Among the observations made by the renowned cynic, H. L. Mencken, a particular one comes to mind today: "You'll never go broke underestimating the taste of the American public". I was reminded of the quote by the announcement of the November 8 date for the Christy Martin / Mia St. John bout.

Women's boxing has struggled for many years to gain a modicum of respectability and respect, striving mightily to be taken seriously as a sport. One of the main stumbling blocks, recently, in that struggle has been the periodic bouts featuring Mia St. John. 

Ms. St. John is widely known for having posed as a centerfold in Playboy Magazine. She is somewhat less known as a female boxer who has compiled a record of 26-1-1, a result of confronting and beating inexperienced fighters with even less talent than she
has (no easy task for the best of promoters). 

At the start of her career, St. John was managed (and is no longer manages her) by the estimable promoter, Bob Arum, who carefully guided her past a series of fighters who were either making their ring debuts or had woefully poor records with commensurate skills.

In Mia’s (first)  fight, lacking Arum's "guardian angel" oversight, St. John was KO'd in two rounds by one Rolanda Andrews, who, at the time, possessed a 4-5-0 (3KO) record.

Along the way, Mia made the mistake of climbing into the ring with a fighter with a 2-0 record, one Kristy Follmar. Follmar, a seasoned fighter with a good amateur background, won, in the opinion of many at ringside, three of the four rounds and yet, unbelievably, St. John was awarded a majority decision, flabbergasting both the crowd on the Mississippi Gulf coast and the Fox Network announcers.

Martin has long been the "face" of Women's boxing and has exhibited over her ten plus years in the ring, talent that puts her in the top echelon of the sport. While relatively inactive in recent times, during her prime years, Martin fought and defeated most of the top women boxers in her weight class.

She has compiled a record of 42-2-2, but has fought only twice in the past eighteen months and, in the opinion of many, looked somewhat less than her lethal self in each of those bouts. She is clearly at the end of a spectacular career, marred only by accusations that she has avoided some high ranked opponents, notably Lucia Rijker, at a time when both were at the peak of their skills. That said, Martin remains a formidable boxer and a lethal puncher who is clearly in another skill universe compared to St. John, who has never had a fight of more than four rounds.

And yet, the match was made for Pay-for-View for November 8, a match only in the sense there are two boxers. St. John has no remote chance of winning and should not be allowed to climb into the ring with Martin, if only to avoid the risk of injury. Martin, clearly looking for a major payday on PPV, has agreed to this bout, while obviously recognizing that it can do little or nothing to enhance her career and could possibly tarnish an otherwise sterling legacy in the ring.