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Great doc, thanks!
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Kovalev is boxings P4P Savage. RIP to his opponent thoughComment
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I didn't watch the video but I read the article, which was great.
I've called Kovalev an As**ole a few times because he comes off that way...but damn..sometimes we forget the type of real poverty a lot of these guys come from.
It is very sad that he still has cholesterol problems because of being malnourished as a boy.Comment
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A Donald McRae article also says that Kovalev paid for Simakov's family to fly to their son's bedside.
It must have been (and continues to be) very difficult for them, to outlive their child. Especially the circumstances. I know nothing of the Simakov family but with Russia having compulsory conscription I'd hazard a guess that his father had served in the army, knew the rudiments of hand to hand combat, maybe even showed his son how to throw his first punch, as his father likely showed him. Bought his son his first pair of gloves.
I'm sure his parents have looked back and asked themselves if there was anything that they could have done differently, as is normal whenever tragedy strikes. It may seem that I'm speaking out of turn here but I don't say that to appropriate blame. As men (and even more so Russian men) we're born cloaked in masculinity, or entombed it in depending on your point of view. To follow its mores is expected of us. We are given respect when we show a mastery over violence. It becomes a source of pride.
The anger that his father is said to have displayed is a part of the grieving process, as is a tendency to look for who's at fault. I hope that Simakov's family has gone past that stage and not held on to the anger. I'm sure their son wouldn't have wanted that, or for them to blame his opponent, no matter how natural it felt to do so in the moment.
In the vast, vast majority of cases when someone dies due to injuries they've sustained in the ring the last person we should look at to heap blame upon is the man in the opposite corner. It's gives it a form, a concrete someone to direct anger at but it's ultimately misappropriated. Kovalev isn't at fault for this anymore than Simakov would have been had the roles have been reversed.
We're all to blame. As a species we're inherently violent. We may disavow it but it's always there beneath the surface. In boxing we channel it into a more codified, regulated, sanitized form. As fans we're implicated of course. Even those that state they that they wouldn't watch boxing, that it's barbaric. They get pulled in as well from time to time, by the Tyson's of this world, who they can't help but gaze upon. Whether in enjoyment or repulsion, violence fascinates us.
As long as that's the case, and it always will be, the sports regulations and responses need to be continuously worked upon to reduce fatalities and serious injuries to a bare minimum.Comment
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Kovalev give his fee for the battle with Chilemba to the family of the deceased boxer Roman Simakov. #RESPECT pic.twitter.com/pxwywK4VTL
— UkraineAtamansBoxing (@UkraineAtamans) July 11, 2016
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Originally posted by aldo5408 View PostKovalev give his fee for the battle with Chilemba to the family of the deceased boxer Roman Simakov. #RESPECT pic.twitter.com/pxwywK4VTL
— UkraineAtamansBoxing (@UkraineAtamans) July 11, 2016
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