Boxing's last hope

How terrible is boxing these days? Mike Tyson recently fought an exhibition against his 300 pound sparring partner, Corey "T. Rex" Sanders. Tyson apologized for knocking him down in the first round and later held him up when the guy was about to fall after taking a punch. This is a kind gesture considering his opponent was blind in one eye. There's also a new Rocky movie coming out, Rocky Balboa. As if a washed up Tyson fighting in his 40's wasn't pathetic enough, Stallone's going to try it in his 60's.

So with the growing popularity of UFC and K1, where does that leave boxing? The Contender seemed to get a little attention, but not enough to turn the sport around. That leaves the upcoming, SuperFighter tournament, scheduled for December 2nd, as the only real chance on the horizon for boxing to gain some marketshare back. The tournament will pit 8 "top" heavyweight fighters against each other in a single elimination style tournament over a 4 hour period (winner takes home $5 million). With this tournament, boxing is addressing its biggest deficiency. A single main event with no-name undercards just isn't enough to draw the pay-per-view dollars anymore. UFC and K1 beat boxing to the punch (no pun intended) by offering events with more than a handful of intriguing matchups every night.