“Round Zero”, Boxing & The Coronavirus
By William Trillo
The first time I heard of The Corona Virus was back at the tail end of January 2020 when Top Rank Boxing decided to cancel and reschedule Jose Ramirez’s junior welterweight title defense against Viktor Postol. The fight was set to take place Feb. 1 at Mission Hills Haikou resort in Haikou, China. As the story goes, Coronavirus concerns in China led to the rescheduling. At the time I thought to myself, “That’s a great idea, let’s nip this crap in the bud now before it gets out of control.”
I don’t need to tell you how that worked out. It was a nice thought but……..
Let’s go ahead and dub that ill-fated Ramirez/Postol fight “Round Zero” for professional boxing.
Over the course of the next month plenty of boxing matches took place but as the virus spread and fear began to take over it wasn’t long before The Manly Art of Self Defense was shut down. Boxing rings around the world are empty. Like the rest of the world boxing has no choice but to hunker down and wait this thing out.
In the interim let’s hope the powers that be take this opportunity to take a deep collective breath, (face mask optional), and make the decision to come back stronger than ever to close out the year.
This will be easier to do than most may assume.
Boxing fans will be chomping at the bit when the sport is allowed to continue. If ever there was a time to put the best against the best, this will be it. The end result would put boxing right back on the map.
My suggestion would be for promoters to temporarily bury the proverbial hatchet and make the big fights happen before 2020 grinds to a halt. I’m talking Spence vs. Crawford, Fury vs. Joshua, Canelo vs. Charlo (A or B), or Berterbiev vs Bivol. I’m sure there are other high-profile matchups I am leaving out but whatever the case may be…Let’s Get It On!
Yeah Yeah, I know fights like these might cross the promotional boundaries line, but these are the match-ups the fans wanna see. Promoters, Advisors, Managers and the like need to do the right thing now and stop all the bickering and backbiting. Show the fans you care about them, now is your chance.
Coming back with a bang will cure what ails you, so to speak.
And oh by the way, that Ramirez vs. Postol fight was rescheduled for May and set to take place in Fresno. I am counting on this situation to be over by then.
Fresno or Bust!
Last but not least… It’s become a ritual of mine to always purchase an L.A. Street Dog after covering the fights. Right now I am 50/50 on continuing that tradition. ☹
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