For the first time in my life, I attended a boxing card last night. Two things stood out:

1. The Virginia commission has issues. See my comments at the excellent Boxing Along the Beltway blog if you’re really curious about all that.

2. The early bouts were more entertaining than the two main events, featuring former WBA champion William Joppy and local hero Jimmy Lange, who has held a couple of minor belts and appeared on The Contender. An unbeaten Maryland heavyweight walked out to A Country Boy Can Survive, listing all the wonderful things country boys can do, but beating a journeyman with a 6-8 record was not among them. Another up-and-coming prospect had all he could handle from a guy on an 18-bout winless streak, and the decision was initially announced in favor of the journeyman until they realized that was a little far-fetched.

Joppy, Lange and their opponents were clearly the four best boxers in the arena. Lange’s bout might have been better without the nagging feeling I had that his opponent was being ripped off by a home-state ref. Joppy’s fight was full of nice-looking flurries that didn’t seem to do much.

This wasn’t quite boxing at the highest level, though. Manny Pacquiao commands a lot of money for a reason.

I can’t extrapolate too much from one fight card, of course. But it mirrors something I’ve noticed elsewhere. The top echelon is usually worth watching (exception: World Cup finals, where players are usually trying to keep their underwear clean), and the very bottom is dreadful. But of that 80 percent in between, the unpolished athletes often bring the entertainment. That’s why we have fond memories of the first season of MLS, where the defenses would see a cutback move from Preki and react like confused dogs. “Huh? Huh? Where’d you go? Where’d you go?”