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Anyone who has been close enough to boxing will know that there are no cowards in the ring. The so called fans who love to see people fighting toe to toe are nowhere to be found when these guys are writhing in pain in their older days or can barely take a leak. Neither are they around when they get punch drunk and slurry in speech. In other words this is a sport of warriors.
The art of boxing is not in getting ****** up in a lets see who can bash each others brains and ribs to a pulp. Thats easy. Stronger punch and stamina will win. The art of boxing is in hitting whilst the other guy misses, is in preserving your sanity whilst they lose their cool, is in outpointing the other guy, whether it be by ko or by decision, but certainly not by scrambling your own brain in the process.
British sports is close to nationalism. I guess its because the brits were an empire once and outside of those sporting moments its very difficult for Brits to assert themselves on the world stage these days. This Hatton vs Mayweather fight is being hyped up by the Brits as an us vs them thing. Well them is just Mayweather. Much of America wants to see him beaten too, but only because like Ali he has laid himself on the block of being the best and he certainly isnt your typical All American home body.
I want Mayweather to win because for all his brashness he represents a better future for boxing than the lights out posse that Hatton represents. There is room for every style in boxing but you want icons that other boxers can follow and Floyds professionalism is spot on.
Boxing itself needs to figure out that the main reason the sport is differentiated from UFC and wrestling and the other attempts to go back to roman gladiator days is that brute force is not the primary factor. Skill and intelligence and the preservation of the individual is primary.
Thats not to say Hatton isnt skilled. But in real terms this is a fight for boxings soul. Pity the character of Floyd and all the ****e he has to spout to get people to want to pay to watch him lose is what dominates.
The art of boxing is not in getting ****** up in a lets see who can bash each others brains and ribs to a pulp. Thats easy. Stronger punch and stamina will win. The art of boxing is in hitting whilst the other guy misses, is in preserving your sanity whilst they lose their cool, is in outpointing the other guy, whether it be by ko or by decision, but certainly not by scrambling your own brain in the process.
British sports is close to nationalism. I guess its because the brits were an empire once and outside of those sporting moments its very difficult for Brits to assert themselves on the world stage these days. This Hatton vs Mayweather fight is being hyped up by the Brits as an us vs them thing. Well them is just Mayweather. Much of America wants to see him beaten too, but only because like Ali he has laid himself on the block of being the best and he certainly isnt your typical All American home body.
I want Mayweather to win because for all his brashness he represents a better future for boxing than the lights out posse that Hatton represents. There is room for every style in boxing but you want icons that other boxers can follow and Floyds professionalism is spot on.
Boxing itself needs to figure out that the main reason the sport is differentiated from UFC and wrestling and the other attempts to go back to roman gladiator days is that brute force is not the primary factor. Skill and intelligence and the preservation of the individual is primary.
Thats not to say Hatton isnt skilled. But in real terms this is a fight for boxings soul. Pity the character of Floyd and all the ****e he has to spout to get people to want to pay to watch him lose is what dominates.
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