Boxing's double standards

[Put Em' Up]

Getting a little sick and tired of the double standards regarding how boxers choose to extend their careers. Our favorite fighter decides to fight on past his best days, and he’s a warrior who won’t hang up the sword. Someone else decides to fight on, and he’s blemishing his career. What is it with us boxing fans? Damn fickle bunch, is what we are, if you ask me. Notice I say “we.” I’m not claiming to be exempt from this.

There’s actually very few ex-champions who retire at the right time, while on top. Most fight on, and suffer lopsided defeats in the process. It’s called Father Time. It happened to Ali (but no one accuses him of blemishing his career), Sugar Ray Leonard, Duran, Holmes, and so on and so forth.

Some fight on for the money, but I suspect most fight on because that’s what they love to do. And besides, it must be hard to give up the glory and the adulation that comes with being a great and beloved champion. I know I would probably fight past my time to retire.

Very few, if any of us, have ever been in that position. So who are we to judge a fighter that continues to fight beyond his best years? And IMO, a fighter does not “blemish” a career when he chooses to fight on and gets beat. What’s done is done, and a few career-ending losses does nothing to erase that. So give fighters a break. A great fighter facing the end of his career is still a human being, struggling to deal with conflicting emotions and doing the best he can.

But hey, this is what makes boxing such a great spectator sport. You get 1,000 different opinions from 1,000 different people on the same topic.

All sports have this same double standard not just boxing. In this sport it is the one on one aspect that draws more criticism, there is no way to shift the blame on his team mates.

[RozzySean]

I do think, however, that sometimes fans don't want to see great boxers risk their long term health by staying in the game too long. Boxing carries a great risk than other sports.