The Anatomy of the Entrance Song

Last month, my friend and I were discussing the importance of entrance music in boxing.

On the surface level, there isn’t a more insignificant aspect of a fight than the music blaring as a boxer steps into the squared circle; but at the same time, the entrance song is the last opportunity that a fighter has to make a statement before the moment of truth between the ropes. If two unknowns are fighting, their entrance songs could help you decide who to root for.

So what makes a great entrance song? There are a number of elements that fighters need to consider in selecting the proper song.

Style of Song
Not all genres work here. Hip hop is a safe bet and salsa music for Latino fighters always works. But R&B, Pop, and Rock require some discretion. If you are going to pick a song from one of these genres, you better have a good explanation why. For example, I love The Hills; but it really wouldn’t work to enter the ring to “Unwritten."

Mainstream Recognition
I am a big Joe Budden fan. I love Slaughterhouse. But the truth is, most people in an arena will not. No matter how much you like a song, you need to pick a song that has a certain level of mainstream popularity. The crowd should be feeling it.

Uniqueness
This past January, Shane Mosley resurrected his career with a dominant victory over Antonio Margarito to recapture his spot as the best welterweight in the world.

While most post-fight conversations broached upon Margarito’s illegal hand wraps or Mosley’s return to the sport’s elite, one aspect went unnoticed. Mosley entered the ring to “Live Your Life” by Rihanna & T.I.—which would have been a solid choice had Paulie Malignaggi not used it one month earlier in his loss to Ricky Hatton. Boxers on big HBO shows can not be using songs that were just used on big shows. It just doesn’t look right.

Time Sensitivity
Not as important as the other characteristics but it belongs on the list. Your song must either: A) be recent enough to elicit an immediate reaction from the crowd, B) fit the rest of the criteria so well that the song’s debut date is irrelevant, or C) have a good enough reason to warrant ignoring time sensitivity. For example, after Michael Jackson passed away, it was completely acceptable to enter the ring to ANY M.J. song as tribute.

And finally, the most important element…

How Well the Song Reflects You
The significance of the song must reflect the fighter’s persona. If you aren’t a brawler, you can’t come out to “What’s My Name” by DMX. If you aren’t flashy, don’t enter the ring to Fabolous’ “Diamonds on my Damn Chain." If you’re from Atlanta, no matter how big of a HOV fan you are, “Brooklyn We Go Hard” can not be your entrance music.

This is one of the most overlooked aspects of theme song selection. Fighters will choose a hot song without giving much thought to whether or not it applies to them. BIG MISTAKE!

Agree? Disagree? Share Your Thoughts!


As I was writing this, I started thinking about songs that the best current day boxers should come out to. Using my iTunes collection only, here’s what I got:

Zab Judah - “Brooklyn, We Go Hard”: Eh, only because Brooklyn doesn’t have anyone else right now.

Miguel Cotto - “100 Percent” by Big Pun: Cotto has surpassed Felix Trinidad as the biggest Puerto Rican draw in the sport so naturally I’d pick a Big Pun song for him. I’ll be honest; my computer isn’t heavy on Puerto Rican music so there might be a better choice out there, but “100%” can surely get the job done

"Sugar" Shane Mosley - “Amazing” by Kanye West: Mosley’s performance against Margarito truly was amazing. In his devastating upset, Mosley recaptured his status amongst the sport’s elite and solidified his already remarkable Hall-of-Fame caliber career. This song just feels right.

Manny Pacquiao - “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga: Pacman is the happiest killer that I’ve ever seen. Maybe I just love “Just Dance,” but I feel like this song would be perfect. The beat goes as hard as Manny’s left cross, and the song is as happy as Pacquaio is during his ring entrance. Boxing is party time for the pride of the Philippines and what better song is there to signify party time than “Just Dance”?

Floyd Mayweather Jr - “I Get Money” by 50 Cent: I was tempted to go with Maino’s second verse/T-Pain’s part from “All the Above” (On second thoughts, I think Paul Williams came out to “All the Above” against Winky Wright…That fits him actually) but “I Get Money” personifies Money May to a tee. I vaguely remember 50 saying in an interview once that he wrote “I Get Money” for Mayweather to use as entrance music. There isn’t a song in the world that is better suited for the best pound for pound fighter in the world.

Cadbury Creme Eggs and Ricky Hatton

When I was younger, there was a particular Cadbury Crème Egg commercial that aired around Easter time each year.

