Boxing produced a tabloid-friendly story earlier in the week, when the out-of-the-ring activities of Philly fighter Yusaf Mack made headlines.

The boxer was mortified when word spread that he’d been filmed for a same-sex adult movie and he offered an explanation with a counter-punch that he’d been drugged and didn’t recall the performance.

The company which released the material, DawgPoundUSA.com, offered this take when asked for a statement of Mack’s version of events.

DawgPoundUSA.com is a reputable company which has produced high quality videos of men-of-color since 2002. At no time have we ever coerced or drugged any of our models. The claims made by Mr. Mack are false, slanderous, and vehemently denied on our part. We intend to take all legal steps necessary to protect our good name and reputation against these patently false and preposterous claims.

Some wondered why this is a newsworthy story, by the way. It is newsworthy first and foremost, probably, because it is surprising. This sort of occurrence hasn’t popped into the fight game milieu before. Also, the private lives of public figures are interesting to “regular” folks. That a fairly high-level fighter, at one time, who’d made some decent money in the sport was reduced to getting involved in such a practice to make ends meet is not a new development but one that is sadly repetitive. That the cycle repeats itself doesn’t mean it is any less distressing. Also, being that Mack was involved with men in the scenes brings up the issue of how athletes and the public treat homosexuality within the sports world. It was illuminating to see some folks reacting with a “Live and let live” POV on the matter…so recognizing the story and reporting it allows us to gauge our collective viewpoints on a provocative issue. Also, there was a salacious element to it. It is a tabloid-ready story and, like it or not, there is a considerable appetite for such fare. Like it or not, the people want this sort of story. Hopefully, it can be done in a way that maybe educates us and not merely to satiate our appetite for sensational and lurid stories.

We interrupt this typically light-hearted Twitter tag with a brief message: This story is too serious and sobering to sully with a typically light-hearted Twitter tag. Woodsy’ll catch you on the next one, however!