Ryad Merhy did a nasty job against Jared “Big Baby” Anderson on Saturday night in a 10-round bout at the CompuBox Era. Coming in third on the list of least insults, ESPN broadcaster Tim Bradley said he never wants to see Messi again.
I have the same thoughts. Messi may be a great guy, but it was midnight on Saturday, and he tried to put me to sleep when I agreed to cover his fight with Anderson on Boxing Live. The crowd went berserk, the audience at home threw up their hands in disgust, and even Anderson was dismayed at the level of engagement. From this match, writers and fans mocked Messi. Dan Rafael of Fight Freaks Unite Substack said his podcast recap was more entertaining than the actual fight. The comments section of my anti-war article was filled with comments like “Get Mary’s revenge now!!!” and “The less said about Mary, the better.” Lame ass soldiers.
I hear commentators add new negatives to the things I am trying to refute. While I will never deny that this fight is boring, I think there is a limit to the criticism the hero deserves for not engaging. We have to leave the boxing context to look at Messi’s performance. Because of his performance, ticket holders may be in financial trouble (although they will still be able to watch other fights on the card, including Efe Ajagba-Guido (headlining Guido Vianello) , and those who watch it feel like they’ve “wasted their time.”
But from their comments about Messi’s performance, you would think that everyone who hates Messi is having the worst night of their life. This is not pay-per-view; The card was broadcast on ESPN and I think very few people will pay to watch the Anderson Mesch fight. We’ve all seen 1-0 baseball games that last three hours, but you won’t hear anyone say they don’t want to watch the national championships anymore. Boxing’s unique demand for action-packed combat has sparked outrage over Messi’s career.
How Much Criticism Does Ryad Merhy Deserve After His Poor Showing Against Jared Anderson?https://t.co/t0mXW6gGpg
— BoxingScene.com (@boxingscene) April 17, 2024
I spoke with BoxingScene contributor Thomas Gerbasi to get another perspective. In 1997, Gerbasi entered the New York Golden Gloves.
“Yeah, it’s awesome!” Gebasi said to me. He knew he couldn’t get punched – Willie Pep and Pernell Whittaker seemed to take a lot of hard punches – and he looked at a boxer on the other side of the ring, who he thought he could run away from. the wall. “When I got knocked down, I got more scared,” Gerbasi said. He didn’t feel any pain when he was hit, but he compared the feeling to being hit in the head with a basketball. But after he lost that fight (he doesn’t remember any of the fights), he learned the dangers of boxing.
“You’re not going to see me shoot anybody out of boredom,” Gerbasi said. He listed several ways to account for Mercy’s lack of success: maybe she knew Anderson couldn’t handle herself outside the ring, wanted her to lose, maybe she wanted to wear her down Anderson himself, or he just hears everyone talking about the weight levels that determine him. Unwillingly, Anderson was hit by a powerful punch. – Maybe he needs money. You never know,” Gerbas said.
– I think you should respect these men and women for going there – for your entertainment. No one should fight! This is not our goal. But if you pass the physical exam, who am I to tell you not to do this?
How does he feel about the treatment Messi deserves for taking it so far? – You don’t like this person’s behavior? Don’t look at him. There is probably no point in mocking the boxers for a boring 30 minutes of boxing.
On Saturday, Mesch stepped into the ring with a young heavyweight monster and decided to stay in harm’s way. Here’s the challenge: get rid of the high expectations and events surrounding boxing. Imagine the look on Macy’s face telling her that you would never do what she did.
If you’re not a fighter, I don’t think you’ll do it for real. I know I can’t.
I also don’t care if I fall, get punched in the eye, or have the basketball bounce off my head. All I could think about was sending letters one night at work because I was already working and trying to make money without working hard because I wanted to. I don’t know why Messi fought like that, but I know it’s not like a boxer wants to fight.
Boxing is tough. Sometimes it’s called a sport, sometimes it’s called a hobby. In fact, there is confusion between these two countries, and if we want to have one boxing, we often choose one. One day Errol Spence was called stupid for losing his undefeated record to a generational talent, Shakur Stevenson the next day against Edwin De Los Santos he was accused of being boring. So what is the purpose of boxing? Is having fun and winning as much as possible in this dangerous sport, or should it be safe? I think all of these goals are valid. So, while I’m sorry for Messi’s performance, I can’t say that I can’t explain exactly why he’s having trouble with him.
I’m not advocating for Merhy to get further opportunities at the expense of fighters who made more of an effort to win (read: all of them). Just for a little less venom at the fighters more susceptible to their fear receptors than Arturo Gatti. I’d venture to say that between the embarrassing loss, the thousands of fans booing him, and the difficulty he’ll have getting fights in the future, Merhy has been sufficiently punished for his safety-first approach. We do not need to withhold his purse on top of that.
It’s fair for Tim Bradley to pile into Merhy on air. Bradley has given the majority of his life to this sport and fought the very best and most fearsome boxers of his generation – Manny Pacquiao (three times!), Juan Manuel Marquez, Ruslan Provodnikov – and showed astonishing bravery in those fights. For those of us who have never stepped in a ring, pointing out our boredom and frustration at Anderson-Merhy is perfectly reasonable. But to act like Merhy has committed some kind of a crime when all he did was try a little too hard not to get hit by a rising heavyweight’s sledgehammer punches? It’s time to get off our high horse.