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?