Canastota plays host to boxingʼs retired royalty for 2008
Induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, located in Canastota, New York, has become what many refer to as “Boxingʼs Ultimate Prize”. Ultimately, enshrinement there is more important than titles, more important than headlining pay per views and more important than going undefeated.
It is the one last walk onto the big stage where the alumni of boxing will be the center of attention, yet to get there, they need no training camp, no six mile runs alone in the cold at 5am, no slipping jabs and no eating straight rights to the head.
All they need do is show up with a smile, accept the thanks of their peers and enjoy the boxing version of immortality there after.
It’s no secret that boxing is a brutal sport, brutal not just in a physical aspect, but in a mental one as well. The long and difficult training camps away from loved ones, the abstaining from the kind of temptations in life that can keep a fighter from reaching goals, the abusive process of making weight and the depression in the dressing room after a loss.
It takes a special breed to be able to endure such hardships and prosper just as, in contrast, it takes a certain kind of person to handle the success gained through hard work.
A fighter has to have a certain charisma in the ring to attract people that want to see them perform again and again and it’s even more unusual to have what it takes to make people remember their name 10, 20 or even 50 years after retirement.
It takes true greatness to be the type of person all others are measured against. (more…)