Robert Brizel Editorial: No Corona Beer, No Sunshine in Heavyweight Division
Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Mexico’s Grupo Modelo has temporarily stopped brewing Corona beer and its other brands. The Mexican government has declared an official health emergency, and ordered the suspension of non-essential activities due to the coronavirus pandemic. Grupo Modelo and Corona Beer has, for many years, been one of professional boxing’s biggest, best and most consistent sponsors of televised sporting events.
The heavyweight division has been left in complete and absolute chaos. Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury cannot fight their third rematch. Anthony Joshua cannot defend his versions of the heavyweight title against mandatory top-rated challenger Kubrat Pulev. Beyond delaying the scheduled world heavyweight title dates, the fact remains there may be no actual date to reschedule these critical heavyweight title bouts. Therefore, progress towards a world heavyweight titular unification bout could be stalled for years, not months. Where does that leave the heavyweight division while it is on ice?
Wilder has a mandatory rematch clause, and has the right to regain his title by contractual obligation. But it isn’t just Wilder. Every heavyweight contender, prospect, fighter and journeyman has seen their careers put on hold. What has happened? Like the great song by the late Bill Withers ‘Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone’, there ain’t no sunshine in the heavyweight division right now.
While fighters have been locked out of the ring, and the gym, they can train at home. The need for self-discipline in amateur and professional sports has been relegated to the garage and the backyard. The simple question remaining is how long can athletes and sports endure when practice and competition has been eliminated? It is as if the sunshine and the beauty of athletic competition has vanished. Human lives are at stake. This reporter does not drink beer or alcoholic beverages, and never did. It seems a distant dream, though, to visualize a scene of boxing fans and sports fans sitting at ringside or any sporting event, with a beer or beverage, just enjoying life. There’s a line from an old Jim Croce song called Alabama Rain, which refers to him being with his friends “Drinking beer and laughing, somehow things were always right, I just don’t know what happened?” We all long for the day when we can enjoy life, and sporting events again. We just cannot understand what happened to our lives and the world. It’s hard to find a feeling which describes the world of emotional isolation we are living in now. The coronavirus has nothing to do with corona Beer. I can light up the Corona Beer boxing electric sign in my living room, and reminisce of the goods times as reporter covering a boxing event at ringside. Currently, stay at home orders exist in 42 American states covering 96 percent of all Americans, with over 278 thousand individuals ill in the United States, 7100 deaths and rising. Will there be a crest in the statistics and an apex to pass, ending the madness? We all hope so. All the people in the world are in this fight together. We all miss the sunshine.
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