The inevitable result of this sport has occurred again. Each time this passes I find myself questioning my complicity in the grim outcome. I pay money to see these fights, pay for the products advertised and rather vocally promote the sport. McClellen-Benn, Garcia-Ruelas and most recently the Abdusamalov-Perez fight each almost made me quit following the sport for good. I watched each, really getting into the 1st and the 3rd listed above and watched Gabe because I always liked his effort. In the aftermath of each, I checked out of the sport for a while but was ultimately lured back in. I do wonder, with age, if there will be a final event that forces me out. Which fights, or damaged fighters, most challenged your fandom? Do you see yourself being a lifelong fan? What are the mental gymnastics you find yourself performing as an absolution? It's a weird f'ing sport to follow.
Good, thoughtful topic. I have to be honest and say that I do retain a certain detachment from ring tragedies. I don't enjoy thinking about them, and I hesitate to watch historic bouts where I know a guy was killed or injured, but I tend to just focus on other fights and ignore that aspect in the micro sense. On a more macro level I do from time to time wonder if the whole thing is really a good idea. Becoming a family man softened me on that a bit, and I tend to feel more empathy in general. Admit it, it's a pretty f-ed up concept, boxing. Still holds my interest in at least the historic sense, but not like it did.
I didn't see this fight but I'm guessing it was probably a distance fight where the deceased was competitive? The ones I've seen where someone gets hurt are usually like that. I train and corner fighters and I've told them that if I'm in the corner I'm going to stop it if they start taking a beating, but it's not as easy as it seems. It's not always black and white. It is easy to let one go too long and it's hard to stop one at the right time. I've done the wrong thing a few times. I had one fighter get hit and fall forward, when he did I jumped onto the ring, I don't know what I was going to do, it just seemed natural to check on him. He looked completely out, but he got up before 10 and wanted to continue. But since I had jumped onto the ring, the judges saw it, told the ref and the fight was stopped. The fighter thought he could have won. Maybe he would have, I shouldn't have jumped onto the ring. Another time, different fighter, my fighter was losing to a more experienced fighter and was taking more punches than I liked. I was going to stop it during the round, just as I was going to stop the fight, my guy landed a big punch and hurt his opponent. The fight evened out but my guy still lost the decision. Later I told him that I almost stopped the fight before he landed the big punch thinking that he would be happy that I did not. He told me that he wouldn't have been mad if I had stopped it. He said this was the only fight he'd had where every punch hurt. Again, I probably did the wrong thing. I agree, it is a weird sport, and the bad thing is, the most entertaining fights are the most dangerous ones. Guys seldom get major injuries from first round knockouts, it's usually the long hard fight...I don't think there is any way to make boxing safer, and I can understand how the ref, the corner, etc. can get caught up in what is happening and make a questionable decision, either letting it go too long or stopping it too quick.
I love boxing Tragedy is to be a possibility in any fight I hate to see it but it never makes me less of a fan I will however not watch a fight that I know ends in a tragedy
George Khalid-Jones vs. Scotland was a bad one for me. Not long after that Nate Campbell fought a mid-level contender named Ricky Quiles, and I was convinced Quiles was at risk of dying in the later rounds of that fight. I remember Teddy Atlas yelling for the ref to intervene and it brought me right back to Max Kellerman pleading for a halt to Khalid-Jones vs. Scotland.
Hi Seamus, a great post and something I have been thinking about a lot this morning here in Oz, mate. I have decided that after a lifetime of growing up around boxing gyms ( my dad was an infamous street fighter and a friend to a lot of top shelf fighters ) participating in the sport ( as an amateur ) and watching it since my dad first taught me the basics and started taking me to the fights as a six year old kid that I can no longer justify watching these brave young men ruin their future health let alone die in the name of entertainment. I saw my first ring fatality as a young kid when my dad took me to see Hector Thompson fight an American kid Chuck Wilburn when we were on holidays in Sydney. It was terrible as you can imagine. Hector has already been in a previous ring fatality with a young Aussie kid named Roko Spanja in 1970. I can tell you that Hector was never the same as a person let alone a fighter after the Wilburn tragedy. Two events in the early 80s made me stop watching boxing for about five years until Jeff Fenech started to make his mark. Muhammad Ali was my idol as a little boy and to see how he finished up devastated me as did the Johnny Owen fight vs Lupe Pintor fight. My grandmother was Welsh so I really liked Owen. Since then I have continued to follow the sport but various tragedies have made me question whether it’s justifiable as entertainment. The tragedy involving young Maxim has really made me ponder the rationale of watching incredibly courageous young men risk their future health n well being let alone their actual lives as entertainment and to be honest I can’t do it anymore. Buddy McGirt did everything he could as a trainer, the referee did nothing wrong yet Maxim is now dead, basically due to his own courage n stubbornness. I feel that the whole sport needs to change its culture and that like MMA it has to be seen to be ok to give up when you know you cannot win. Perhaps a mercy rule could be applied to fighters who are easily losing a fight but as we all know so many fighters have been in that position and have still won the fight. Look at say Moore vs Durelle or La Motta vs Dauthille. I have no desire to see boxing banned or any desire to preach to anyone else but in my own mind I cannot justify watching a sport that has ruined so many families n left so many brave men as basically shells of what they were. I would just like to thank all the posters in the Classic section who have entertained, enraged and educated me over the years but at this stage I am going to have a break from watching the sport or posting here. Cheers Everyone.
