Post by Dan Cucich on Jun 30, 2007 23:35:06 GMT -5
IOC recognition will do for womens boxing what it did for women's Tai Kwon Do, judo, water polo or baseball: Nothing!
(But it might keep a lot of am boxers from turning pro too soon-which is probably a good thing-unless, of course, the ioc allows pros. If thats the case, then olympic boxing simply become a pro-tournament with three 2 minute roudns and headgear-which will not be nearly as prestigious as a one -on -one 10 rd WIBA world title. So IOC recognition is not the silver bullet we all seek.
IOC recogniton doesnt even help sports that are already very popular. Case in point: I wonder how many people on this board even remember who won the fist womens tennis gold medal? (answer is at the bottom of this post)
And women's pro tennis is much more popular than womens' pro boxing.
It's axiomatic: IOC recognition can't make a sport more popular than it already is. Thus, women athletes will always struggle for due recognition in traditionally male dominated activities.
But i also agree that boxing is not dead nor is it dying.
Its simply leveled off for both men and women. The reason is because there are simply too many other sports and other entertainment options available to people on any given friday or saturday night for boxing to recapture the entertainment dollar market share it once held back in boxing's heyday.
Now, of course, statistically speaking, all sports will show some increased number of participants which can be at least partially explained by a simple increase in the population. Thus, there are more women softball players and more softball tournaments today than were ten years ago. But womens softball, baseball, or tai kwon do, are not exactly taking the world by storm.
(Jennifer Capriati won the first olympic gold medal for womens tennis.)
I for one had far perfer to see McCarter vs Laracunete over 10 three minute rounds than watch them go 3 two miute roubds wih headgear-which is waht he IOC will insist upon. Talk about a snoozer...
someday the potbellied old men who run womens boxing will realize the three minute rd for women offers the best hope for more Ko's and thus more excitement-and that more than any one thing will increase the appeal of womens boxing to traditional boxing fans.
But even that will not elevate womens boxing to equal status with mens boxing.
We all need to accept that and enjoy it; and just like the fans of curling and archery, we need to simply forget whether others share our appreciation for the sport we love..why do we need the world's validation?
dan
(But it might keep a lot of am boxers from turning pro too soon-which is probably a good thing-unless, of course, the ioc allows pros. If thats the case, then olympic boxing simply become a pro-tournament with three 2 minute roudns and headgear-which will not be nearly as prestigious as a one -on -one 10 rd WIBA world title. So IOC recognition is not the silver bullet we all seek.
IOC recogniton doesnt even help sports that are already very popular. Case in point: I wonder how many people on this board even remember who won the fist womens tennis gold medal? (answer is at the bottom of this post)
And women's pro tennis is much more popular than womens' pro boxing.
It's axiomatic: IOC recognition can't make a sport more popular than it already is. Thus, women athletes will always struggle for due recognition in traditionally male dominated activities.
But i also agree that boxing is not dead nor is it dying.
Its simply leveled off for both men and women. The reason is because there are simply too many other sports and other entertainment options available to people on any given friday or saturday night for boxing to recapture the entertainment dollar market share it once held back in boxing's heyday.
Now, of course, statistically speaking, all sports will show some increased number of participants which can be at least partially explained by a simple increase in the population. Thus, there are more women softball players and more softball tournaments today than were ten years ago. But womens softball, baseball, or tai kwon do, are not exactly taking the world by storm.
(Jennifer Capriati won the first olympic gold medal for womens tennis.)
I for one had far perfer to see McCarter vs Laracunete over 10 three minute rounds than watch them go 3 two miute roubds wih headgear-which is waht he IOC will insist upon. Talk about a snoozer...
someday the potbellied old men who run womens boxing will realize the three minute rd for women offers the best hope for more Ko's and thus more excitement-and that more than any one thing will increase the appeal of womens boxing to traditional boxing fans.
But even that will not elevate womens boxing to equal status with mens boxing.
We all need to accept that and enjoy it; and just like the fans of curling and archery, we need to simply forget whether others share our appreciation for the sport we love..why do we need the world's validation?
dan