Would rather pay to watch Salido than watch Ward for free

Hahahahhahahaa. I wouldn't but that **** is funny. Ward is, I don't want to say boring, but just underwhelming. I think that's a more accurate word to describe his performances.

Kind of like sleeping with a girl you never liked that much. Yeah, you're getting laid, but you never think of it, or care for it afterwards.

 

Andre Bored. Fark no! I haven't seen this foo fight in 5years. I intend to keep it that way.

 

I just watched a youtube video titled Andre Ward Highlights Knockouts.

To my disappointment, I didn't see any knockouts.

 

Rigondeaux, Lara, and Ward are far better boxers but guys like Salido, Vargas, and Lebedev are far more entertaining fighters. It depends what you watch boxing for. Personally, I'm a far bigger fan of Arturo Gatti than I am of Floyd Mayweather.

 

You don't enjoy the sweet science?

 

Ward is a aquired taste. He had a few great fights but it's hard to enjoy them lately. It might be just me, I had a hard time watching Wlad lately as well, and I've been supporting him since 1998

 

I don't consider what Mayweather does boxing. I think he ought to be disqualified in a lot of his fights for holding, running, and stalling tactics. He's not really fighting. He's basically exploiting loopholes in a game's rules, or getting away with various types of cheating and not being penalized for breaking the rules. Willie Pep, Nicholino Locche, and Pernell Whitaker all managed to be great defensive fighters without doing the kind of bull**** Mayweather routinely does. I don't have a problem with defensive boxing. I don't consider it as entertaining as aggressive boxing, but I have more respect for men who can duck, dodge, and deflect punches than one's who just hold onto their opponent to smother his work and pot shot at range. My opinion of Klitschko is necessarily lower because of that too.

The Sweet Science, boxing, isn't a game of tag where you attempt to touch an opponent more times than he touches you. Boxing, is about hurting an opponent, inflicting the most damage. It's basically a fight to the death that stops once the point has been decisively proven and before a permanent injury is inflicted. It's symbolically meant to establish a pecking order between two alpha males for supremacy in a group.

The sweet science is what Kovalev, Golovkin, and Roman Gonzalez are doing: intelligent, systematic destruction of an opponent. These three men are actively attempting to hurt and break down their opponents, to knock them out, not just to win points with judges.

The things that Lara and Rigondeaux do well are clearly athletic virtues and would not be out of place in games like basketball or baseball. But they do not possess the virtues specific to boxing such as courage, heart, strength, boldness, pride, ambition, pain tolerance, machismo. They don't display any sense of showmanship which is essential to a spectator sport. Guys like Gatti felt an obligation to the fans, whereas there is something selfish about the way Lara and Rigondeaux shun risk and try to win by doing as little as possible, regardless of how anyone else feels.

Boxing does have an ethos. It's a martial art with a philosophy of sportsmanship and manliness just like bushido or chivalry. A good part of it's appeal is symbolic. It's not entirely physical like one may argue soccer or golf are. Therefore the way someone plays is just as important as winning itself. If you win but dishonor yourself through cheating or acts of cowardice, you can lose the respect of fans more than by losing. Boxing is a physical expression of who you are and how you live. Do you seek out challenges, stand up to adversity, stick to your principles, act honorably, or do you look for the easy way out, do as little as you have to, avoid doing what's difficult, break down under pressure? Are you a man of your word? Do you treat other's fairly? Are you greedy and underhanded? Are you hotheaded or cold and reptilian? The people are watching.

 

Good post.

 

Let's thank God you don't judge fights if you did the greatest Muhammad Ali would've been disqualified in plenty of his fights.

 

You cracked this one out the park. Great post.

 

free sounds better