by Andres Antonio Carriedo
10/1 - Myths can be associated with every aspect of life. Boxing fans come into contact with myths just as every other human being on this Earth does. We never experience any true harm from these myths, but our ability to interpret simple truths about our favorite sport definitely gets hampered as a result of our belief in these myths. I intend to attack a few of the myths that have clouded our collective judgment over the years and hopefully make some sense of some of life's more important questions, such as "Who is going to win Trinidad-Mayorga?" and "What is going to be the best fight on October 2nd?"

Myth #1: Each fight involving a superstar fighter inherently influences the events that will take place the next time another superstar fighter enters the ring, especially if there is a possibility that the two superstars may fight each other in the near future. Myth #2: PPV fights will definitely be better fights than cable network fights. Myth #3: We can predict, with any true degree of certainty, which fighters will come through victorious in big fights.

In actuality, no fundamental truths exist when it comes to viewing boxing. We call boxing 'The Sweet Science.' Well, nothing can accurately be labeled a science unless the possibility that even the most cherished and highly regarded beliefs in the specified sphere of observation can be proven false exists.

I know that may sound unnecessarily technical, but consider this, myths only exist because we subscribe to their deceptiveness. We give credence to myths. Myths do not ascribe legitimacy upon themselves nor do they create themselves. We can only hold ourselves responsible for any letdown that we experience as a result of an outcome we either did not expect or do not agree with, even if our expectations hinged directly upon things the fighters themselves have said or done in the past.

We create our own mythology to build up super fights. Promoters and television networks also participate in this phenomenon to help sales and the gate. When these myths do not manifest themselves during the fight and our expectations are not met we experience a letdown.

The Bernard Hopkins-Oscar De la Hoya undisputed middleweight title fight on September 18th kicked off a fall season in which a number of the sports' top stars will perform in high profile matches. Some fans may feel as though the 'bad guy' won and others believe that the HBO announcing team should get the ax. Still others are glad that the fight ended in a KO so that we did not have to pray that the judges might exhibit some competence, at least to our eyes and ears.

What more could we ask for? We were treated to a mega fight fought at a high skill level that ended in a conclusive fashion. What are the chances that we will remain that lucky throughout the duration of the fall? How much longer will we be able to avoid the pointless fighter A beat fighter B even though the scorecards didn't say so arguments? Or worse yet, how long will we be able to avoid the conspiracy theories? How much longer will it be before we are bombarded by the mass failure of our myths?

Fast forward a week from Hopkins-De la Hoya to this past Saturday. Roy Jones Jr., another superstar whom many thought could not be beaten so thoroughly, took a pounding from IBF Light Heavyweight Champion Glencoffe Johnson en route to a 9th round KO loss.

For the second straight week a superstar boxer found himself on the receiving end of a one punch KO in the 9th round. What do these two fights have to do with each other? Nothing. Hopkins beat De la Hoya and Johnson beat Jones in two entirely different fights fought under two wholly different sets of circumstances. Yet, something intriguing about this coincidence has seeped out into the imagination of boxing fans. What does this mean will happen to Tito Trinidad this Saturday? Who will be next to go down in the 9th round? Will it be Tito or Mayorga? No, no, no. The idea that De la Hoya's and Jones' fights have anything to do with Trinidad and Mayorga's fight is all a myth.

The fights from the previous two weekends involving four boxers who will not be in either the ring or even the corner of either Tito Trinidad or Ricardo Mayorga have no bearing on the outcome of the fight this Saturday in Madison Square Garden. There may very well be a vicious one punch KO by either Trinidad or Mayorga, but it definitely will have nothing to do with the fact that De la Hoya and Jones were KO'd in the last two weeks.

Though it may be the result of myths, all of the talk that this may be the year of the KO did get me to think about the other intriguing upcoming fights scheduled to take place this fall. I realized that hidden under the dispute over which superstar fighter will be KO'd next is the fact that, on paper, one of the better fights of the fall will be televised on Showtime this Saturday rather than on HBO PPV. So, why are we debating whether or not Tito Trinidad will catch the KO bug instead of using our infinite wisdom to debate the possibilities and intrigue surrounding IBF Jr. Middleweight Champ Verno Phillip's title defense and rematch against Kassim 'The Dream' Ouma?

Why has this fight gone virtually unnoticed? Could the answer simply be because we have given credence to the myth that PPV is better than cable programming? Don King and HBO told us that their card was better than Showtime's by putting an additional price tag on it. As a result, many of us will shell out $50 to watch the Trinidad-Mayorga PPV instead of tuning in to Showtime, which costs less than $50 per month by the way, for their triple header that includes Phillips-Ouma II. Don't believe the hype. Just because the DKP card costs $50 does not mean it will be better.

Don't let other people convince you the fights that cost more are better. Don't let a recent mini trend sway you into believing that all of the superstars will be KO'd this fall. Don't let the myths cloud your vision. This is boxing after all, anything can happen.

Contact Andres at aac7@georgetown.edu

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