“Nothing will kill boxing, and nothing can save it,” Larry Merchant, the great old American sportswriter and commentator, once said as he surveyed the enduring chaos of a bloody business which now operates even deeper in the shadows away from mainstream life and sport. His words have resounded again after a terrible second half of the year for boxing. A riveting fight between two contemporary artists of the ring in Terence Crawford and Errol Spence cannot be made and, instead, we face the depressing reality of Tyson Fury facing a damaged Derek Chisora for a third time next Saturday in a contest devoid of any meaning beyond the money it will make for those involved. Such a mess makes boxing seem more broken than ever.
Merchant is 91 and so he has not been seen during a surreal Thanksgiving week in the Californian sunshine as Regis Prograis and Jose Zepeda prepare for their world title bout this Saturday night in Los Angeles. This is a serious and compelling super-lightweight fight which, while it will definitely not save anyone, resonates with everything that still makes the best characters in boxing so vivid and fascinating when they occupy a space of real gravitas.
