why do you love boxing?

Will everybody please just SHUT THE **** UP!

 

My love or facination for boxing began around 1985 (i think) watching Tyson fights! a couple years later i started train boxing in our local gym (still do 2 times a week) Since that i was hooked on this sport! i always liked "oneman" sports better than teamsport!

PHILLAS comment summons about all!

 

Because it has everything. Skill, will, guts, hope, love, pride, intelligence, rags to riches, science, etc etc.

But best of all... BECAUSE IT CAN BE ONE MAN AGAINST ANOTHER MAN WITH A WHOLE COUNTRY DEPENDING ON HIM.

I would rather watch a greatly anticipated match with two warriors than the superbowl or world cup.

 

I started to box when i was 11 years old,and from the first day,i was hooked!
I loved the training and the sparring.I can still remember the smell in the gym,and the atmosphare.It was a great time...And ever since that,i have followed boxing.
I think it´s the purest form for sport.Two athletes fighting,no teamplayers,just your self and your opponent,trying to knock each others head of...
THATS sport in it´s purest form IMO.

 

props to everyone who actually answered the question the kid asked. it's nice to see there is some kind of actual rapport possible here.

given the opportunity to share some philosophical or deeply personal pearl that indicates why the much criticized sport we all spend so much of ourselves and our time on and what happens? most people mostly snap viciously at the kid who asked the question.

my question remains...why would any of you who are so primitively aggressive and mean-spirited take part in a community in which the goal is to share and compare information about a sport that has, for centuries, elevated aggression beyoind the realms of the ugly street fight between uneven, dangerous groups with no oversight or fair play?

why is it so rare for any of you to show one another any respect in a sport in which mutual respect is paramount? what is the point of boxing (or any debate about it) in which no one has the discipline or self-control to actually address the issue at hand?

boxing, in its purest form is so far from the kind of anonymous tough-talking and harassment that occurrs here. what so often occurs here reminds us that life is an unfair series of gang-rapes in which one is either being violated or violating someone else depending on how many other people are willing to follow some blind rage onto our side, but might just as easily turn viciously on us the next. it is sad that life, unlike boxing, is selfishly about the coward's revenge. life is a bitter thing full of terrible ethical failures brought on by self-rightious human greed and careless, inarticulate rage. boxing is capable of being the opposite of that. isn't that why most of you relish it? because it's one person testing themself against the other taken out of time and away from the ills of the world?

no matter how horrible the trash talk in the lead-up to the fight, no matter how one sided the beating, most fighters, most often offer a show of respect and reconciliation to the other after the fight. it is not so much that the contest, the blood, the pain has erased the enmity that existed before, but that both fighters have gone deeper than it and, perhaps, beyond it. boxing, as many of us know from competing in the sport at one point, tests most of the bull**** people talk about courage and ethics and passion and dignity and so on. there is no hiding place in boxing: a coward cannot help but be exposed, a dedicated and brave fighter cannot help but be seen for those accomplishments, win or lose. boxing, at it's best, not always, but at it's best, is fair, and that is rare. life has no such parallel, which is one reason boxing has always seemed to me a respite from the storm of, well, the kind of crap that gets strewn around on these boards, which is a lot more like every other part of life than it is like the sacred and excellent ritual of the boxing match.

not that i expect anyone on these boards to shelve the flailing, adolescent rage. those of you who respect one another and engage in discourse that honors that sport and upholds its ideals don't need to be told to do it, of course, certainly not by me or anyone else. you just do it because of the types of people you are and that's pretty cool. and those of you who boil in the toxic stew of ugly personal attacks, monosyllabic vulgarities and so on certainly will never see any reason to change despite the fact that the very act of spitting such venom about the ring and its competitors and competitions...when you do that, it dishonors yourself and the sport. but, i am very sure no one who does that kind of **** cares what i think or have to say anyway. so, what can you do? nothing, i guess.

 

:good:good

 

As a spectator? I love boxing because it's unpredictable, dramatic and a mish mash of so many different styles and characters. You can get a defensive slickster or a brawler or a boxer puncher or such and such and such. So many different things, so many different skills. You can have your breath taken away by the defensive stylings of a Pernell Sweet Pea Whitaker, be amazed by the pure athletic ability of a Roy Jones JR, The guts and pride of Arturo Gatti or the unbelievable knock out potential the HWs bring.

