Breaking up with boxing

[erics44]

i started reading then this big box popped up and it wouldnt go away when i pressed the x so i closed it

[Gandalf]

No, I wouldn't break up with boxing. It is my favourite sport and for me boxing is the perfect metaphor for life and its ups and downs. I use boxing as an analogy for so many things. The ups and the downs and the trials and the tribulations. Boxing is a tough sport and life is tough. Someone said to me a few weeks ago "I don't like boxing because boxing is cruel". I gave that considerable thought and concluded that that person was right. Life should be fairer and nicer and better, but sometimes the underdog can win and in a cruel sport that is glorious and it gives you hope. Boxing is a cruel, but beautiful sport that changes lives and inspires many more. Sure, the promoters, the judges etc can spoil it, but the beauty of the art itself is transcendental. The power of a great fight is almost Shakespearian in its scope.

[Greig]

Some nice thoughts there Gandalf.

[Spicoli]

Are you looking at this as a finale of an era maybe? It def has that feel of turning the page.

[Greig]

Maybe that's it Spicoli, definitely from a personal perspective.

I became a father for the first time last year. Long Sunday afternoons down the boozer watching the fights are just not feasible anymore

But even for a couple of years before my daughter came along I wasn't as interested. If I was to try and pinpoint it, I'd say Pac's knockout at the hands of Marquez dented a lot of my interest.

Pac was my favourite fighter for a good spell, and seeing him get KOd like that was a blow.

I like the look of Golovkin, but again won't actively seek him out. Like I said, all my faves are gone or just about, and I haven't been involved enough to develop new faves.

[fan johnny]

Kinda sound like your only into the boxers that can cross over to the mainstream media?

[Gandalf]

I kind of relate to what you are saying Greig in that in my 20's my favourite fighters were Toney, Barrera, Calzaghe and Hatton. I sometimes take the sport quite personally and like to go on the journey with the fighters and when it comes to an end, you find you have invested so much of yourself in those fighters and of course in boxing it has to come to an end and at an early age, yet you yourself still love boxing and other fighters don't quite fill the void or relate to you in quite the same way. If they do carry on as with the likes of Toney or Hatton then it ends in embarrassment or loss. It's not like football where the teams exist forever and every new season will roll over. Still, I will always love boxing, but those will likely always be my favorite fighters and I feel I grew up with them in my life.