Boxing’s Hyperbole Problem

The highly anticipated “Battle for Los Angeles” between Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares on PBC on ESPN had all the makings of a “Fight of the Year” candidate. When the two finally threw down in front of 13,109 rabid fans at Staples Center, the people got exactly what they wanted, as Santa Cruz earned a thrilling majority decision over his Southern California foe.

However, as exciting as it was, Santa Cruz-Mares was certainly not a classic. Blame social media for this extensive exercise in hyperbole.

Facebook and Twitter allow everyone to spew their thoughts without a filter, hit the enter button and never look back. Unfortunately, what these knee-jerk reactions do for fights such as the Santa Cruz-Mares showdown is dilute their importance by jamming it with a glut of other above-average fights that will only end up being forgotten in a few weeks.

Remember that scintillating knockout of Marco Huck by Krysztof Glowacki from a few weeks ago that was being called a “Fight of the Year” candidate? The come-from-behind knockout in round 11 by Glowacki was certainly impressive, though certainly not “Fight of the Year” material. But, between the commentary team and overzealous fans on social media, you would have thought that this was the second coming of Hagler-Hearns. It wasn’t, and after a while, you get numb to the talk. It’s the equivalent of a new album coming out and people deeming it a classic less than 24 hours after its release.

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The hyperbole has become utterly ridiculous over the past few years, and the hoopla over the Santa Cruz-Mares fight is indicative of an audience who wants to feel like they witnessed a classic before everyone else.

If you look back at the Santa Cruz-Mares fight, it is forgivable if you felt like you were about to witness a classic after the first few rounds, when Mares bulled his way forward and attempted to outpunch the high-volume puncher. It caught a lot of people, including Santa Cruz, off guard and sent the thousands at Staples Center into a frenzy. However, as the fight wore on, Santa Cruz proved to be the definition of consistency as he wore down Mares and slowly took over the fight. By the middle rounds, Santa Cruz had full control, as Mares and the pair of cuts he sported just could not keep up.

It’s already difficult to vouch for a fight that was won so handily by Santa Cruz as a “Fight of the Year” candidate, considering Santa Cruz earned two lopsided scorecards of 117-111. In addition, there were far too many arm clinches that slowed down the action to justify it being a “FotY.” Nevertheless, because of the magnitude of the fight and atmosphere, it was being called an instant classic before it was over. Morales-Barrera and Tapia-Ayala it was not.

The boxing audience may soon become desensitized to the term “classic” and begin to ignore social media when the word is lobbed around like a Nerf in the backyard before football season begins. Eventually, when a real classic throwdown is taking place, people will ignore it because every fight that has more leather landing than the average Floyd Mayweather bout becomes a “classic.”

So, fight fans of social media, don’t do a great bout like Santa Cruz-Mares a disservice by creating an expectation to which it certainly cannot live up. Show a little restraint and decent judgment, because you’re only hurting the sport as a whole.

Andreas Hale is a content producer for Jay Z's LifeandTimes.com and editor-in-chief of PremierWuzHere.com, as well as a frequent Sherdog.com columnist. Check out his archive here.