Boxing: Why Lewis just doesn't cut it with the fans

By KEN JONES

On television the other day they were saying that once Andre Agassi, now 33, has gone tennis will be left crying out for a box-office figure, someone with the personality and style to reach a wider audience.

Not being an avid follower of the fuzz ball, I was not greatly moved by this, but it set me thinking.

Who in the modern pantheon of sport grabs worldwide attention? David Beckham, of course, although wearingly for reasons other than football prowess. Tiger Woods, possibly Michael Schumacher. And there you have it. Really.

We remember certain games, certain players, certain moves on vanished fields. Pele is performing tricks of marvellous invention, Ian Botham is belting sixes, John McEnroe is raising a storm. Above all, Muhammad Ali is leaving us breathless.

The news that Vitali Klitschko has stepped up from the undercard to replace the injured Kirk Johnson as challenger for Lennox Lewis' WBC and IBO heavyweight championships in Los Angeles this month causes no great excitement. Just another contest in the bleakest period of heavyweight history.

Here is another sobering truth: the only heavyweight with widespread crowd appeal is the utterly discredited Mike Tyson, who was beaten up by Lewis last year.

Lewis, the dominant presence of his era, simply does not sell.

Emphasising the parlous state of boxing's flagship division, Tyson's decision to pull out of a contest on the Los Angeles card resulted in a slashing of ticket prices and forced the broadcasters HBO to abandon pay-per-view transmission.

"What do you expect?" asks a long-term observer of American boxing. "Two foreign heavyweights fighting on American soil and neither one likely to quicken the pulse. I'd be surprised if pulling up Klitschko to face Lewis has sold 20 more seats."

It cannot be imagined that Klitschko carries enough threat to seriously trouble Lewis, but, whatever the outcome, heavyweight boxing will remain in the doldrums.

A pretty solid conclusion is that decline in heavyweight standards can be traced to socio-economic changes in the United States.

When Joe Louis transcended boxing in the 1930s and 1940s, major American sports were off limits to black aspirants.

"Baseball, basketball and football were white games," says former correspondent Ed Schuyler.

"Now, it's fair to say, they are dominated by black players.

"Because there are other opportunities, the impulse to take up boxing is no longer as strong.

"Although it's my guess that someone will come along, frankly I don't see anyone out there."

- INDEPENDENT