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

[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.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

All great reasons there above. Master has interestingly named a single boxer as one of his reasons which is really cool. Its amazing how one single person can influence someone's life like that. Tyson was a ferocious force, I was scared of him in 1985 when he was coming up and Holmes was fading out. The brutality of it, the fierceness, you could feel this guy was more than a nightmare. I remember one night in 1987 I heard his fight was being shown in some dormitory on campus, so at 9 p.m. I sprinted like a mile and a half just to get there and pay $5 to get in and see his fight with Pinklon Thomas. Here's what happened:

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[NoSavingByTheBell]

[X]

Hooray, a thread actually about boxing

1. Grace under pressure. When you watch someone under the greatest physical threat and they can rise above it and be cool and calculated. Never losing the technique. Ali against Foreman. Or just about against anyone to be fair. Archie Moore. You never saw Joe Louis waste a punch. Ray Leonard.

2. Control. Making the other guy fight your fight on your terms. Dictating tempo, distance, space and time. Duran. Early Tyson. Pacquiaio. Hagler. De la Hoya was good at this, this is what separates the elite from the rest.

3. Splattering some motherfucker. Again, Tyson. Nigel Benn, Golovkin, Marciano, Dempsey, The Hit Man. Elemental and beautiful in its controlled savagery. Each supposedly random wild swing being the result of thousands of hours of practice

[johnsebastianmiran]

When I was a child there was a man who was in charge of a group of us fidgeting children after church and he was good because he had a library of fights and it got our attention with Sugar Ray Robinson, Jersey Joe Walcott, Joe Louis. Rocky Marciano and Henry Hank Armstrong and to this day I wondered how many arms he had. The pocorn soda, ice cream and cake spoiled dinner for all of us every Sunday after church. I learned to box at thitirteen and never got serious until I was fifteen after seeking revenge to have a fight with an opponent that never materialized. The third reason was I was always in front of the TV on Saturday afternoon continuing the tradition of those church basement showings and I remembered that movie projector smoking three hours later and I sat on my livingroom floor with my pup and two plates of chips and a beer for me and one for my pup. One thing I forgot to mention was that when I took an active part in boxing for a short while, I found the event to not be as exciting and fulfilling as the effort to prepare. Three reasons are not enough to love boxing as a spectator and I am going to continue to salute. any man with the courage to build himself up in friendly com bat and remember it is a contest.

[Gandalf]

As a kid it was just something that drew me in more than other sports. Football was okay, but it didn't have that genuinely unpredictable element of 2 men in close proximity trying to hit one another and avoid punches too. That proximity brings with it an intensity that no other sport can. I was enthralled by those domestic fights as a kid and Benn and Eubank and Watson and old Bruno there were all exciting to me.

Memphis does bring up death, but I cannot say that the prospect of death ever drew me to someone like Calzaghe who I enjoy above all other fighters with Toney up there of course, who likewise was not really a murderous puncher, especially later on. For me, watching that it was more about artistry and body fluidity, seeing those combinations and seeing punches from such unorthodox angles. It was impressive to see Calzaghe use that ballet like fluidity to make his opponents look silly at times. Or Toney make his opponent miss and then swiftly counter. The sweet shot.

The death aspect is certainly there and maybe some enjoy that and I do have a reputation for not enjoying early stoppages when I think the fighter has a chance, but I don't really enjoy that side. I will never forget poor Ricky Hatton out cold like that almost in a coma. That side is horrible, but then if it is Manny out cold do I get the satisfaction? I would prefer a stoppage that did not result in being unconscious. However, we do get into the moment and if your fighter is down then a dramatic KO is what you are hoping for.

It is a very brutal sport at times and it wouldn't be the same without the drama and the risk. Humanity can claim to want utopia and perfection, but with boxing around, we are always reminded of our darkness.

[SlimTrae]

. I was enthralled by those domestic fights as a kid and Benn and Eubank and Watson and old Bruno there were all exciting to me.

.

I didn't see there fights reel time, looking back on it, must of been something special to witness Benn & Eubank in their primes! And Bruno gave a damn good showing against Lennox. He had to grind that win out.