Boxing and the Free Market

Even after the market crashed around him in 2008, President Bush praised capitalism and the free market like they were the greatest thing since the red rubber multi-purpose ball.  In the following months, the bankers went to Congress, demanded some socialism for their industry and offered none as they continued to foreclose on properties.


If lawmakers paid more attention to the boxing world in the past 15 years, they would have seen that the unregulated, free economy is extremely beneficial to the very few who make it their life's work to consume; that it is a path towards self-destruction.


How is boxing like the free market?


I'll answer that with another question.  Who regulates boxing?  A federal agency?  Nope.  A state commission?  They dabble a bit but no.  A city manager?  He might expect tickets but still no. 


The WBC?  If you pay them they will call you champion or interim champion or champion emiritus or unified champion or diamond champion....let's see.......uh.....well if your check clears, you're a champion.  Back to the question, no, not the WBC, IBF, WBA, WBO, IBA, or whatever three letters you can put together. 


I hear boxing writers and commentators beg and plead for the marketplace to make the major decisions in boxing; to act as the market should act.  In the free market, it is the consumers who decide by making the purchase that will best suit them.  It is this action that is supposed to regulate the market.  

Don't like dolphins in your tuna?  Don't buy it and force the manufacturer to use dolphin-safe nets.  Tired of your Chevy breaking down every 5000 miles.  Trade it in for a Toyota.  If Chevy wants your business back, then they should stop fastening parts with bubblegum and paper clips.  Well, after decades of making Radio-Flyers with Chevy emblems, the marketplace decided no more and bought fleets of the Prius and the Corrolla.  Chevy could wither and die for all we care but wait....what?  The Fed is buying stock in GM in attempt to save the company that sells subpar products?    No kidding?  The Fed is bailing out the banks that acted in collusion to make bad loans and sell them off.  Now that's not capitalism...or at least not the way it should be.


If only those writers knew they were getting capitalism at its purest in boxing.  No regulatory bodies.  Commissions there to make sure that the boxers aren't bums off the street (insert Kimbo jab) and that they were following the Queensbury rules.  And the promoters, the manufacturers of fights, finding a way to ignore the needs of the sport and the desire of the fans.  Need to artificially raise the stakes on the fight?  Pay the WBC for the Super Duper Champion Belt.  Commissions giving you trouble?  Take the fight to another state or country and promise it will inject money to the local economy.


Now, promoters <cough..Golden Boy and Top Rank..cough..> have the ability to deliver a crummy product on a consistent basis to the point that we're starved.  So starved, that we're willing to swallow Pacquiao/Mosley and Julio Caesar Chavez Jr./ Tijuana Cab Drivers and Plumbers Local 218.


What will it take to turn the tides?  When I know the answer, you'll be the first to hear it.