A Chance for Holiday Greatness

Philadelphia native and heavyweight standout "Fast" Eddie Chambers will head to Germany July 4th to fight. To bad boxing won't take advantage of the situation to recapture an audience.

Some of the toughest times for sports fans is during the summer months. In the fall, there is baseball, football, basketball and hockey. Once baseball ends, the other three continue until February and when football ends, baseball starts up again to keep the trifecta in tact. 

But in the summer, baseball is in the middle of a 162-game season and that doesn't make for much excitement or drama. Fans clamor for the beginning of football season and just want baseball to get to the end of August to see if their team is still in the playoff hunt. 

This little July dry spell of sports action offers the perfect opportunity for boxing to try to capture the attention of mainstream sports fans. 

Browsing through the weekly boxing schedule as I often do, I found there was virtually no big fights happening on the July 4 weekend. The one "big" is taking place in Germany. But the fight does feature American heavyweight prospect "Fast" Eddie Chambers taking on undefeated European prospect Alexander Dimitrenko. 

This match isn't going to be a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but why not try to secure a deal with a network and broadcast it to an American audience. If the now-defunct mixed martial arts organization, Elite XC, can secure a deal with CBS, then there is no reason boxing promoters can't get it done either. 

Sure, it might require them to pony up some money and they wont make nearly as much on pay-per-view, but the long-term benefits of occasionally broadcasting on a network channel would pay huge dividends. 

Chambers vs Dimitrenko isn't necessarily going to be a great showcase of boxing, but you don't always need massive pay-per-view quality fights. Broadcasting this fight would be a classic American story on America's most patriotic day. 

An American heavyweight from Philadelphia travels to Germany to face an undefeated European prospect. Sounds a lot like a real-life Rocky Balboa story and it would be an easy way to market the fight and get the public interested. 

A lot of mixed martial arts booming growth and success among sports fans can be attributed to how accessible the UFC has been. Season after season, the UFC produces the show "The Ultimate Fighter." It's an easy way for sports fans to slowly understand MMA and get to know some of the potential future stars. 

I think the reason boxing is so hesitant to go back to network TV is because of the stronghold it has established on HBO and Showtime as well as pay-per-view. The gambling industry will always support boxing, but many boxing fans are not high rollers and many sports fans just want to see a good, old-fashioned fight now and then. 

Broadcast the fights of the Eddie Chambers of the world, or Sergio Mora who is already somewhat known by the public from his run on The Contender and is itching to get back in the ring. 

Get "The Latin Snake" an opponent and show the fight on NBC. Or take a second-generation star, like George Foreman's son, and let him get some national exposure. It would definitely draw some interest. 

There is not a whole lot of exciting sports happening around the 4th of July weekend and boxing has a great opportunity to get back in the public eye. I hope come next year this time, I will be able to see a real firework show for free, on network TV.