Joe Louis's Classy Tribute At Rocky's Funeral

Who said that?

 

The thing the public don't get about fighters is that the fighting itself is not personal. It's like soldiers on a battlefield. They really will kill each other. After the war there is an unusual recognition from both sides as both being part of the same thing. But with fighters they are actually workmates or business partners in that they benefit from being in a show together. The shaking of hands, the respect and even the trash talk is all just formality and custom.

 

Exactly, Marciano didn't give two shits about Joe Louis. All he was bothered about is that title shot, he can say what he likes after the bout but his actions speak for themselves. You don't batter someone senseless if you have deep feelings for them, he repsected him no doubt but Louis was a means to an end.

 

Because i like to put the bull**** to bed, if you want to believe Marciano adored Lous then go ahead. He had respect for the old fighter and was likely a fan that's about it. I'll respond to any thread i want to thankyou very much.

 

This is it in a nutshell and yes it's not complicated one single bit at all.

 

Pro boxers just seperate what life expects of them from what boxing expects of them.

It's ridiculous to think of any boxer feeling sad about taking on a hero of theirs. They can seperate heros from the job in front of them. It's their job. A hungry animal will eat its master if it has to. It is not personal.

Boxers are out running every day. Torturing themselves to be the best killing machine they can be. Their minds are prepared to put compassion to one side. It is not personal.

On the main event TV show, Rocky even says something like "it's hard to think he is my hero but this is boxing. He wants to kill me and I want to kill him" moments into the fight Rocky says "I say hello to Joe with my head. This isn't a card game you know". This is a situation of consenting adults. That can still be friends, still have compassion and respect in all other circumstances.

Sometimes they tune into what convention expects from them. Oh it was sad, he was my hero.. well yes it is when you look at it afterwards. Not when the bell goes though. Instict takes over.

 

Thanks for straightening us out.

 

You're as bent as a dogs hind leg, impossible to straighten you out.......

 

As kids? Wasn't Louis only 9 or so years older than Marciano. Marciano was born in 1923 and Louis in 1914. Unless it was like when Louis was 21 or 22.

 

When did trash talk become a thing in boxing? Watching Louis and Schmeling or Marciano and Charles sign their contracts and shake hands, everyone seemed so polite and civil.

 

There was a pride in a tough man showing the class of a gentleman before he knocked somebody's block off. It was all in vogue then.

Trash talking has became a legitimate and proven way to sell a fight. It helps the public understand. They don't get that a fight is just as good without the trash talk. So fighters who have got along all their lives (folks forget most top boxers knew each other as kids in amateur tournaments or at other fighters training camps, know each other through stable mates, perhaps ate together, shared rooms, towels, gloves etc etc) all have to pretend they hate each other. They make more money that way.

I believe that this is all a reflection of how far away the outside world is from boxing. The days when everyone boxed at school, when all men did national service are long gone. This is the play station generation. The generation that dosnt do anything. We have moved away from honour and a more stoic culture. Self righteousness has made way for self gratification. Society has become so soft that a fascination for crude brutality is in vogue. couch potatoes with no self discipline demand more vulgarity, for everything to be more and more extreme because they will never take up sport or achieve anything themselves. They live through entertainment.

 

Jack Johnson was definitely a trash talker (he was like Ali in many ways) and I've read Corbett and Sullivan definitely didn't like each other. If you go back even further, Daniel Mendoza became a pugilist basically because his mouth got him in so many fights he decided he might as well get paid for it.
The earliest regular trash talker I can think of on film is probably Galento.

 

Lol that is true that Shavers was a nice guy. He wasn't nice at all to Norton in the ring, or the press conference. According to Shavers, Holmes was fighting Ossie Ocasio. His fight against Norton was on the undercard. Norton had been offered a fight a few years earlier against Shavers for a million dollars and turned it down flat. Earnie knew the only reason Norton was fighting him was to get another shot at Larry Holmes. Don King was making it seem that Holmes vs Norton 2 was a done deal and Shavers felt really disrespected by it. Shavers told King at the press conference, "you forgot about me!", then when he went up to the podium to speak, he turned to Norton and said "Kenny, I'm going to destroy you!". Instead of pumping up his Mr Universe biceps and rising to the challenge, Norton just sat there passively and mentioned that they would both be making a lot of money. Shavers knew then that he psyched Norton out.
But yes getting back to boxers being friendly and fraternal, when Matthew Hilton and Buster Drayton fought back in the 80's, supposedly after the fight they ended up getting drunk together in the Montreal Forum a few hours after their fight. Both were really banged up, and one or maybe both had bruised ribs. Funny how 2 guys beat the crap out of each other, but then get drunk in the seats where people were watching them do so a few hours later.