Dylan's "Who Killed Davey Moore" goes a long way toward explaining the complicity we all share in this kind of thing if you think hard enough.
Good post Sea, and very well said like usual. It was tough to watch and is the very worst part of this sport. Sad stuff man. Excellent post man and sorry to.see you go. All I will say is, I don't really view them as entertainers and their main purpose, nor do I think they view themselves that way. IMO they mostlywant to be the best of the best in a professional sport. Just my view People, in almost every format and sport want to be the fastest, the strongest, have the most stamina, the most accurate, the fastest driver etc etc. Boxers just happen to want to see who's the toughest SOB around. Something people for thousands of years have wanted to answered and some willing to prove it. How does one suppress that urge and desire when it seems natural and inevitable? They'd just go underground and still could die, but there would be even less measures in place to look out for a fighters safety. That doesn't seem good either. Most rational/sane people would think driving a car at over 200 miles an hour is fing crazy and stupid, yet young and old could die in an instant, and for what, some points, milk, and a big trophy? That seems rather odd, but I don't hear many calls to ban race car driving. I just think it's in human nature for some to want to push the limits of their own body to be the best at something and it's inevitable. If we tell a decent chunk of the human population they can't do a sport cause they could die or cause long term damage.... sports like football, hockey, auto racing, horse racing, wrestling, polo etc etc. We'd end up with a big ban list but would it really solve the issue? Is it the right thing, and direction we need to move as a society, tough question, it's possible but tough to execute and maintain would be big concern.
Good post. The moral arguments against professional boxing are on solid ground, the arguments for abolition are on solid ground. I offer no defence of boxing. I have definitely changed in this regard as I have grown older. But until it is banned I will probably continue to watch.
In recent years I've actually begun to feel uncomfortable the following day after watching exciting 'live' fights that I got emotionally/passionately involved in, even without anyone reportedly suffering damage in the fight. For example, Klitschko v Joshua was a thrilling fight that I watched with about ten other people, everyone at high levels of excitement, screaming at the televison as the drama unfolded, alcohol being consumed. I can only admit that I'm a bloodthirsty person in the heat of the moment during those fights. And I reflect on that the day after, not at all proudly.
It's a dangerous sport ,very risky to participate in . The only way they'll stop thing's like this happening ,is to actually limit how many punches u can throw and how hard !!!
Was at the Benn McClellan fight the shouting and screaming the atmosphere was electric I will never forget .The aftermath took some processing for me I felt a little ashamed and didn't watch the fight for many years.The program is gathering dust in my old fellas garage.not something I like to dwell on.
Boxing is very complicated. I will always be passionate and fond of it because I grew up training and watching it and I just admire the "art" and "science" behind it. But I do acknowledge the consequences, brutality, grim, corrupt, and ugliness that it shows. Life threatening injuries or fatalities are unavoidable, sadly, and even the biggest boxing detractors know that those aren't enough to ban the sport itself. There's too much money, politics, business, and history behind it all. It's been around for centuries and it's not going anywhere, which means more tragedies to occur and that's just the reality of it. People pay to watch a fight for entertainment value and they will continue to watch it. The really sad part about it is when these injuries and deaths do occur and are made public to the people everyone just moves after a week or two, almost as if it's been forgotten. And the cycle continues. I've questioned the morality of the whole sport plenty of times when things like this happen but at the end of the day the sport is here to stay and it's something that I just can't let go. But I can't fault people for taking a break from it. Boxing is a beautiful and ugly sport at the same time.
I distinctly remember watching that one on television at a friend's place and screaming "He's quitting ! He's quitting !" as McClellan took the count on his knee, blinking. Gives me a chill of shame even typing that.
