English boxing, nicknamed the “noble art”, is it still a dream? The discipline, haloed by legends such as Mohamed Ali, Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier or Georges Carpentier, has evolved a lot in recent decades, whether in amateur or professional boxing. In recent years, it has evolved to the point of being desacralized, according to Nasser Negrouche, journalist, former international amateur boxer and specialist in this sport. For RFI and the program Décryptage, he details the dangers that threaten it.
RFI: Nasser Negrouche, can we still speak of a noble art to qualify boxing, in your opinion?
Nasser Negrouche : It is true that the question arises, the Noble art has lost a lot of its magnetism, its magic, its credibility above all, and we are living through an undeniable crisis. There is another crisis which, indeed, breaks with a whole story which has fascinated the public: the world of cinema, the world of literature. It was a sport that had a particular aura that today is no longer there.
What explains this crisis and why do you think boxing is less fascinating today?
If we talk about the situation, for example in France, because the situation is not the same in all countries, even if there is a general crisis, there are several factors that can explain this decline in boxing. This loss of credibility is primarily explained by often unbalanced fights, of which one can, with near certainty, predict the outcome so much they are unbalanced. So that is the first factor. The second, which is more concrete, is an obvious regression in terms of technique, in terms of teaching, and I would say that boxing is a bit like a craft that is on the way out, a uncommon profession. We no longer have great masters capable of transmitting. Today we have a multitude of people who call themselves boxing coaches. We, we knew boxing teachers, teachers, who had a real mastery, a real know-how, a science of the ring, which, which was transmitted to us.
Today, it has become a very commercial sport, that is to say that there is really a new way of practicing boxing in the form of a hobby, of leisure, of distraction. But we are no longer at all in those factories for champions that we once had, including in France, and whose vocation was to manufacture champions, to train people destined to go to the highest level of this sport.
To (re) listen ► the program DECRYPTION: Has money knocked out boxing?
Can we say today that money rules boxing? Hasn’t that always been the case? One can quote Don King, at the time of Mohamed Ali. Again, these were very lucrative fights with somewhat all-powerful promoters. Is this phenomenon stronger today?
To fully understand, it is necessary to distinguish two worlds: that of professional boxing and that of amateur boxing. In professional boxing, there has always been money. There were more of them in the past than there are today. There were record fights with gigantic purses. Money in professional boxing has always existed with its excesses, especially in the United States.
Above all, there is a crisis in Olympic boxing, in amateur boxing, which has been somewhat corrupted by the interference of money, notably through the International Amateur Boxing Federation (IBA). It is above all the corruption of Olympic values through money that poses a problem today. Hence, moreover, the threat of boxing withdrawing from the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. There is a serious threat of withdrawal from Olympic boxing.
What would be the consequences of the disappearance of the discipline at the 2028 Olympics? What would be the repercussions for amateur boxing?
It would be the end and a total break with his story. Boxing has been part of the Olympic Games since 1904. It has been one of the most attractive disciplines of the Olympics.
The end of the Olympic dream would be a very collapse of the attractiveness of sport, since the Olympic Games are a kind of accomplishment for the amateur boxer, an Olympic ideal for France.
For example, we can remember the Frenchman Brahim Asloum who was a gold medalist at the 2000 Olympics and who also became a top boxer and his compatriot Tony Yoka more recently. These are people who have reached the world level after winning an Olympic gold medal. But it is above all symbolically: it would sign the end of an era and above all of the values that have carried boxing, Olympic values.
Some promoters now organize fights with people who are not boxers at all. As recently, between the American youtubeur Jake Paul, who faced the Brazilian Anderson Silva, legend of mixed martial arts (MMA). Can’t that rekindle people’s interest by offering other profiles?
Another factor, which explains the decline of English boxing, of the noble art, is competition from other combat sports, and in particular MMA. Today we have evenings that will mix disciplines to try to broaden the audience and attract a greater number of spectators.
The second point that you mention and which contributes to the loss of credibility of boxing is what I call fair boxing, namely, we make anyone box, youtubers, artists, personalities , influencers, who will simply put on gloves, in a spirit of buzz. There is absolutely no boxing in this. This is part of this theatricalization of this boxing which turns into a circus and which no longer has anything to do with academic boxing. Today, all that no longer exists. We are on a completely different register which is that of entertainment. We can say that we once had a boxing that was classic, that was a bit like a beautiful film from the French cinematheque in black and white, with actors, with a soul, with a mystery, a magnetism. Today, we have a kind of Berlusconian boxing whose main concern is to make the audience, to entertain, to attract customers. But in total rupture with the founding principles of the Noble art and especially with the values of boxing.