Donald Trump Presents: The Florida Granddad Fights

The dust has settled. I had to do a double take when seeing this card. In my last article on Belfort, I said he was due to face Oscar De La Hoya. Then all of a sudden Donald Trump was presenting, De La Hoya was out and Holyfield was in. The event, held in Florida in the Seminole Hard Rock Café, has that old boxing quirk of not naming events making it much harder to know who fought on what cards in later years. It did however fit with America’s greater narrative of Florida being where the elderly go to retire, as this bout was nothing but Granddad fights. 

Donald Trump had promoted boxing matches a long time ago, having a stint of fights promoted in the 80s-90s. Needless to say he was no Don King, so to see him return to it, after his presidency, it was easy to imagine the event to be a set up for some political messaging. In truth though, the man couldn’t have been more bored on commentary if he tried.

Perhaps the best moment was Trump implying that the fight between Haye and Fournier could be rigged.  Nothing says ‘legitimate event’ than your promoter outwardly saying the competition could be rigged, with no cause whatsoever. Was this just an unnecessary distraction though? Something that detracted attention away for some high quality brawls? Well… 

Vitor Belfort vs. Evander Holyfield 

I of course expected Vitor to easily knock out De La Hoya – although I anticipated Evander Holyfield, even in his advanced age to be more of a challenge for Vitor. I figured his experience would let him capitalise on Vitor’s mistakes, especially in boxing.  

In practise however, Vitor simply walked over him USING those flaws that make him a poor boxer. Holyfield just wasn’t ready to deal with the pressure and was TKO’d in the first round. Hard to blame him though, I did expect Vitor to win but I expected it to be a little more of a fight. Perhaps it was silly of me to underestimate just how big the age gap between these two fighters was.

Anderson Silva vs. Tito Ortiz 

Though I didn’t mention it last week, Silva (who we mentioned having previously beaten Chavez jr.) also fought Tito Ortiz and it went exactly how you’d expect. Tito tried to swing, and immediately got knocked out within the first round of the fight. Tito Ortiz was embarrassed and Anderson Silva looked disappointed. He wanted to do some boxing and didn’t really get the opportunity. I’m not sure who would have expected this to go any other way, but there we go.  

Silva is actually so good in the boxing ring, even in his 40s that you have to wonder what sort of career he could have had in professional boxing. He could well have been the same sort of sensation in that sport, as he was in in MMA. The Spider truly is a marvel. 

David Haye vs. Joe Fournier 

Meanwhile, David Haye came out of retirement yet again, to beat up his friend in a professional boxing match. He insists that he still wants to fight Tyson Fury, and while that would have been a good match-up when it was supposed to happen, that might not be the best idea now.  

Back to the Circus 

There was only one fight on the main card, where the fighters did not have a combined age of 80+. Though as a card full of boomer fights go, this could have been worse. The question really is whether or not it is even ethical for half of these fighters to still be allowed in the ring with their advanced age and dulled reflexes.  

While I imagine the referee was probably instructed to get Holyfield out of that fight as quickly as possible, he could have sustained far worse damage in that fight than he did. Yet this is still the event everyone talks about, I myself am guilty of it. It seems that no one under 40 really cares about boxing anymore, and that in order to get eyes on it in the US and UK, boxing has to be parasitic on MMA.  

It likely doesn’t help that boxing is mostly hidden behind pay-per-view, as opposed to being free on TV. Meaning that we still have awkward situations like what we saw with Floyd Mayweather, where he was the biggest draw of his day, but was still arguing with a lady in Brixton who didn’t have a clue who he was.  

The common defence I hear of these bouts, is that it gets eyes on boxing. However, after so many of these events I think I can safely say it doesn’t. It attracts short term attention from viewers, but it doesn’t gain the sport any sustainable growth. And there is an ethical question as to the age of some of the fighters competing. People will argue that it is only an exhibition, but if a competitor can be knocked out in the first round, is it really an exhibition anymore?

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