What about the sport of boxing makes you a fan?

[Trainer Monkey]

I grew up in the world of Ali,Holmes,Hagler,Duran,Leanord,Howard Cosell,etc,etc
I got my first boxing lesson 30 years ago this year.
The downside of being involved in the sport,I rarely just get to watch a fight,just to watch a fight,I have to analyze whats happening.
One of the reasons I re-watch the Vonda Ward Ann Wolfe knockout,there's nothing to study,a cross,and you just say "Oooooooooooo damn she got KTFO"

[RozzySean]

At it's best, Boxing is the purest form of competition. It's fighter against fighter. You stand in the ring along. Nobody can help you, and there a potential for bodily hard if you fail. It's primal. Yeah, judges and refs muddle the purity, but at it's root, it appeals to the most basic levels of human instinct. But that's not what makes boxing truly great. It is great because it combines the raw, primal, violent, animalist elements of competition with cerebral, higher order, humanistic thinking. No other sport combines strength, intelligence, toughness, preparation, and risk the way that boxing does. No other sport draws on as many elements of the human condition.

At it's low points, driven by the business of boxing, boxing is probably worse than any other sport. Unfair matchups, corruption, etc, but at it's best, it is the most compelling sport to watch. As boxing fans, we put up with so much bad product. We stick with it because at it's best, it's magic, and that magic can happen on a FnF or BAD or a PPV. All the crappy fights are more than made up for by getting to see the Gatti/Wards, Cotto/Tony, Pavlik/Taylor 1, Marquez/Vasquez or Bika/Codrington type of fights.

[Kirkland Laing]

It's the sport you need the most dedication for. It's the sport in which you have to accept defeat on your own, not as part of a team, in full public view. And it's not like you lost 1-0 to a late goal or something, you lost because the other guy beat you up more than you did him. So there is endless inspiration and nobility in the sport. And when boxers aren't being inspiring and noble they're being controversial. You've got all that side of it too, the braggadocio and the verbal battle and everything that goes with that.

In the format of a fight in a square ring you get to see and feel the full range of emotions and sensations of the human condition* I suppose is the concise way of putting it. Certainly more than any other sport, for me anyway.



*Apart from sexual stuuf, obviously. They have yet to incorporate that in any kind of recognised sport.

[Spicoli]

I look at it as a metaphor for life in some ways.The roller coaster of highs and low's and ultimately,being responsible for making your way,good or bad.Even when all is going your way ....out of the blue someone or something can come along and take you down a notch Or vice versa.The emotional investment can be huge as you follow some fighters.Not to go all Oprah but when they win...you almost live vicariously through that moment and celebrate in kind.And when they lose also.With me,Evander Holyfields lose to Riddick Bowe in the 3rd Fight,the fashion and way it happened.....doing well and just steamed out and BOOM,out, face first and KO'd.I actually quit watching and following boxing for about 5 or 6 months after that.Lost the attraction as My favorite fighter had just been defeated.It kills me when I hear some so-so fans talk about the sport ..."They're just punching each other in the head" etc.etc. Or when you have a couple of them over and are watching a pretty good tactical Fight and all they can say is "Come on already,hit that guy....they're just standing there".Much more going on in there.....not all about mashing faces.When I was young,KO's were king,I did not have the patients to sit through 12-15 rounds at times Lol and as Ive grown old as dirt,I actually like watching two thinking fighters face off,physically & mentally trying to one up each other.

[SweetPea]

At it's best, Boxing is the purest form of competition. It's fighter against fighter. You stand in the ring along. Nobody can help you, and there a potential for bodily hard if you fail. It's primal. Yeah, judges and refs muddle the purity, but at it's root, it appeals to the most basic levels of human instinct. But that's not what makes boxing truly great. It is great because it combines the raw, primal, violent, animalist elements of competition with cerebral, higher order, humanistic thinking. No other sport combines strength, intelligence, toughness, preparation, and risk the way that boxing does. No other sport draws on as many elements of the human condition.

At it's low points, driven by the business of boxing, boxing is probably worse than any other sport. Unfair matchups, corruption, etc, but at it's best, it is the most compelling sport to watch. As boxing fans, we put up with so much bad product. We stick with it because at it's best, it's magic, and that magic can happen on a FnF or BAD or a PPV. All the crappy fights are more than made up for by getting to see the Gatti/Wards, Cotto/Tony, Pavlik/Taylor 1, Marquez/Vasquez or Bika/Codrington type of fights.

Great post. You said it all.

Despite all its flaws and all its fault, there is nothing in sports that can match a great fight.