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Yes! Rome is burning... MaFu is burning... same concept, different smell.
Contrary to other sports like football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf and soccer; boxing goes beyond stats and records. In tennis, and boxing, there are no teams in the battlefield. It's just you and your opponent, period. So when it comes to recognize the best athletes in each sport, different standards must be taken. For example, in baseball, you can basicly make it to the Hall of Fame in pure stats. But it's not the same to talk about Babe Ruth, Aaron, Nolan Ryan, Roberto Clemente... than to to talk about McGuire, Bonds, Clemmens. One thing is the steroids, but another thing also has to do with your personality, time spent with the same team, at the same town and your relationship with the community. People make "legends" out of the athletes, not the other way around.
But ALL TIME BEST athletes play for glory, a major purpose. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Ali, Pele, Maradona, Duran, Babe Ruth, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, Barry Sanders, McEnroe, Naratilova, Trevino, Chi Chi Rodriguez, etc... These were great athletes who became legends cause people loved them. (plus stats and accomplishments.)
Nowadays in boxing, fans keep discussing their favotrite boxers and post a lot of stats, accomplishments, and lineal championships. Which is great and obviously adds to the reputation of the fighter. Still, boxing is personal, one-on-one. Just like it takes two teams to make a GREAT Unforgettable SuperBowl, or a Soccer World Cups Finals... In boxing you need two fightersin a MEGA CLASSIC FIGHT.
In boxing is not only your record, your belts, the number of divisions you fought at, lineal champion status... but WHO YOU FOUGHT and WHO YOU DEFEATED. People take for granted numbers without looking deeper in names and match-ups. In boxing to become a legend, you need to be involved in legendary fights. You must had had defeated the best available opponents in each of the weight classes you dominated. It's "ok" to be brought up carefully in your early career, but when the time comes to become a class A fighter, and you must fight the best available opponent. How many times are we going to complaint about the lack of Hagler's, Hearn's, Leonard's, Tyson's, JCC's, Lewis's, Ali's, TiTo's... as long as fighters only think about money, we are not getting legendary fights, and much less a legendary boxer.
Then again, we got a Kobe Bryant, a Dereck Jeter, a Rafael Nadal, a Tiger Woods, a David Beckham, a Roger Federer, a Michael Phelps, and in boxing a Manny Pacquiao. These athletes are bound to be legends, but Manny is going to be the one with the most historical impact. He got everything to be name ONE of the GREATEST. PacMan got stats, achievements, classic matchups, names in "their prime", lineal championships, a huge fan base, love and dedication for the sport, a big family, socially and politically active, and humble enough to be always smiling no matter what.
So no matter who fights Manny Pacquiao next, the main story in boxing will be Pacquiao from now on...
Contrary to other sports like football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf and soccer; boxing goes beyond stats and records. In tennis, and boxing, there are no teams in the battlefield. It's just you and your opponent, period. So when it comes to recognize the best athletes in each sport, different standards must be taken. For example, in baseball, you can basicly make it to the Hall of Fame in pure stats. But it's not the same to talk about Babe Ruth, Aaron, Nolan Ryan, Roberto Clemente... than to to talk about McGuire, Bonds, Clemmens. One thing is the steroids, but another thing also has to do with your personality, time spent with the same team, at the same town and your relationship with the community. People make "legends" out of the athletes, not the other way around.
But ALL TIME BEST athletes play for glory, a major purpose. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Ali, Pele, Maradona, Duran, Babe Ruth, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, Barry Sanders, McEnroe, Naratilova, Trevino, Chi Chi Rodriguez, etc... These were great athletes who became legends cause people loved them. (plus stats and accomplishments.)
Nowadays in boxing, fans keep discussing their favotrite boxers and post a lot of stats, accomplishments, and lineal championships. Which is great and obviously adds to the reputation of the fighter. Still, boxing is personal, one-on-one. Just like it takes two teams to make a GREAT Unforgettable SuperBowl, or a Soccer World Cups Finals... In boxing you need two fightersin a MEGA CLASSIC FIGHT.
In boxing is not only your record, your belts, the number of divisions you fought at, lineal champion status... but WHO YOU FOUGHT and WHO YOU DEFEATED. People take for granted numbers without looking deeper in names and match-ups. In boxing to become a legend, you need to be involved in legendary fights. You must had had defeated the best available opponents in each of the weight classes you dominated. It's "ok" to be brought up carefully in your early career, but when the time comes to become a class A fighter, and you must fight the best available opponent. How many times are we going to complaint about the lack of Hagler's, Hearn's, Leonard's, Tyson's, JCC's, Lewis's, Ali's, TiTo's... as long as fighters only think about money, we are not getting legendary fights, and much less a legendary boxer.
Then again, we got a Kobe Bryant, a Dereck Jeter, a Rafael Nadal, a Tiger Woods, a David Beckham, a Roger Federer, a Michael Phelps, and in boxing a Manny Pacquiao. These athletes are bound to be legends, but Manny is going to be the one with the most historical impact. He got everything to be name ONE of the GREATEST. PacMan got stats, achievements, classic matchups, names in "their prime", lineal championships, a huge fan base, love and dedication for the sport, a big family, socially and politically active, and humble enough to be always smiling no matter what.
So no matter who fights Manny Pacquiao next, the main story in boxing will be Pacquiao from now on...
LMAO!!!
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