Boxing and politics have overlapped at times this year, so on Election Day, here are some links to ponder:
- TheSweetScience.com asks,
“Could boxing fans push the election to McCain?” That’s because Republican John
McCain has, in the U.S. Senate, tried to overhaul boxing regulations,
per this in-depth story by my old day job colleague Amol Sharma. McCain spoke to ESPN about boxing briefly here. - McCain won’t win if Don King has his way: King switched
party allegiance to endorse Democrat Barack Obama. His most memorable line? “And
for those Americans, who just can’t fathom voting for an African
American, when you go into the voting booth, ask God to help you to
pretend that Barack Obama is white!!!!” - Not that endorsements from the boxing world are enough alone. Middleweight (160 lbs.) champ Kelly Pavlik’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton may have helped her win Ohio, but Obama ended up with the nomination. Promoter Bob Arum, by the way, encouraged Pavlik to endorse Clinton.
- Oscar De La Hoya last month talked on CNN about being an undecided voter. Don’t act surprised to find out De La Hoya was a professed undecided voter that late into things. Although McCain, according to Arum (a Democrat) remembers that at “De La Hoya’s narrow decision victory over [welterweight — 147 lbs.] Pernell Whitaker last decade… Sen. John McCain was so upset that De La Hoya had won, he was seen yelling from his ringside seat. Arum, then promoting De La Hoya, said he told McCain to ‘shut up,’ and ‘go work on some legislation.'”
- Former heavyweight contender Joe Mesi is running for a seat in the New York State Senate as a Democrat. Two different polls of recent vintage have him either ahead or behind.
- If he loses, he wouldn’t be the only heavyweight whose political ambitions were flustered this year. Vitali Klitschko brought in Rudy Giuliani to help him in his bid for mayor of Kiev. No dice, making Klitschko 0-2 in mayoral runs. In boxing, he’s a strong contender in the race for Comeback of the Year.
- A dead heavyweight made political news when Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., won passage of a resolution to pardon Jack Johnson. No word on what might happen to the resolution in the Senate.
- Lightweight (135 lbs.) contender Juan Diaz registered his mom to vote. The political science major has talked before about running for office, and he and fellow lightweight Manny Pacquiao might be on ballots sooner than later — Pacquiao in 2010.
Got any boxing/politics links? Share ’em below.
