Reasons why boxing is the best sport.

So you guys think boxing is better than the Roman Gladiators?? I mean these guys fought to the death.

 

That isn't quite a sport -- and those men often didn't choose to be there.

 

The HW championship of the world is (used to be) the greatest prize in sport

 

Jack Dempsey never played baseball

 

Emphasis on "used to be".

Sadly, I don't follow the sweet science anymore save the occasional big bout which, in this day and age, you're required to pay sixty or seventy bucks to see.
Not to mention 5 "world champions" in each division.
Not to mention a new weight class that exists every 3 or 4 pounds.
I've mentioned this before but a few years ago I saw the Top 10 contenders in each of the four boxing bodies for the Heavys and out of the list of 40 only 6 were in more than one body's rankings? So that means we had 35 top 10 contenders at that time??? Amazing...

When my love for boxing really started to blossom (early 60's) every fan knew who the champs were and who the top contenders were.

It's all big time bucks now...sadly

Maybe that's why I frequent the historic websites so often, to relive boxing's glorious past. :verysad

 

you simply can't take the alphabet rankings seriously at all, any idiot can create a sanctioning body and create some rankings, exclude all the other idiots ratings, and create a situation where some fighter is crowned champion. Unfortunately, in some respects, boxing suffers because it's such a global thing. How do you regulate it on a global level?

Once you get further than knee deep you can tell the truths from the frauds, you can tell what is real and what is not real. Make up your own rankings, you are just as entitled to do that as the WBA is, and only buy the PPVs that you must simply have. I already know what PPV's I would buy next year, which is to say one. Wlad vs. Povetkin if that happens and it sells on PPV. I will also have to see Mayweather vs. Hatton next month.

The current boxing era is not that bad when you take the politics away from it. Former Soviet and Cuban fighters who can now fight pro are very interesting, and make the heavweight division very interesting in my book. There have been worse champs than Wlad Klitschko. David Haye is interesting at cruiser, whether or not he brings anything to heavyweights. Hopkins is an ATG at Lt. Heavy. Calzaghe is making big fights happen and has been a presence in his weight class for 10 years. Kelly Pavlik is a blue collar hero type at middlewieght, Winky Wright is a quality fighter at middle. And Mayweather and Hatton amongst others at welter.

There is such a diversity in the sport right now, I think its a great time for boxing, though I will always love the history of the sport. Right now is the next generations history. People being born now will one day be on a site like this and they will have polls that say
"who was the best former soviet fighter at heavyweight" and then I will have to school them with my vast knowledge because I was there.

 

Boxing has the most primordial appeal of all sports. Yes, it’s just you in there, over the canvas, under the bright lights, with a guy primed to knock your head off, before a passionate audience. But, in addition, boxing also persuades human imagination and ideals.

Even the most violence-abhorring woman will appreciate a man who, under the right circumstances, stands up for what is right and knows how to handle himself. The earliest Marquess of Queensbury champions such as John L. Sullivan, “Gentleman” Jim Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons, James Jeffries, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney carried themselves and the heavyweight crown with such an aura: noble poise and restraint, yet also the self-image of being able to lick any man in the house. Since boxing is a sport, the undisputed heavyweight champion is seen as a man of knowledge and dedication to a sound way of life, a noble, manly expert.

A championship boxing match is a one-and-only spectacle. Unlike a movie or play, it is exceedingly beyond mere fiction. It is a basic-instincts affair, yet governed by rules and technique, with a world crown at stake. Kings and vagabonds can relate to it. And the images! The gloves, the trunks, the shoes and robe, the championship belt, the entrances, the hand-wrapped fighter loosening up, the stare-down contest, the bell! The unpredictability: there can be blood, a dramatic knockout. The men meet in ring center and can use only their fists to attack the body and head. No unseemly kicks, long johns, hair pulling or shenanigans; just manhood on a stage.

And when the champion of the world strides onto the world stage of human problems with a just cause to defend, he transcends his sport and enters the realm of the superhero. Maya Angelou said it of our great champion Muhammad Ali, “When I hear a boxer talk about life, I will say, Ah, we have not seen the last of the boxing masters…”

 

No teams, the stats of two men, the courage of two men, the will of two men. Enough said. It is primal, it is graceful, it is also beautiful. I think in the old days there were ballet dancers. We can't relate to that any more. Boxing is the classical dance, it's about form.

 

But Rocky Marciano did...?:rofl