The premise was simple: The Cadbury bunny was the star of the holiday and every other animal was entrenched with envy. Naturally, each animal auditioned to become the Cadbury bunny. After adding a plastic set of bunny ears, every dog, cat, goat, bird, and pig tried to fool the audience into accepting them as the new Cadbury spokesman.

But when it is all said and done, what exactly is an animal with plastic bunny ears?

It is the exact same animal as it is without the bunny ears.

And Ricky Hatton, under the guise of a jabbing, defensive, Floyd Mayweather Sr.-trained prodigy, is the exact same Ricky Hatton he was in the past. The song didn't lie—there really is only one Ricky Hatton.

I was fooled by the bunny ears.

Result:
Manny Pacquiao KO Nick Xouris in six minutes and 59 seconds.

Does Anyone Want to Fight? Anyone?

After defeating Antonio Margarito two years ago, the big-money fights Paul Williams longed for should have followed. Such a high-magnitude victory usually translates into a winning lottery ticket, especially given the abundance of superstars who were making a living at 147 pounds. (Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather Jr., etc)

But ironically, Williams’s performance had the inverse effect. One by one, boxing’s top welterweights explored every possible option other than stepping into the ring with “The Punisher”. His lottery ticket remained uncashed.
Author Poll Results

"You see a lot of other guys on TV, they say they're the best and they'll fight everybody and all this and that, but when it comes down to it, they won't fight anybody," said Williams. "It's gotten to the point where I don't want to call guys out anymore, because it's gotten to where, if I call them out, they don't want to fight."

It’s hard to blame anyone for thinking twice about fighting Williams. He is far from your traditional prizefighter.

Though he has chosen to bounce around weight classes in search of any opponent willing to fight him, Williams feels most comfortable at welterweight (147 lbs), a division where his wiry 6’1’’ frame gives him a distinct competitive advantage. The average welterweight ranges from 5’7’’-5’9’’. Margarito, considered a giant at welterweight, is just 5’11’’.

Not since Tommy Hearns has a great fighter possessed similar physical attributes—Williams likens a created player in Fight Night Four much more than a real human being. Did I mention he is a southpaw, with an awkward aggressive style unlike any in the sport?

Throw in the fact he combines the reach of a heavyweight (his 82-inch reach is longer than both Klitchko brothers) with the workrate of a lightweight (rounds of 100-plus punches are the norm), and it’s easy to see why “The Punisher” has stolen Margarito’s moniker of the “most feared man in boxing”.

So while boxers in three different weight classes take turns avoiding the South Carolinian, one fellow southpaw—who also knows a thing or two about being avoided—has finally stepped up to fight Williams.

Former junior middleweight champion Winky Wright will challenge Williams in a middleweight bout Saturday night on HBO World Championship Boxing. It will be Wright’s first in-ring action since a 2007 loss to Bernard Hopkins.

Wright sympathized with Williams’s struggle to find worthwhile opponents. "It's tough when nobody wants to fight you and you see all these other fighters getting fights," Wright told reporters recently. "You can't get the fight just because nobody wants to fight you. It ain't because you ain't good enough. It's just they don't want to fight you. So, you know, I know how Paul feels about being avoided."

Wright attributes his current 21-month layoff to a lack of opponents willing to risk looking bad against a fighter of his defensive prowess. Even those who defeat him, generally look boring or unimpressive when doing so.

As a result, Wright poses a much different threat than Williams.

On Saturday night, two of the sport’s most avoided fighters will demonstrate against each other, what type of threat that is.

Williams has been searching for the fight that will propel him to boxing superstardom. An impressive victory over Wright can do the trick.

But what if Williams gets too impressive and delivers the first knockout of Wright’s legendary career?

The most feared man in boxing will probably have to move up to heavyweight to find an opponent for his next fight.


Prediction

Paul Williams wins via 12-round split decision.

Williams simply has too much to lose. A victory over Wright brings him one step closer to becoming the superstar that he deserves to be—at which point, great fighters will be forced to fight him.

That said, Wright possesses an excruciatingly tough defensive style to look great against. I think he’ll keep Williams honest with his jab and win the fight on one scorecard but Williams’s activity and workrate will prevail in a very close fight.

July 11th: HBO and The Return of Floyd Mayweather Jr.

A week ago, July 11th had little significance in the boxing world.

Sure, HBO was holding the date open for a World Championship Boxing (WCB) event, but the card was expected to be filled with a cruiserweight title match between Bernard Hopkins and IBF champion Tomasz Adamek. With little else on B-Hop's horizon, a jump to the 200-lb weight class presented the only worthwhile challenge left for the legendary light-heavyweight.

