http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/01/09/fshead.htm
Boxing's fatal objective
It is a harsh reality that most fighters want to kill their opponents
by Cormac MacConnell
THE world and the crows always knew that Steve Collins would not stay retired for long. It is no surprise at all that the Celtic Warrior now proposes to tackle Roy Jones for the lightheavy championship of the world, maybe in Dublin, probably when the darling buds of May are about to burst open once again.
Win or lose Collins will earn a million pounds or thereabouts for his springtime night's work; win or lose Roy Jones will earn closer to three million pounds. Somewhere close to 23,000 people will pay a lot of money to watch the bout and odds are that the Celtic Warrior will enter the ring with a shamrock outline carved along the right hand side of his wiry hair. And there will almost certainly be a small farm of shamrocks adorning his silken robe and shorts as well. It's all showbiz until the silk slides off the bunched sweating muscles and the shuffling feet move out to meet each other in the ring of truth.
"I want to kill him. That's what I want to do, kill him," .... Tyson before his fight against Razor Ruddock in March 1991 Somewhere ringside, within blood spatter distance that night will be Barry McGuigan who did in fact kill a man in the ring one night after the showbiz stopped and the serious stuff started. There will be other ex-boxers there too in the same position.
Mike Tyson is in trouble with the boxing authorities again because of his most recently bloodthirsty utterance in the build-up to his comeback fight against Francois Botha next Saturday night. It is actually mild enough when compared to some of his other gory quotes. "I expect him to go down cold. I expect him to die," - and just for once I have the feeling that Rusty Mike is under unfairly heavy fire.
He is merely thick enough to articulate openly what most fighters must feel in the marrow of their bones when they shuffle out there to do battle.
"Y' all know what I do, when I'm right I put people in body bags," ... Tyson last month, again about Botha
At the end of the day boxing is fascinating for most of its followers because of the elemental combat that it represents. I have no doubt but that the thinking processes of many respected professionals, like Barry McGuigan for example, would reject the idea that they go out to kill their opponents.
But a knock out is nothing less than temporary death and, in the bitter heat of battle, however technical and professional, it is the hot blood and the skilled fighting reflexes of trained bodies that are in operation rather than cool heads.
Has there ever been a pro boxer with a knockout punch who has not hit his target as hard as he could when the opportunity presented itself? I doubt it. Has it not been what everybody calls the killing instinct which has separated the great ones from those who fell?
It was not Mike Tyson, was it, who said "I'll kill da bum!" and that was a long time ago. I think ringside seats are filled and television audiences bloated by the recognition that out there in the canvas square, after all the hype, it is a matter of life or death.
They try to insulate the realities with padded gloves and rules and weight equalisations but the stark realities of the profession remain.
"Evander Holyfield is lucky I didn't bite his throat," ... Tyson after the infamous ear-biting incident
We all know there is no such thing as easy money. The Celtic Warrior will earn his million quid next May when he steps out against an ebony legend reckoned, as they always say, to be the best fighter pound for pound in the world. That represents a certain heavy pounding for the Dubliner on his gutsy way towards either victory or defeat.
And the possibility, however remote, of even fatal injuries. Or paralysis. Or another shambling step, a little later, down the road which ended for one time Great White Hope Gerry Quarry earlier this week. He was punch drunk in his forties and he was 53 when they switched off the machine. There was a strong streak of Mayo in Quarry, and an iron will. He took a lot of hammerings in his time from the very best.
The Celtic Warrior is a durable veteran by now. He has done very well for himself. He learned the harsher side of his trade in the States before coming back home to ply his tough trade on this side of the Atlantic and finish on top. Though we all knew that was not the finish. I suppose we also all know that though he is a tough and canny customer nobody will ever claim of him that he is the best fighter pound for pound in the world. In some strange way they will not even say that if he succeeds against Roy Jones.
No, Jones is already past his best. The world reports of the fight, if Steve Collins win, will surely report that he beat a "fading" champion.
It's a tough world out there. But the money is good.
"I wanted to kill him, bite him, I was enraged and angry," ... Tyson about the ear-biting incident
I think I've seen the reality of professional pugilism starkly displayed once at the highest level. So did you. It came on a hot night when Tyson at his peak met England's over-rated Frank Bruno for the second time. There was all the hype and the showbiz and glitz and fanfares. And then the silks slid away.
And then you could see Frank Bruno's big expressive eyes slowly beginning to realise that the big man coming at him would kill him if he could. And when the message was driven home with a flurry of blows then those eyes, dramatically became whitely haunted and hunted. The big body froze up before the cameras of all the world. Frank Bruno was terrified.
He was not terrified of being knocked out. He was terrified of being killed. He saw the far parameters of boxing's obscured truth. Strange to think that Tyson's prediction before that fight was one of his mildest ever. He just said: "I don't see him laughing at the end!"
If Steve Collins is lucky, win, lose or draw, he will earn his May million the easy way. He will not be physically damaged or paralysed. He will not be pounded any significant distance down the road that Gerry Quarry travelled. And it is boxing's fundamental truth that we watch it because that road runs starkly and directly underneath each ring where men slip off superficial silks and shuffle out towards gory glory.