It’s unavoidable, Lalia Ali. So you better get used to it.
The boxing world seems really upset over what they think will be a very one-sided prize fight in favour of Floyd Mayweather.
Oscar De La Hoya believes his sport’s guy breezing past a star athlete in another sport will somehow kill boxing, while former world champion, Lalia Ali, just doesn’t want to give the fight the time of day.
When asked about the proposed crossover megafight at a recent event, the daughter of Muhammad Ali tried her best to move on from the question. (quotes via Fight Hype)
“I have nothing to say about that one. I absolutely don’t even want to see it. No.”
“We just need to make exciting fights. It doesn’t necessarily mean we go get someone who’s not a boxer and go make them a boxer because that’s something I don’t want to see either.”
Although she claimed she didn’t want to talk about it, when pressed she continued by addressing the business element of such a high-profile fight.
Rory McIlroy got a mention https://t.co/Fmjhq6PGfc
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 26, 2017
She believes that the sport shouldn’t have to resort to freakshow fights in order to bring the casual fans in. She feels that the same goal can be achieved by simply making exciting fights featuring actual boxers.
“They just need to go put some exciting fights together. You’ve got some good up-and-coming fighters in the heavyweight division, which is exciting. (Terence) Crawford really impressed me and I want to see more fighters like that.”
“Some guys that we just don’t really see that often. There’s people out there, we just need to make those fights happen and stop worrying about those big money fights and put on the fights that are actually competitive.”
She closed by agreeing that the business side is important, but that the reputation of the sport should not be ignored.
“Well, it’s always going to be business, but at the same time, we need to mix a little more of the good fights in there too.”
Hard to argue with that.