Not only did the fight make sense, but Hopkins-Adamek represented an ideal World Championship Boxing fight:
--The July date fit both fighters’ schedules. (Adamek last fought in February; Hopkins has been inactive since his October dismantling of Kelly Pavlik.)
--The fighters’ combined purse would likely be in range with an average WCB card’s budget.
--And most importantly, on paper, the fight fit the mold of competitive, entertaining encounters that HBO has strived to deliver its subscribers this year. HBO Sports executive Ross Greenburg promised fans that the network was going to demand competitive fights from promoters in 2009, and thus far, he’s done a tremendous job. Pay-per-view has no longer been an option for marginal fights.

Consider the first quarter of 2009:

In just three months, HBO has delivered two fight-of-the-year candidates (Berto-Collazo and Marquez-Diaz), along with a colossal PPV-worthy welterweight battle (Sugar Shane Mosley’s KO upset of Antonio Margarito) and a handful of top prospect showcases featuring future stars like Juan Manuel Lopez, Chris Arreola, Victor Ortiz, and James Kirkland.

Two more stellar fights—an April 11th main event featuring Paul Williams & Winky Wright and a welterweight unification bout between Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey in June—are also scheduled for HBO.

Fans are no longer being asked to shell out $59.95 each time a big name fighter enters the ring. The only fight currently scheduled for PPV is May 2nd’s junior-welterweight showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton. It’s possible that the only positive to come from the state of the economy has been the market correction it has provided boxing. HBO has been forced to properly assess what belongs on its flagship boxing show.

Last year, fights that ought to have aired on World Championship Boxing (Pavlik-Hopkins, Calzaghe-Jones, Trinidad-Jones) were erroneously placed on PPV, leaving WCB cards barren of competitive fighting. What was the best WCB fight of 2008? Calzaghe-Hopkins? De La Hoya-Forbes? I can’t remember one that stood out. Remember WWF Superstars? Hulk Hogan would spend many Saturday mornings wrestling jobbers to get ready for his big match on PPV. World Championship Boxing had become WWF Superstars, a marketing tool for HBO’s PPV fights. Thankfully, the market correction has reversed this trend.

So all’s well in the boxing world, correct?

Enter Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Pretty Boy Floyd’s advisors have leaked that the former pound-for-pound king is ready to return to the ring for a summer tune-up fight, before challenging the winner of Pacquiao-Hatton in the fall. And the night that Mayweather finds most attractive? July 11th, World Championship Boxing’s open date.

Normally, the decision would be a no-brainer. Tell Hopkins and Adamek to take a hike, and let the premier fighter in the sport reestablish his place atop the pound-for-pound list as the whole world watches. However, Mayweather is looking for a PPV purse, for what could be an uncompetitive tune-up fight—precisely the type of fight that Greenburg has avoided in 2009.

Greenberg has a decision to make. If he signs Hopkins-Adamek for July 11th, boxing fans receive another excellent, intriguing fight, adding to an already impressive year. But he also risks alienating Mayweather, America’s greatest post-De La Hoya mainstream boxing star. HBO would hate to risk losing Mayweather’s future PPV business, as a cash cow against Pacquiao looms in the horizon.

Can Greenburg rationalize paying Mayweather over $5 million to familiarize himself with a boxing ring? If Mayweather intends to fight an uninspiring opponent, as been his MO at times, Greenburg risks alienating boxing fans who have been elated with the action that HBO has provided in ‘09. But if Pretty Boy Floyd’s opponent is somebody like Juan Manuel Marquez, then the answer becomes simple.

This is the avenue Greenburg must explore.

Mayweather has only been out of action for 15 months. How badly can a fighter of his age and skill need a tune-up? Winky Wright, who is five years older, is fighting Paul Williams after a longer layoff. Pony up whatever price it takes to bring Mayweather back against a skillful opponent and everyone will be satisfied. The decision will certainly pay off later in the year, after Mayweather and Pacquiao square off under the MGM Grand’s bright lights on HBO PPV.

The ball is in your court Mr. Greenburg. Make it happen.


EDIT: Minutes after I wrote this, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com announced that discussions for Hopkins-Adamek are off due to a tremendous discrepancy in both fighters’ purse demands. The decision for Greenberg is much easier now. Time to bring back Mayweather, this time REGARDLESS of who he wants to fight!