Credibility spark fails to ignite
03.12.2009
By: DAN KOCH
---- COMMENT ----
IT was the bout that was supposed to help put the sport back on the map in Australia.
Certainly, the pre-fight hype and overwhelming public interest in Danny Green's bout with US legend and eight-time world titleholder Roy Jones Jr suggested this could be just the spark necessary to help restore some of the lustre or, at the very least, some credibility to the domestic scene.
All the elements were there.
A vocal crowd packed with celebrities including rugby league great Andrew Ettingshausen, former world boxing contender Paul Briggs, former world kickboxing champion Ian Jacobs, current great John Wayne Parr, underworld identity Mick Gatto and the equally colourful, former Sydney detective Roger Rogerson.
Unfortunately for the almost 15,000 spectators who forked out anywhere up to $2000 for a ticket, what was delivered was another reminder of why the sport is dying across the globe.
While Green did his part, putting his health, belt and reputation on the line against one of the greats, his management let him down with a farcical five-fight undercard -- none deserving a place on a night of such significance.
Boom youngster Will Tomlinson took his record to 10-0-1, with an impressive third-round stoppage of veteran American Verquan Kimbrough before southpaw Steve Wills ended Chad Bennett's night early in the fourth round in the curtain-raiser.
Neither Wills nor Tomlinson, both very solid fighters with big futures, were challenged. It should be noted, though, that Bennett had a good excuse given he took the fight on just five days' notice, having fought just 10 days ago.
Australia has enough quality boxers fighting both here and overseas for fans to not only expect, but demand better.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will be here in February, bringing with it an action-packed card of high quality, international fighters. On any card, six bouts are genuinely world-class.
Last night, in the ridiculously long breaks between bouts, the only entertainment was the chance to hand over some more hard-earned money in one of the almost 20 auctions in which everything from shorts and gloves signed by Jones and Green to a shirt autographed by V8 racer Jamie Whincup was up for grabs.
It reduced a supposedly high-profile international event to amateur hour, with the shameful money-grabbing not ending there. There was also the $15 event programs for sale as you entered Acer Arena and the $18 it cost for a piece of chicken, some chips and a drink.
Of course, at pubs and clubs across Australia all they were talking about into the wee hours of the morning was the crushing right hand Green planted on Jones Jr's temple.
It not only crumbled and humbled one of the sport's true greats but may well have ended his glittering career.
For Green, the lure of a potential rematch with Anthony Mundine, who sat in Jones Jr's corner, will surely be too much for the two men to resist.
Both are proud. Neither is stupid. The money will be unlike anything seen in Australian boxing history.
Let's just hope when they do meet, the public gets more bang for its buck.
