Boxing (Trading) Cards Making a Comeback in 2010?

One of my interests that doesn't (necessarily) involve people attempting to punch each other in the face is collecting sports cards and memorabilia. I've been doing it since I was a kid back in the 80's, and though I've made several attempts to kick the habit, I've never been able to give it up, much to my wife's chagrin.

I enjoy the hobby that in a previous lifetime and in my scant current spare time, I write about it professionally. Still, one of the things that bums me out is the fact that there hasn't been a decent set of boxing cards for decades.

There are reasons for that, of course. First and foremost, the market for boxing cards would be pretty small here in the U.S., and the sports card industry as a whole has been in a steady decline for a while.

Even more importantly, since boxing isn't as a league or even under one governing body, anyone who wants to produce boxing cards has to negotiate with each boxer individually. And let me tell you, that wouldn't be easy or cheap.

It looks like someone decided to take a stab at it anyway. The aptly named Creative Cardboard Concepts (the distributor of In The Game hockey cards, among other things) has some initial information up for a set called Ringside Boxing. Details are still pretty scarce, but the set promises cards of boxing legends like Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis and, ahem, Floyd Mayweather.

Other noteworthy features will be cut signature cards (basically autographs cut from other photos or documents, usually of deceased personalities, and incorporated into cards) and fight-used memorabilia cards. The picture here is of a card that contains a piece of a pair of Lewis' fight-worn trunks, and it looks pretty sweet.

You can check out more info at this site. Just cross your fingers and hope someone proofreads the actual cards better than they did that page!

There's no release date for these babies yet, but since we're running out of time in 2009, my guess is we'll see them at some point in 2010.

Posted by The Franchise