Robert Berridge manages to keep out of the spotlight
WHILE the cameras were flashing in front a 21-year-old "boy" in Auckland this week ahead of merely his ninth professional boxing fight in July, Robert Berridge was quietly circling the mats to focus on his footwork at the Fight Fit Gym in Wanganui.
While a range of "has-beens" and "never-was" heavyweights were posing around attractive models to promote a new concept where all eight of them will fight on the same evening in June, Robert Berridge just kept pounding the heavy bag in his own little world.
Because while all the bright lights are on either New Zealand heavyweight hope Joseph Parker's upcoming clash with cagey veteran Brian Minto, or what former world champion Hasim Rahman & Co will do in the Super 8 tournament, Berridge knows what seems to have escaped the mainstream media in this country.
In terms of form, ability, current world standing and revenue potential in overseas markets he's better placed than all of them.
The time has come for New Zealand's pound-for-pound No1 ranked fighter to be given his due, because with a 76 per cent knockout record and the WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in his sights, it is Berridge who is in the strongest position to give New Zealand boxing it's greatest success in 124 years.
It was on January 13, 1890, that Auckland-born featherweight "Torpedo" Billy Murphy dropped Irishman Ike Weir five times in the 13th round of their title match in San Francisco.
In the next round, Weir fell again and would rise no more, making Murphy the first and, to date, the only New Zealand-born boxer to win a recognised professional world title.
Despite this and Murphy's induction with the inaugural class of the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990, I wonder how many of the average punters on the street, even those who call themselves boxing fans, would remember his name.
It's Murphy's legacy which Berridge wants to inherit, rather than that of the next "Great Kiwi Hope" to rise and fall at heavyweight.
The 29-year-old has been verbal about the lack of respect for the lighter weight class boxing in this country by the media and the the public.
He has watched the Sonny Bill Williams circus come and go, seen easy-bleeder Shane Cameron not live up to expectations, and witnessed first-hand the end of David Tua's career without ever having the converted gold, on the same night Berridge sent a brave Daniel MacKinnon into emergency surgery.
Parker (8-0-0) is now the anointed choice of Duco Events (who have him and Berridge (23-1-1) on their books) and the promotional limelight sits squarely on the Minto fight, despite respected boxing identity Lance Revill coming out this week to state he considers it a horrible match-up because Parker is "still only a boy".
While I can respect the response of Duco's David Higgins that it is better to put Parker against creditable opponents rather than padding out his record with "bums", it still highlights the unbalanced attention given to the boys at 90.7kg-plus in New Zealand.
Worldwide, lighter class fighters can capture the imagination, and the purse strings, of the sporting community.
In Mixed Martial Arts, the UFC's most dominant fighters like Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre headlined around the globe at middleweight and welterweight.
UFC's inaugural show in Auckland on June 28 will feature Kiwi boy James Te Huna in the main event at middleweight.
In terms of boxing pay-per-view revenue, the 2007 super clash between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather jnr smashed all records by generating US$136 million in buyrates.
Officially the fight was for the WBC light middleweight title but, in reality, either man could have selected any number of the multitude of weight-class belts in their possession at the time.
Mayweather dominated that night and went on to become the King of PPV, highlighted when his 2013 unification bout with Saul Alvarez shattered the old record by reaching US$150 million.
Lower weight division bouts hold five spots in the Top Ten highest grossing fights of all time.
Of the five heavyweight clashes on the list, four of them involve the juggernaut that was Mike Tyson..
Could Berridge one day become the walking cash register that Mayweather and De La Hoya have?
It's unlikely as he is not able to call on a rabid American/Latino fan base as they did.
But when it comes to being New Zealand's best hope for a true boxing world champion, this is the thoroughbred to back.