Wednesday, April 02, 2003

The eyes of the boxing world my focus this June on Buffalo, if a set of fights involving Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson (although not against one another) are successfully scheduled. Ralph Wilson Stadium -- home of the Buffalo Bills -- would likely host the event, which could feature Buffalo's own local boxing star, Joe Mesi, in one of the bouts.

As an affirmed Buffalo-chauvinist, I'm always in favor of putting a little national spotlight on the Niagara Frontier for reasons other than snow (although, hey, snow's fine too), so a big boxing event would be neat. I'd love to see Buffalo get into the act of hosting bigger sporting events; the HSBC Arena, for example, would be a great place to hold the NCAA Final Four, for example, or the World Figure Skating Championships. I've never thought that Buffalo does enough to attract big-time attention to itself, so a big boxing event could work.

(Although, as far as boxing itself goes, I can't say that I care all that much. It's not my favorite sport, not by a long-shot. My take on boxing is swiped from a stand-up comedian I saw on TV years ago, whose name I can't recall: "You have to wonder about a society that considers masturbation 'self-abuse' and boxing 'a sport'.")

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