"I'M SORRY; I LOVE YOU" ...when fighters reluctantly beat up fellow champs they had idolized.

Recognized the HBK headline. Nice.

 

Maidana vs broner

 

Holmes cried after beating Ali, funny though if you watch the fight, he was really laying it on. I think he was hoping Richard Greene would stop it.

 

Manny Pacquiao to Oscar de la Hoya

“You are still my idol.”

 

Rafael Herrera after beating Ruben Olivares in their first fight: ‘I’m sorry I beat you but I need the money.’

 

Sugar Ray Robinson on his fight with childhood idol Henry Armstrong:

"A long time ago I had it in my mind that I was never going to go out of boxing a disgrace. I always felt they remember you for your last fight, not for all that went before.

It was in 1943, in the summer, that I first felt I wasn't going to be carried out of boxing. When I went I wanted to go walking.

In 1943 I was living with my mother in the Bronx. I was married to Edna Mae, but we were still in my mother's place. I got a call one day. It was from Henry Armstrong. He was making a comeback and everyone was talking about him fighting me. I had it in my mind that I shouldn't fight him because he was old and I would make it tough on him.

The day I got the phone call from Henry Armstrong, he said I could fight him. He said he was broke and needed the money. I couldn't set it in my mind to say yes. I hung up the phone. Next day, Henry came round to see me. He said I wasn't doing right. It didn't come easy for me to say okay, nor did it come easy for me to turn Henry down.

I fought Henry Armstrong in Madison Square Garden, August 27, 1943. That night I decided I wouldn't let that sort of thing happen to me. Henry had three world titles in his time. He had them all at once, like no other before him nor after. But that night Henry had nothing in the ring with him except me.

One fellow put it down that I 'carried' Henry back to old Virginny. When I read that after the fight I knew for sure I got my lesson. I wonder if they fellow that wrote that knew how it felt to be in there with a fellow that was looked up to. It ain't you don't knock him over. It's because you can't. I didn't. You don't have the feel for fighting a friend.

I never let that Armstrong fight go from my mind. All the time I was moving up in boxing and making money, I looked back on this and never forgot."

 

Just IMO but I reckon Larry tried his best to put Ali out. Couldn’t do it and realised that beating on a still standing Muhammad, round after round, was very bad optics for himself.

Call me cynical but I think there were croc tears going on there with Larry post fight. If not, then he was still all business in the ring without concessions - which is fine, just don’t bull **** about it.

IF he respected Ali like he said and IF he held off on Ali as he claimed, he could’ve/should’ve kept it under his hat.

 

Marciano actually met Louis when he was 15 or so. Him and his friend snuck in the bathroom and watched him take a wizz. Louis talked to them a bit and gave them each a quarter.

Later on in life, they two became pretty good friends, and there was one anecdote in UNBEATEN about the two of them just hanging out along with Lou Duva.

Also, Tyson said of Larry Holmes, "If he was at his best I couldn't stand a chance...he's a great fighter." Not sure if that's love, but it's gracious.

 

Larry Holmes drop-kicked Trevor Berbick from the top of a car out of love and respect.

 

Ezzard Charles idolised Joe Louis and similar to Holmes against Ali, had to beat him when he returned from retirement. And also like Holmes, it didn’t help endear Charles to the general public.