Quote Originally Posted by Mars_ax View Post
Good, well thought out read, Marble, it makes me think however, that sometimes Talent, Skill and Craft get tossed out of the ring, and what it all boils down to is being able to 'fight'. A good example of that might be Dempsey-Firpo, Jack probably thought he was back in a saloon in a barroom brawl in the Mid-west, like I said sometimes you've just gotta suck it up, and be able to fight.

A few other examples:
George Foreman vs Ron Lyle
Ali vs Frazier III (da thrilla)
Marciano vs. Walcott I
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! I didn't intend that these three concepts captured the sport or a fighter completely. Genuine toughness, a willingness to hang in there, a recognition that "this is the life we have chosen" and that it requires in Teddy Atlas phrase that a "man behave like a fighter" all count.

What's one of the truest things ever said about boxing? Jack Dempsey's "A champion is a man who gets up when he can't." I don't know if that is in someone's DNA or is learned or what, but it is special.

There is something so elemental about the Thrilla I don't even have the words for it. It felt like men fighting not just to a KO win, but literally to the death. Ali's gathering of himself in the sixty seconds after the 11th (?) round there when he was absolutely an exhausted and beaten man is one of the the great feats in boxing. But I have no idea how he he did it.