Most of you have no idea of the personal and physical sacrifices made by those who choose to box. Years of training, sparring and denying oneself of food, comfort and recreation. There are thousands of boxers and only a small minority of those boxers will ever win a title let alone get on TV. I train at a gym that has been around for over 26 years now. We have had over 5000 students of the 'sweet science" come and go out of our gym. So far there have only been a dozen or so turn professional and only two that won world titles. We have numerous silver and golden glove winners but only two who have gone on to win world titles. For most of you this thread will be wasted but it needs to be said. To read people call boxers, bums, trash, etc. and to read personal attacks on these fighters because they are not great spokespersons or perfect role models irritates me. If you are a true boxing fan it should irritate you too. Many of the boxers have very little education and come from astute poverty. The ones who have a measure of success have to deal with media attention and new found wealth and fame. Most fail at both miserably.
It is too easy to be a sofa trainer, keyboard warrior and wannabe boxing judge. If you want to be the real thing. Get certified and get into it. There are a great need for all of the above in boxing. Be warned however, once you are in, you will see the sport and those that participate in boxing differently.
Like in most sports there are people who train their ass off, day in day out, and never get recognition for it or even gwt past mediocrity. Vut you have to admit there's also the other end of the scale, of guys that don't care about the sport, never train and still get into highly paid fights. And there actually are those guys who are actual bums. Guys that passed some bullcrap physical, only needed to pay the gyms contribution without ever showing up and get KO'd on a regular basis as a so called 'pro fighter' just to make some money on the side.
Very well said. It's hard for most fans to have a proper perspective of the sport. With sports like basketball and football, many fans have at least played the sport in their youth. That's not the case with many boxing fans.
The mental toughness needed to succeed in boxing goes beyond most other sports. You have to be oblivious to pain.
So many boxers have worked their arses off only to be cheated by criminal judges and referees................
Amir Hardcore deserves a big payday as he proved he is hard core :yep, Steve has a guaranteed payday down the road :hellohi
Boxing is one of the few sports where the fighters are actually risking their life and long-term health. Even in basketball, typically you are looking at perhaps bad knees or joints when you get older. It take a lot of courage to get in that ring. Although, highly experienced in the athletic arena, I have no boxing experience outside hitting the heavy bag and speed bag at the local ymca. I think it is important that we appreciate the sacrifice and challenges that these fighters face. As much as I love boxing. It pains me to see older retired fighters struggling with speech and things of that nature. It's times like that when I wonder perhaps they should wear head gear. Perhaps they should do more to protect fighters. Of course it would diminish the sport. But at the same time, we should show compassion, no? What if football went back to the leather helmet days?
i'm sure it goes much deeper than that too look at the farce cycling became...and boxing is much more wide open to corruption and cheating
I honestly don't believe they care all that much (Besides Hagler), they get paid an incredible amount for what they do (At least the top contenders do). They probably laugh at the haters all the way to the bank. Andre Berto probably makes more in 1 fight than most of us in 10 years. He made 1.6 million against Guerrero. I don't think he has much to worry about. A lack of respect will only put a chuckle on his face. People say he has a glass jaw, but he can easily say that we have glass bank accounts. He wins, at the end of the day. For the journeymen, it's definitely a shame that some never make it to the next level but that's life. It's very similar to a lot of us in society. We can work our whole lives as a measley analyst and never ever make it to the next level. People who start infant businesses could be losing profits monthly and never ever returns and then eventually they bankrupt. It's actually really sad. It's a shame but that's just how it is.
