I just read an interview with Barry McGuigan about how the fight finished with OD saying he'd had enough and couldn't help agreeing with what he said. "I really don’t like particularly how boxers say he quit. That is just the deepest insult you could give anybody. What does quitting mean? Does it mean you have to get brain damage, is that what quitting is"? We hear what fighters say about it on these IFL interviews like Eubank Jn and Bellew criticising Brook at the time. BJS said it recently about Monroe. And obviously we get it all the time on here, myself included when OD quit. There's a huge stigma about saying you've had enough in boxing....but, for the health of a boxer, shouldn't it actually be encouraged and respected when a fighter says 'enough is enough'?
It all depends on context. If you're totally spent, haven't come close to winning a round and it isn't a world title fight then I can see the point in not taking unnecessary punishment and calling it a day on the night. But do note that is IS still quitting all the same; the definition remains the same. Image plays a part here too. How can we heavily venerate 'warriors' who give it everything they have in a fight and produce the heralded miracle in the death of a fight but at the same time advocate quitting? Is it perhaps barbaric for us to be as binary as that? I think we have some good recent examples. Brook quit against Spence because of his eye. Fine, I get WHY he did that. It's still a quit though. He could have gone blind in one eye, allegedly. He knew that risk when taking up boxing and on a personal level his eyesight is not really something I care about which i guess makes me a brute. Davies quit against Taylor, his reasoning seems to be a blocked nose or whatever. He could have stayed down when he was knocked down which in a way is better than getting back up and quitting seconds later. As a consumer, I ask this - why should I bother to pay to watch Davies fight again if I suspect he'll quit again when he's up against it in a fight? More and more precautions and checks are being introduced to the sport; it's as safe as it's likely to ever be so I can't take the 'health and safety' aspect as totally valid.
i don't agree with the criticism brook got against spence as he had that injury against ggg and he knows he could go blind if he takes more punches so understandably he 'quit'. But Ohara Davies i understand the stick he got, He didn't have any serious injuries as he looked fine in the interview after and i don't believe he has had any hospital treatment or anything like that and the fight was relatively close, yes he had just been knocked down but i dunno it looked like he could have carried on to me.
Fair play to McGuigan who is consistent on this issue, he took part in the ITV documentary "The Fight Of Their Lives" about the Benn Vs McClellan fight and he looked visibly upset at one point. The documentary is on YouTube and if any of you haven't seen it I would recommend it. Anyway, getting to the point, in the fight after a brutal 9 rounds we go in to round 10 and a few big shots go in from Benn and McClellan took a knee, got up, took a couple more shots and took another knee, then was counted out on one knee. Jim Watt was screaming down the mic "He has quit Reg, He has quit.." and then afterwards said something like "The chin could still take the punches but the heart couldn't". McGuigan watching a replay of the fight and listening to Jim Watt and was upset and asked the question "How can you say he quit" and something like "That makes me want to cry". McClellan is a good fight to look at in this case, at the time he was counted out I'd say most, if not all, would say he quit, little did anybody know he was about to collapse and suffer the injuries he did. Now if McClellan had got up, walked away injury free he would have forever been called a "Quitter" but because he nearly died and him and his family now have to live with the consequences he is known as a "Warrior". Fighters are expected to be brave beyond our comprehension, that's why we watch, we admire these people, we admire their almost superhuman resolve and courage but if a fighter does have a moment (and sometimes we are talking a second or two) when something doesn't feel right, they believe something is wrong, when they maybe even fear for their life or health is it fair to call them a "coward" or "quitter" forever?
Agree Twentyman, a lot of people sometimes dont know what its like to take a big shot or have something land on you that you dont see coming. Sometimes it can produce very weird sensations, I remember when i was younger sparring and got hit high on the head and it felt like someone was pouring water over my head for a couple of minutes. Sensations like that can be very weird and scary. I had blurry vision for 15/20 mins after sparring once also. Some people simply just cannot relate to what some fighters have to go thro. This is a sport ... a SPORT this is not real life battles or wars. Boxing is an entertainment, a show for the spectators!
Delboys spot on. I think sometimes people sit in the comfort of their living room and forget these punches hurt. The human bodies not meant to be taking trauma like that. Would never criticise anyone for quitting. Someone that at least turns up to put on a showing anyway which o hara davis and brook both did. Totally iresponsible of people to criticise bearing in mind the tragedies we,ve seen in the ring over the years. I m not sure if i m the only one...but at the time davis quit i actually said to my girlfriend hope theres nothing wrong with him. If you go back and watch it he does this wierd long blink just before the end. People probably thinking so what. But everytime i see that blinking it takes me back to gerald mclellan. He done it half the night against benn. Not sure if it was maybe a tick of some sort but it was excessive. Always makes me wonder if its the brain struggling to function properly or something like that.
not close as in points wise, but Ohara wasn't just being punched the whole time and throwing nothing back, he was still in the fight throwing punches
I actually thought it was quite a close fight. Was a bit surprised when i came on here and heard the general opinion of it being a one sided beatdown. Dont think i seen the scorecards for it. Any thoughts on burns v taylor billy. I think burns does better than a lot of people think. He struggles with southpaws and movers more than what taylor brings. Might be a bit late in the day for him tho.
I'm exactly the same when I see a fighter blinking excessively or thinking they've been thumbed in the eye from a blow. Excessive blinking can be linked to brain trauma and not necessarily caused in the fight they're currently in but blows could exacerbating a previous injury. Anyone who gets in that ring is incredibly brave imo. Anyone who holds up their hand and says enough is enough in front of the baying crowd and cameras is even braver knowing the criticism they'll receive from that decision.
It wasn't a close fight at all Davies took a pasting.did you actually watch the fight? Got to give Ohara some credit tho at the end of the 3rd sims says to him he's gonna come out firing and he say's I'm gonna fire back and he did you couldn't say he didn't try he threw everything he had at josh rnds 4-5 and Taylor was still busting him up. He was never going to win that fight and he knew himself when he turned his back.
In snooker, it's acceptable for players to concede frames when they are well down on the score and require one or two foul shots from the opponent in order to win. Likewise in boxing, if a fighter truly is getting battered and has no hope in hell of winning, you can't fault him for quitting, he has no chance of winning. If however a fighter still has a chance of KOing the opponent but then quits it does leave you a bit disappointed as a fan. Ultimately my take on it is simple. If you have never had a professional fight and have never been in a "quit or continue" situation before, you have no right whatsoever to pass judgement on a boxer for quitting.
I don't agree with you here, this feels a lot like the "bet you've never laced up a glove in your life" response that comes out whenever a fighter is criticised but never when they're praised. If we limit what we can comment on to things we've done ourselves then we'll be living in a very quiet world. Actually, maybe it isn't such a bad idea on reflection...
Agree with your view in that commenting on a sport should not be exclusive of fans who have never competed in the sport. But boxing is unique. Fans should be able to criticise performances but should bare in mind that fighters can die in the ring. It just sounds comical when Dave the fat white van driver is sitting on his couch with a pie and couple cans calling Kell Brook a quitter when Brook is fighting half blind against one of the world's best.