What are your Top 3 reasons for your LOVE of Boxing?

[NoSavingByTheBell]

For me, since the age of 6 when I started watching (thanks to my step-grandfather who had been an amateur middleweight from 1928 to 1930), here have been my Top 3 reasons for loving boxing:

1. It is one - on - one : nobody is intervening to help or hinder you. One man against one man (well, sometimes the ref seems to be helping one or the other!); if you get in trouble or hurt, it's all up to you at that point: I always loved to see the tactics for survival: killing the clock to survive the round, getting the ref physically between you and the other fighter on the breaks, getting on your bicycle, and even faking you're more hurt in order to get your opponent to become careless, the list goes on..... likewise, when you have got your man hurt, how do you behave? By jumping in too fast and getting countered? By poker-facing it? By crowding yourself out of excitement and not giving yourself punching room? Whatever you do in there, it is your baby. Same for your opponent. Nobody to turn to. The ultimate challenge!

2. The ebb and flow: seeing one fighter suddenly, mysteriously sometimes, get a burst of confidence after taking a battering just prior, there is nothing like feeling that adrenaline rush of seeing a comeback -- it takes you by surprise, and hearing the announcers also suddenly exploding dramatically "OH! And he fires back out of nowhere! Unbelievable!", etc. That's why a lopsided affair is one of the most boring things you can get. UNless its a huge blowout, like Lennox Lewis vs Andrew Golota.

3. The human/emotional side of it: I have always been fascinated by the emotional side of the contest, how you can feel and see a fighter's mental state at any given time, sometimes its desperation, sometimes fear (e.g. Mike Spinks just before the bell rang vs Mike Tyson), etc. Not gonna go so far to say I loved watching the inexplicable emotions of Oliver McCall in the rematch with Lewis, but, you catch my drift! Its the emotions we all share, and there they are in the ring, before thousands, even millions, and seeing how their states of mind manifests in real time as the fight unfolds. The pain, the tension, the glory, etc.

How about you ? What are your Top 3 reasons for loving this incredible sport?

[SlimTrae]

1. 1st sport I remember (Ali vs Spinks rematch...I think) hooked since

2. Mano Y mano. Wasn't a tough kid growing up, so I'd watch Ray Leonard in the amateurs beat up people-guess I lived vicariously through fighters.

3. I gravitate toward boxing statistics easily. I don't remember much about the Milwaukee Bucks or Green Bay Packers even though that was all that was ever talked about on playgrounds, school bus- heyday of Bucks were Lanier, Bridgeman, Johnson, Moncrief, Winters...I remember their names -but shit else. no moments comes to mind. Yet I remember the ring entrance of Ali, the commercials done with Larry Holmes & Ray Leonard pickup truck built Ford tough, Ali's Dcon roach commercials... during the amatuers I remember the interviews as well as who Ray Leonard fought. I remember no head gear...and his fro.

[TitoFan]

Totally agree with NoSaving on the ebb and flow of boxing. It was even more evident in the 15-round days, when fighters sometimes would seem to take turns taking the momentum in championship fights. Awesome.

The electricity for big championship fights is another factor for me. Not many things more exciting than the walk to the ring and intros being done on the fighters as the crowd goes wild in anticipation.

The last reason is a bit biased... but coming from a little island with such a huge boxing presence throughout the years has undoubtedly been a factor in my love of boxing. Having seen my share of boxing live here has been invaluable to me.

[Memphis]

You can sum this up with some notable quotes.

"You know why people get so excited at fights? It's the presence of death." - Jimmy Horn

Not for everyone of course but for most people watching live boxing they're not 'experts'. They're not there for the sweet science. They're there for violence. You can be fascinated by the literal life and death aspect of it without being a sicko who wants people to die. We subconsciously know it's there. I've searched for years to find the exact wording of a Chris Eubank quote called the killing time. It might not be his of course, but I heard him say it. Not literally talking about killing someone, but about the acknowledgement and acceptance of it's presence.

You screw up in tennis, it's fifteen love. You screw up in boxing, it's your ass - Tex Cobb (I think)

I think those two make the ebb and flow of boxing more pronounced than other sports. Most sports have ebb and flow. We can get excited about an end to end game of football or basketball. But nothing quite does it like the ebb and flow of a fight. Because the stakes are so high. In most other sports you get the opportunity to right the wrongs. You concede a goal, you get given the ball back generally. In boxing, you don't always get the ball back.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

Great points by Tito fan and Memphis and Slim

Yes the ring walk and the psychological game leading up to the ring and stepping through the ropes and the adrenaline and the heart pounding. That whole pre fight activity right up until the staredown. sometimes I thought I was going to pass out just watching it.

And no doubt the idea that a person could die or get seriously hurt is also a kind of weird background understanding we all have when we watch grown men throw punches with the force sometimes it seems of a bullet or a missile at someone else's face.

Some of those missed punches when we say HOLYSHIT THAT WOULD HAVE ENDED IT RIGHT THERE! I think that's when we really get the understanding that that really would have taken the guy's head off almost literally. Knowing at any moment it could happen....

[SlimTrae]

Every professional card I've attended, I found myself happy/proud to be among boxing fans-when an overmatched opponent is being exposed. Each fight like that, I can remember a collective gasp-that's enough! No one who I watched catching a beatdown, drew the crowd into-beat him some more.

1st/only time I saw Lateef Kayode- who turned out to be a huge letdown...I saw him deck a guy so hard, most of the fans was like...Throw in the towel! Man he cant take power!

