What is it you admire about boxing? What got you into it? What is it than inspires that deep rooted passion we all have for the Noble Art?
A lifetime of preparation for one shot at glory. The mental aspect. The strategic aspect. The characters behind the scenes. The wars of attrition. The unknown outcomes, and the thrill of a great knockout.
one thing i love is the different things in boxing for example the 2 answers above me on why they love boxing.
I got into boxing by finding a book called "how to box" in my older brothers house... I used it to lose weight, skipping rope with an old vacuum cord I had cut for a rope, and shadowboxing till I could prove I was into it enough for a bag, and a real rope, haha.. After a while, I started becoming a fan of the sport, and decided I wanted to be an amateur fighter, my brother told me to prove to him I really wanted it. So I lost 30 lbs on my own after training at home for a year and a half or so, than he found me a coach and helped pay for it. If I had to name one reason I love the sport, is because the inner strength and willpower it takes to be a fighter and train like they do, its easy to admire a fighter, especially when you being participating yourself... It seems almost all fighters have a mutual respect for each other.
Great thread, Greg. For me, when boxing's great there's no better sport. When the styles match up, when the stars line up, it is a true sporting event. But I think it's also true that this happens on a fairly rare basis, and it is also unpredictable. Some matchings with great promise don't deliver, and then the opposite is true. Either a match looks bad on paper, but ends up great, or two unknowns put together a bout for the ages. They say styles make the fight, and I'd add the timing of the match-up as well as other unknown intangibles. Problem is, you only got two guys, so if one decides not to not show up, or is just off, it can be a one-dimensional dud. But we keep watching, knowing that when it's on, when it works, it is the best. There was another thread similar to this, and one poster, (sorry I can't remember which-- I like to give credit when due), said boxing for him was the perfect metaphor for life, and I agree.
I love that it's maybe the most honest sport that there is, when the men are in the ring anyway. Really, what shows more brutal truths about you then a boxing match will?
El Mano to Mano, skill conqurouring raw physical strength, the utmost in masculinity, the battle of minds, physical mastery, the predictability and occasional unpredictability, the life metaphores, the fact there's no place to hide in that boxing ring and that each man is exposed for what he really is both good and bad
Two men same size, same equipment in the ring seeing who is the better fighter that day using their skills and wits, by impossing your will over another mans. Once you step in the ring there is no hiding unlike most other sports , esp' team sports.
Great reply, and I agree. Boxing will expose your character like few other sports will. In fact, like few other things in life, full stop. Like Tex Cobb once said, in tennis of you screw up, it's 15-0. In boxing, if you screw up, it's your ass. Part of it is the mystique to me as well. You know, the training...pounding your body, breaking it down and building it back up for a fight...the many long hours of solitude when a fighter thinks of little else other than the fight...even wrapping the hands has a kind of ritualistic aspect about it. I always try and put myself in a fighter's shoes at the moment he's staring across the ring at his opponent, waiting for the first bell to ring. There he is, ready to bare his soul in front of thousands if not millions of people. It's just him and someone who has trained to beat him up in there. That takes some kind of character, and not everyone can do it. Don't get me wrong, all sports at the top level take dedication, skill, character and nerve. But for me, many sports are merely games played at a professional level. The athletes can pat themselves on the back and have a laugh, go for a hot shower, have a beer or two and pretty much go home unscathed afterwards, even after losing. In boxing, you could end up in hospital, even after winning. Boxers carry visible signs of their profession on their faces...cuts, bruises, scars...there is no hiding in boxing on any level. Edit: I guess I should expand on that a bit... My dad was always a big boxing fan, and I suppose I just picked it up from him. When I was little, about three or four, we'd occasionally move the coffee table out of the way and he'd get down on his knees and let me flail away at him. I was also lucky enough to be able to have access to his collection of boxing magazines, and I got familiar with all the faces of fighters like Ali, Foreman, Dempsey etc. before I could even read. Of course, being a naughty little *******, I'd cut out my favourite fighters from the magazines and proudly stick the pictures on my bedroom wall - with glue. My parents weren't exactly pleased. My dad, because I had ruined his magazine collection and my mom because it ruined her pristine walls. Even as an older kid, a teenager, when most kids had posters of rock stars on their wall, I had fighters on mine, mostly. I'll always follow the sport on some level, even if my interest wanes sometimes.
In 1966 when I was 11 years old,I became fascinated by Muhammad Ali. This resulted in me becoming a lifelong fan,of Ali and boxing in general. It's the discipline and the drama of it,intangibles when it comes to styles etc. Best sport there is.
My first memory of actually watching a boxing match involved Ali. I forget who his opponent was though...Ali was everywhere in the 60' and 70's.
Yes too me it's a BOY'S/MAN'S voyage of self discovery as it exposes you too yourself in the most correct basic & primitive way, it's a personel "you on you" thing & one of the best sports too equipe you with the nessessary charector foundation too ride & cope with life's storms that confront us all along the way, in effect mental self discipline. It's a man's nature too wish too be the gladiator too strive for the of single finite victory & too have no equals. I'am no longer a young man but the memories are still there when i get a chance too be alone & recall my youth albeit heading the ball in slow motion into an empty wembley net to win the cup final or when i'am in the gym spinning till my lungs are bursting i put myself into the boxers position of succeed or die trying, boxing is an example that you must give your best at all time's 100%, we love boxing as we can fight by proxy hence the lifetime admiration of our own favorites, there pain is our pain, We all wish we were them & in a way we are as we show our loyalty with our identification with that certain fighter & it gives us that mano un mano invisible mental connection, Boxing is the sport of example as too what it takes too overcome adversity & myself i boxed as a kid/teen & i can honestly say hand on heart it set me mentally on the path i wanted too go down & as a brutal example i'am going too touch on what Roberto Duran had too endure mentally when he returned home too Pananama after the New Orleans humiliation where lesser men scoffed & laughed at him & called him a coward, what must he have felt deep in his soul. i was unemployed at the time for about 2 years & every day i'd get up & walk the streets looking for work always thinking too myself what are my troubles compared too Duran's? NOTHING absolutly NOTHING i'd say too myself, i used Duran as a an example of 2 men divided by half a world & both at rock bottom but the affinity of one for the other gives you that inspiration & determination too step foreward & drive yourself on too succeed no matter what it ****in takes & thats why i love our most fantastic sport of boxing as it allows us and gives us an individuality that can be fashioned by EXAMPLE too our own actions & last but not least: My wife hates boxing as most women do & that's just ****IN GREAT:yep as it's the only thing the bitches can't corrupt or pollute with there nagging, they **** off too bed & leave yer alone:happy:happy:happy
Thanks for the good posts MagnificentMatt, ChinxKid, and FOF. I've always been fascinated by boxing for some reason, and although i'm huge on my football team these days, boxing probably still remains number one in my heart of hearts. When i stayed up and watched Naz-Barrera, after that i guess is when i really started to look into boxing history and by piles and piles of books and videos etc etc. I just became so obsessed and though it goes in cycles these days, i still am and always will be. My old man isn't a fight fan like me, but likes a big fight and i try and get him to watch stuff with me, when i was a kid he always got the Tyson fights, we'd put the sofa in front of the tv and i'd usually fall asleep. He'd wake me up when Tyson was on, and it would always be exciting just watching him. He'd then, with my mum be telling me that he (Tyson) wasn't as good as he used to be in the late 80's. That's the real reason i like Tyson so much.