The Gallantry of Getting Up

[marbleheadmaui]

The next time you are tempted to denigrate professional prizefighters who don't live up to your keyboard fearlessness sufficiently or who don't perform with the skill you do while risking air-conditioned typing think about the gallantry of getting up.

A prizefighter has been knocked down. That means the opponent has momentarily been a superior judge of distance and/or has been too fast to have been slipped, blocked, ducked, caught, parried or avoided and/or too powerful to have been withstood or so skillful as to prevent the knocked down fighter from avoiding the shot. It is always a shock to be knocked down. Frequently the fighter on the canvas is not certain how he got there.

If it has been a body shot? Breathing is difficult and therefore so is thinking. If it was a head shot? Thinking can be REALLY difficult.

Yet some things are certain. If he gets up, unless he can change something, and fast, he will be damaged further. In less than ten seconds, a professional prizefighter on the canvas has to acknowledge that for at least a moment the other man was better, understand he will get hit again, must formulate some plan for surviving the next few seconds and then find a way to get to his feet. He is surrounded by bellowing fans, his corner is shouting advice and he is faced faced by another gloved warrior seeking to do him harm. He may be dazed, not breathing well, bruised, in pain, exhausted and behind on the cards.

And yet they arise. Alexis Arguello had been knocked cold by the Hawk in their first fight. He was knocked down twice more in the second fight. Each time he got up. Finally the third knockdown finished him and he was willingly counted out. Was he a coward? Hardly. The majesty was that he got up even once.

But it is not just the greats who do this. Every week across the sport club level fighters and journeymen fighting for a small purse get knocked down and choose to get up. Most lose, a few overcome it and win. But they choose to get up. They choose to go into the breach once more.
There is immense dignity in that and those who display it should always be shown the respect they have earned.

These men are not garbage, bums, trash, losers or any of the other terms so many feel comfortable using describing fighters. If they have gotten up even once in their careers, they are gallant.

[Howlin Mad Missy]

stop preaching!..oh wait.

[boxingbantz]

Has this guy ever started a thread with just a few words?

[armyash]

I like Jack Dempseys saying: 'A champion is someone who gets up when he can't'

Obviously big respect to anyone who can get up from a knockdown but sometimes it's just not possible.

the above sentence does not apply to Audley Harrison

[Hulk]

Mike Tyson never got up from a knockdown to win a fight.

[armyash]

Enzo maccrinelli does well to get up even if he is out on his feet once he's standing.

[generalbulldog]

The next time you are tempted to denigrate professional prizefighters who don't live up to your keyboard fearlessness sufficiently or who don't perform with the skill you do while risking air-conditioned typing think about the gallantry of getting up.

A prizefighter has been knocked down. That means the opponent has momentarily been a superior judge of distance and/or has been too fast to have been slipped, blocked, ducked, caught, parried or avoided and/or too powerful to have been withstood or so skillful as to prevent the knocked down fighter from avoiding the shot. It is always a shock to be knocked down. Frequently the fighter on the canvas is not certain how he got there.

If it has been a body shot? Breathing is difficult and therefore so is thinking. If it was a head shot? Thinking can be REALLY difficult.

Yet some things are certain. If he gets up, unless he can change something, and fast, he will be damaged further. In less than ten seconds, a professional prizefighter on the canvas has to acknowledge that for at least a moment the other man was better, understand he will get hit again, must formulate some plan for surviving the next few seconds and then find a way to get to his feet. He is surrounded by bellowing fans, his corner is shouting advice and he is faced faced by another gloved warrior seeking to do him harm. He may be dazed, not breathing well, bruised, in pain, exhausted and behind on the cards.

And yet they arise. Alexis Arguello had been knocked cold by the Hawk in their first fight. He was knocked down twice more in the second fight. Each time he got up. Finally the third knockdown finished him and he was willingly counted out. Was he a coward? Hardly. The majesty was that he got up even once.

But it is not just the greats who do this. Every week across the sport club level fighters and journeymen fighting for a small purse get knocked down and choose to get up. Most lose, a few overcome it and win. But they choose to get up. They choose to go into the breach once more.
There is immense dignity in that and those who display it should always be shown the respect they have earned.

These men are not garbage, bums, trash, losers or any of the other terms so many feel comfortable using describing fighters. If they have gotten up even once in their careers, they are gallant.

I guess even this applies to Kid Thunder.