Have you ever listened to a choir made up of all soloists?
A choir of well-integrated voices can sound great even if none of the members are fabulous singers, because their cooperation conceals their individul flaws. You don’t notice an individual performer’s vocal wobble, flatness, or pause for breath, because the vocalists on either side of him make up for his or her lapse. A well-conducted choir makes the most of these advantages, even planning ahead for them.
A choir of soloists, by contrast, doesn’t sound as good as it ought to. Each member may sound okay on their own, but put them all together and you get dischord – each is trying to be heard above the others, and each ends up yelling or squawking or quacking when they should be crooning.
The fact is that there are very few great soloists out there, who are truly worthy of performing alone.
I think there’s something that our local promoters and fighters can learn from a choir director. There are relatively few headline-worthy fighters, and few promoters with the financial wherewithal to put on high-value shows on a consistent basis. To make good matchups, opponents often have to be brought in from out of town or out of state at considerable cost. Boxers who are being built up get a reputation for being overly protected, because they haven’t fought all the other available local fighters in their weight class.
Instead of all trying to do their own thing, put on their own shows, and only match their fighters in guaranteed wins, it would be good for the fans to see some harmony between Upper Midwest promotions. The good news is that a number of local promoters nd managers have shown a willingness to work together this year. The results were mixed, but the effort was there.
The Fistic Mystic says: Yes, I know I’m being a pollyanna, but someone’s got to play the fool.
The Fistic Mystic 