxing operates at the moment.

Top Rank’s two boxing cards allowed only one or maybe two reporters not affiliated with the promoter or the television outlet to cover the outcome. Will this be the norm for the future?

As long as this pandemic survives, the $150 cost of testing people will keep reporters from being invited to the party. Instead they will do their watching from at home and try to write what they see from a television or cell phone screen.

It’s a tremendous difference.

Watching a fight via television or a small phone can’t compare to witnessing a fight in person. Up close you can sense the urgency of a fighter losing his edge and the speed of a prizefighter’s blows. Instead of depending on the whim of a director’s camera angle, a fan inside the arena gets the whole picture. So do reporters who are sitting ringside.

Boxing beat writers are trained through repetition to translate what they see into a story that captures what happened in a prize fight. Whether it’s a world championship clash or a pro debut, a reporter can convey what transpired in a fight into a story very clearly when actually at the fight. It’s not as possible watching it on a television screen.

The only advantage of watching a fight via television: the fighter quotes that come after the fight. Instead of waiting 15 minutes to obtain the quotes a reporter can actually hear them on a television screen. But that is the only advantage.

We shall see if promoters decide to eliminate access to the usual amount of reporters or scale back the numbers in the future. We shall see.

Promoters are always looking to make more bucks.

One major promotion company, Golden Boy Promotions, sat reporters 100 yards away for both battles between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Both were razor-close decisions and when reporters were asked their opinion on who won the fights I had to laugh. No reporter had a decent view 100 yards away. How could they give a viable opinion?

Club Shows

Many of today’s boxing writers limit themselves to large shows and ignore the club fights. It’s a major flaw with current journalists. They are missing out on prizefighting’s true essence: the journey.

A good example of “the journey” was the featherweight battle between Adam Lopez and Luis Coria that took place on Thursday at the MGM Grand. It was the opening act for the televised Top Rank boxing card and it was truly revealing on their improvements.

I saw Coria’s first pro fight that took place four years ago at Fantasy Springs Casino. He marched in with a band and an entourage not common for pro debuts. He scrapped and battled for a win that night. Forty-eight months later under the tutelage of Robert Garcia he’s become a pressure fighter who understands the consequences of his style and how to proceed.

It was beautiful stuff to watch those improvements. Boxing is a beautiful sport when you break it down to its nuances and strategies.

I first saw Adam Lopez at a club show in Montebello by All Star Promotions. Many a star began their careers at one of Ed Holmes boxing cards. That night the son of the great Hector Lopez knocked out his foe in two rounds. The next time I saw Adam Lopez was at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. That night Adam Lopez went four rounds and won a hard-fought decision over a guy named Alfredo Hernandez. On that same card a female fighter Lisa Porter made her debut to defeat MMA fighter Haley Pasion. It was a very long boxing card. It showed Lopez had boxing talent but could he equal his dad?

His father fought against many of the best and was considered one of the smartest fighters in the L.A. area for many years. I witnessed many of the father’s fights in person including his 1984 Olympic bouts in Los Angeles that garnered him the silver medal. He was literally crazy good.

Adam Lopez and his brother Hector Lopez Jr. fought on the same Montebello fight card back in July 2016 and both scored second round knockouts. You could see their boxing bloodlines. You could also see they were going to improve and that’s always fun to watch them add ingredients to their style that would make them better prizefighters.

Sadly, club shows are victimized by this pandemic because small promoters cannot afford to pay for Covid-19 tests required by the California State Athletic Commission. The club shows are the lifeline for the entire sport of boxing. It’s where the debuting fighters get their beaks wet. It’s where they learn what works and what does not. And, it’s how fighters with limited or no amateur experience can prove themselves.

Let’s hope we see the return of club shows very soon.

Next Week

Top Rank returns with two more boxing cards in one week.

On Tuesday, welterweights Giovani Santillan (25-0) and Antonio DeMarco (33-8-1) meet in a 10-round bout between southpaws. This should be very good. Santillan fights for Thompson Boxing Promotions who recently gave Top Rank co-promotion rights.

On Thursday, lightweights Gabe Flores Jr. (17-0) and Josec Ruiz (21-2-3) meet in the 10-round main event. Flores fights out of Stockton and Ruiz fights out of Miami, Florida.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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