My friend Ken and I attended the "Lightweight Lighting" boxing match at the Erwin Center in Austin last night. The event, even though a HBO pay per view extravaganza sponsored by Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Productions, had a second tier feeling to it. Oscar himself was nowhere in sight. Not that that is a bad thing. Minor league games have an earthy quality that is lacking at the upper levels of the corporate sports market. A good deal of blood was shed from facial cuts in last night's fights. Blood is different when viewed in person. The warriors themselves come alive when you see them in the flesh, in three dimensions. Personality traits are visible; one man, Rolando Reyes, seemed an Aztec sculpture with incredible ring presence and precision punching that defeated his favored opponent; another fighter, Edwin Valero, the headliner from Venezuela, presented the deceptive facade of a young MBA crossed with a rock star, a look that disguised his lights-out punching power. A boxer named Edwin with longhair and a soul patch! Boxing gives you a lot of drama from the high stakes nature of personal combat and from the audience's visceral reaction to that combat. The audience was heavily male.
The female fans scattered around the arena made a fashion statement, best described as form-fitting. Maybe the boxing environment brings out female aggression too. The women in the audience may have anticipated competition from the Tecate Round Card girls. The female fans chose to display their physical attributes to advantage as mirror images of the Round Card professionals. The Tecate girls job consisted of proclaiming the number of the upcoming round. Think Vanna White, but in her underwear and carrying letters, actually the word Round and a number-- like "Round 6". The Tecate girls were hot, very Anglo and much admired. Though Tecate seems immune from diversity in hiring pressures-- who cares... if fight action falters, we always have the Round Girls.
I got the feeling we were all involved in the creating of a TV show. There were a couple of thousand people, a real audience no doubt, but the TV cameras and Big Screens above the ring made me feel like a backdrop to an event happening somewhere else, out in TV land. TV is where the money is... and the Big Screen TV was the only place we saw Oscar. Maybe the smart money stays home these days, perched in front of the flat screen. Let's admit it.. the revolution has been televised. Real life is bit of real work.
But I had a high moment you cannot get at home. My epiphany occurred with a conversation with the thirty-something young guy seated next to me, earring and cap on his head. He told me he had been to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events at the Erwin Center but his heart was really with boxing. "I used to watch Friday Night Fights with my father," he said. "He had two jobs and so it was our time together. " We only spoke for a few minutes more. The headline fight came a lightning knockout, just as billed. We went our separate ways. The young man's comments were the surprise moment for me-- and they would not be available on pay-per-view. They were priceless. I guess some things cannot be achieved in the solace of your living room.