To me boxing isn't about blood and beatdowns, rather that is the result of 1 of 2 things. 1.someone was overmatched (we rail against that) or 2. a great boxer got compromised with his skill -set so he threw caution into the wind- that is when I think us boxing fans love the gore and blood.
Not for the sake of seeing someone beaten to a pulp-that's what youtube is for.
Corrales vs Castillo, Leonard vs Benitez, Marquez vs Vazquez...events where the skill level got compromised so both fighters THEN obliged to fight it out.

I love boxing when two top notch well trained boxers cant get the upper hand due to ebb n flow, so they throw caution out window.

On the ring entrance good point. Only time I liked entrance in any other sport was during the run of the Unstop a Bulls...there ring/center court entrance was a mutha...hell it was event just to see what color hair would Rodman have!

[SlimTrae]

Not a ring entrance, but one helluva a court entrance. Only time I came close to getting goose bumps like Tyson-Spinks, Tyson-Holmes, Tyson-Berbick, or Ruddock.
I loved RJJ & Hamed entrance for the entertainment -but only Tyson's ring walk- had me nervous...like I am about to have a fight! Energy so tense, we cant even sit down in the house...truly an event! But Michael J...did that to me as well!

[Dia bando]

Remember watching Ali v Cooper in the 60s with my Dad on the TV.
My son boxed from the age of 11 I used to help out in his old club.
I now watch boxing with my son on TV and he has treated me to many live fights which we both go together to watch.🙂

[Spicoli]

To boil it down basically the individuality of it. No teams to shadow in, just a man center ring whos life is forever steered by every single time out. Boxing seems a metaphor for life. The individual stories of strife struggle and sudden achievement cannot be matched. Also in a weird way I've always been drawn to the almost anonymity of being a boxing fan. It's not like it has 101 channels and articles dedicated to it. Before internet point and click you had to search it out to stay reasonably informed, almost had to work to follow it. That was appealing in a way. Dare I saw we're a rare select if not slightly defective group . Memories too for sure. I first sat down to watch a fight in 86. I became hooked for good in 89 and today find myself recalling some life memories based on what was happening in a certain year in boxing. Not to go overboard silly arse Oprah cliché but recalling fights is a lot like recalling the first time you listened to a certain song. It all comes back, mostly.

[SlimTrae]

Remember watching Ali v Cooper in the 60s with my Dad on the TV.
My son boxed from the age of 11 I used to help out in his old club.
I now watch boxing with my son on TV and he has treated me to many live fights which we both go together to watch.🙂

You're a fortunate son turned cool dad. Memories of bonding father & son never fade. My pop only took me to one event but it was memorable. Hulk Hogan headlined the card!

[Dark Lord Al]

Blood, Sweat, Tears.

[Dia bando]

Remember watching Ali v Cooper in the 60s with my Dad on the TV.
My son boxed from the age of 11 I used to help out in his old club.
I now watch boxing with my son on TV and he has treated me to many live fights which we both go together to watch.🙂

You're a fortunate son turned cool dad. Memories of bonding father & son never fade. My pop only took me to one event but it was memorable. Hulk Hogan headlined the card!

Nice one Hulk Hogan I would have loved to have been there.👍

[Master]

Remember watching Ali v Cooper in the 60s with my Dad on the TV.
My son boxed from the age of 11 I used to help out in his old club.
I now watch boxing with my son on TV and he has treated me to many live fights which we both go together to watch.🙂

You're a fortunate son turned cool dad. Memories of bonding father & son never fade. My pop only took me to one event but it was memorable. Hulk Hogan headlined the card!

Nice one Hulk Hogan I would have loved to have been there.👍

I saw Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks and Kendo Nagasaki at the civic centre with my dad.

[Beanz]

3 is hard and i am not sure these are my Top 3 but 3 off the top of my head

1. It is more than the sum of it's parts.

That indefinable magic that means however technically great , or fit, or powerful , or talented a couple of fighters are you can never predict with 100% accuracy, not only how fights between them will be decided, but how great those events will be. Sometimes two journeymen will in a trade fight eclipse the marquee names at the top of the bill. Moments of brilliance can come from nowhere and the combination of venue, atmosphere, spectacle, history and sheer determination make upsets genuinely historic when on paper they seem impossible.

2. It is both an artform, a sporting contest and a mental excercise

The ability to master a physical skillset of techniques to such a point that you can deploy them in a subconcious way whilst still retaining intention is not confined to boxing. It is what makes great musicians, sportsmen, actors, etc but to be able to do so under such great physical duress, while constantly improvising and within an activity that draws on your most primal reactions, is surely unique.

3. It is Show Business.

Prizefighting and the circus, The traveling show is all there wrapped up in a fight that brings fighters together across the country or internationally for press conferences, open training sessions and then the big show itself, in which ringmaster promoters have for over a 100 years tried to outdo each other in putting on the greatest show on earth.

[Master]

1. The history of boxing has always been fascinating for me particularly heavyweight champions who defined, changed and shaped their own era. I read all the books of these champions and absorbed everything about them.

2. Mike Tyson because he was someone I could say was in my era and was making history. I had all his fights, posters and made a scrap book of his career which I still have. My mum would say “there’s your brother on TV” when he was on because I was so obsessed with him becoming a historical fighter.

3. I enjoy the training, skipping and pad work. It is great exercise and builds good character.