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If there's a lamentable element to Muhammad Ali's legacy, it is the epidemic of trash talking he introduced to American sports. Much of it isn't Ali's fault. He can't be blamed for the legion of witling imitators that followed. But it remains an unfortunate fact that today's promotion, coverage and perception of sports are all informed by trash talking.
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It is something that never should have been allowed out of combat sports. The possibility of having one's consciousness taken in a confrontation tempers one's words beforehand. But if such taunting were ever going to be permitted in a more general arena, it certainly shouldn't have been allowed beyond contact sports.
Now, since contemporary trash talking began with boxing, our sport has a pretty good grasp on it. What it means, what it doesn't mean, and most importantly, what it portends. And so, here's a helpful way pre-fight performances predict the action to come.
The violence a prizefighter promises in the weeks before a fight is inversely proportional to the violence he'll show an opponent in the ring. That is, the more violently a fighter acts at a press conference, the less violently he'll act when it counts.
Examples come immediately to mind. But boxing has enough of an uphill climb without dwelling on its over-hyped disappointments, especially with another one three weeks away. Instead, let's approach this maxim from the opposite direction; let's look at press-conference pacifists who are ringside terrors.
Two weeks ago, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez made a fantastic scrap. There was much violence and blood. It came after months of respectful behavior. What little negativity Pacquiao or Marquez showed before the fight was self-directed. Pacquiao was disappointed he'd not done more to stop Marquez the first time. Marquez scolded himself for not taking Pacquiao seriously enough.
Two weeks before that, Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez completed the finest boxing trilogy in 30 years. Three fights filled with precise brutality. Three fights in which one man tried to deepen lacerations over the other man's eyes, while the other man tried to decimate his opponent's fighting spirit.
All preceded by courteous press conferences and gentlemanly comportment by guys who didn't use the words "great" or "champion" without first saying "we."
Sure, there are exceptions. Before their remarkably poor heavyweight fight, Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov said sundry kind things. And despite his buffoonish promotional shtick, Ricardo Mayorga usually goes after opponents.
As a general rule, though, most pre-fight death threats laughably come from defensive specialists.
Which brings us to the case of blossoming super featherweight prospect Juanito Garcia. He's halfway to proving our inverse proportion true. In the sport of boxing -- filled with likable and accessible figures -- there are very few more likable or accessible than Garcia.
But if he's beyond reproach outside the ring, there has been one nagging criticism of him in the ring. He's not violent enough. He's a technically proficient boxer who is undefeated in 14 fights, but he's stopped only five opponents. To date, his ringside demeanor has reflected his pre-fight demeanor too well.
That could change Friday when Garcia makes a 10-round match with Jose Hernandez. It will be Garcia's main-event debut on Telefutura's invaluable "Solo Boxeo" program. It will also be a nationally televised platform for a Phoenix fighter whose career has moved quickly in 2008.