As a fan of a fighter though it's a completely different experience. A lot of people fail to understand the development that fighters and their fanbases have. It's referred to as nut hugging but just look at it like this: If your baseball team loses it's no big deal, 162 games unless I'm mistaken. In football 16 games and the season is done. In boxing, if you develop a bond or a connection with a fighter, every punch that lands by your fighter you roar in approval. Every punch that lands on your fighter lands on you. Every cut, every dodge, every block, every movement is shared. You live and die by 3 minute rounds, by corrupt judging, by poor officiating, by poor trainers. Basically you ARE fighting in your seat. Whether the fighter represents your country or your preferred style of choice or your attitude and demeanor...it's YOUR fighter. There's a basic connection there. This is the fighter you have decided to put all of your emotional investment behind. For someone whose been there since the start of a fighters career, it's like watching a child grow up before your very eyes. It's absurd, no question about it...but it's allowed in this instance. It's almost as absurd as believing that by cheering, praying and giving everything YOU have from your couch to someone you've never met before...you can make a difference. It's absurd but boxing is the most absurd sport there is.

Ask any fan who had a bond with any fighter and they'll tell you all about it.

 

Fantastic post! You just left Boo Radley speechless, and THAT is a hell of an accomplishment:deal

 

This is the most self righteous diatribe I have ever read on ESB. Who the hell are you to judge us? For future reference you might want to actually get to know some of us before your next sermon.

Some of my best freinds on here are people I routinely trade insults with. It is also true that some of the posters I have the most respect for, and will go out of my way to read, are guys I have had vicious wars with. Furthermore, I have had many experiences of being at war with another poster on one thread, and totally supporting one another on another thread. I'm not sure if I should close with; if ya can't stand the heat, get the **** out of the kitchen, or just say, shut the **** up noob! Take your choice.

 

That's from the first draft of "Forrest Gump," right?

In that case, it might help if you actually answered the question the kid asked.

Your posts tend to be written a very jarring, almost iambic pentameter, style; I agree with next to nothing you ever say, but I and many others still bother to read them and respond in a polite manner. In my years of lurking on ESB, I've never noted any flame war against you, but, apparently, you've got a gut full of bile towards every member of the human species that isn't you, anyway.

In general, your posts have always shown a patronizing attitude toward us "monosyllabic vulgar" lower-class folk. This one, however, takes the cake, plate, table, chairs, and oven - really, other than self-confessed trolls, this is the closest to "flailing, adolescent rage" I've ever seen on ESB (and that's really saying something, isn't it?).

Your post was childish and classless. You claim that those who are of honor are such without your intervention and that nothing you say could ever redeem those you don't find fit - but still you pontificate about the need for eugenics to put boxing fandom on the right track?! How kind of you, the one man who can separate the wheat from the chaff, to tell us which is which! Frankly, you've been reading too much Spinoza for your own good.

"Golden boy with feet of clay, let me help you on your way. A little push will get you far, but, my, what what a clumsy oaf you are!" If you really consider yourself so much more lofty than anyone else, then kindly remove the cork and let all that hot air out. One of the traditional Lenten readings this time of year is a parable about the Publican and the Pharisee; read it and try to guess which one of them you are.

If you want ESB to be free of ranting infants, then stop being one - that'd be a good place to start.

edit: I'll respond to the original poster via PM; sweetscientist has thoroughly hijacked and tainted the thread.

 

because it is a legal means to see "street fighting" on tv

and it appeals to "The Gladiator" inside of man's spirit, regardless of race or background.

People love to see a good fight.

Rome had the best set up I've seen with the Circus Maximus,
which I wished could be started back up, but people in our society think it is barbaric
altho, Polly Klass might be all for it.

People like boxing because it's a "sanitary" Circus Maximus.

or, Olympics for those who admire hand to hand combat in the modern world.
where brutal sports aren't acceptable,, even if they still go on in different forms.

People can't admit they like violence, and it builds inside and they don't know why.
Then they get sick from denying a natural drive and instinct.

I like boxing because it's the safest way to see a duel or "fight to the death" scenerio

 

the last 3 quotes you have written,makes me wonder who the hell you think you are?
"get the **** out of the kitchen","shut the **** up noob"...this is a debate forum,where EVERYBODY should be able to write what they want.
IF it dosen´t gets hatesfull.
IF you need to talk to people like you just did,do it on PM.So we don´t need to hear your :**** this,**** that...ect.
Thanks.

 

atsch

 

Good post. And, good thread.

I love boxing for one thing. I love it to see an unexpected knock down and knock out. If boxing never had a ko, I would think it was boring. I love the Hws much better than all the other weightclasses combined because of KO's.

I have seen some here on this forum who have more than 3,000 or more posts, and their words aint worth a dime. Good to see a good poster here.

 

Yeah great question, I love boxing for many of the same reasons already given in this thread but also there is a great deal of fun to be had arguing with mates over some beers in a pub. Discussing the relative strengths, weaknesses, outcomes of fights or hypothetical fights.

At the end of the day everyone on this forum loves the sport of boxing and no matter how contrary our individual views are, we all have more in common than not.