boxing not dead, but it’s bleak out there ...

THE love affair with boxing has been a lifelong one for Patrick Connor.

He writes on the contemporary scene, but is also a historian of the fight game.

That enables the Californian to take a long view — and he admits it’s harder and harder to make a positive case for boxing.

“As always, the positives are so positive that they often feel that they outweigh any negative,’’ he said.

“But sometimes that’s really difficult to argue and, lately, that has been the case.

“Daniel Kinahan’s involvement in the sport was obviously awful, as has been the IBA’s nonsense and the issue with the Olympics.

Unaware

“I’m in the States and I think the vast majority of people are unaware of the Olympics’ story.

“In theory, amateur boxers work towards an Olympic spot because that is seen as a springboard to the professional game.

“Without that proverbial carrot, it could be very difficult to convince boxers to go very far in the amateur game, akin to what’s happened in basketball where players are turning professional at a far younger age.

“I don’t know what that would mean for boxing but it’s hard to think that it would be good.”

It’s not just Conor Benn’s positive dope test that should set alarm bells ringing across boxing. Equally damaging is that attempts were made to go ahead with his fight against Chris Eubank Jr.

Boxing is one of the most dangerous sports of all. One punch can have life- altering consequences. According to Connor, the dangers involved in allowing a doped fighter through the ropes are great.

“We’ve actually already seen a handful of incidents where someone was caught doping or with PEDs in their system and have gone on to do damage,’’ he said.

“Maybe the worst example in terms of damage done would be David Price’s knock out loss to Tony Thompson. Thompson knocked the heck out of him.”

That 2013 heavyweight fight saw Thompson fail a drugs test after his win. He actually spoke publicly of his belief that doping should be legalised.

He was banned for 18 months by the British Boxing Board of Control but that only applied to the UK: he had four fights elsewhere during his ‘ban’. That’s boxing.

“There’s obviously been an outcry over the Benn issue, and it’s a hot button topic right now,’’ said Connor.

“It’s egregious, it’s outrageous ... you get used to the kind of tricks boxing pulls but, every now and then, it pulls one that surprises you. That’s the case here.”

He continued: “You hear things like ‘ boxing is dead’ pretty frequently and we’ve been hearing them for a long time,’’ said Connor.

“They’re never true, but there are times when events make the situation more dire.

“Some of the things that happened this year

— and didn’t happen — make it look fairly bleak.”

PED POWER: British boxer David Price (left) was brutally knocked out by doped US boxer Tony Thompson