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I sort of started thinking about this a lot more when I considered the beef between Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins. I believe that it stems from the fact that the fight was a frustrating one for both guys, who weren't allowed to shine. It was ugly and it was close- but it wasn't exactly an edge of your seat kind of affair. I thought about that fight, and then about other feuds in boxing with similar settings. For instance: Bernard Hopkins losing to Roy sparked a decade long feud between the two. Probably the best example of this in boxing is from Leonard-Hagler. I guaruntee that in all of these circumstances, there wouldn't have been any feuding if the fights had featured the fighters digging deep and having to really brawl. When a guy brings something special out of you, it really has to be hard to resent him or even be bitter about the outcome. Joes Luis Castillo said it best about his first fight with Corrales: you're just happy to be apart of history.
If you ever noticed the fighters who once fought eachother and grow to have great friendships, its usually the case when there was a great, action packed fight between the two. It doesn't matter if it was close or not: it usually leads to them being respectful of one another and actually getting alone. Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn genuinely disliked eachother before they fought. But there was a noticeable measure of respect between the two after their fights, and today they are friends. Mickey Ward was in Arturo Gatti's corner for his last fight. The acceptions that I can find to this theory (where the hated eachother even MORE afterwards) is in the whole Morales-Barerra saga, Ali-Frazier (for their young lives), and Robinson-Lamotta (to some extent). I'm sure there are others, but more than not this proves true.
Thoughts? You guys agree that it takes a tough, brutal fight for two guys to truly like eachother?
If you ever noticed the fighters who once fought eachother and grow to have great friendships, its usually the case when there was a great, action packed fight between the two. It doesn't matter if it was close or not: it usually leads to them being respectful of one another and actually getting alone. Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn genuinely disliked eachother before they fought. But there was a noticeable measure of respect between the two after their fights, and today they are friends. Mickey Ward was in Arturo Gatti's corner for his last fight. The acceptions that I can find to this theory (where the hated eachother even MORE afterwards) is in the whole Morales-Barerra saga, Ali-Frazier (for their young lives), and Robinson-Lamotta (to some extent). I'm sure there are others, but more than not this proves true.
Thoughts? You guys agree that it takes a tough, brutal fight for two guys to truly like eachother?
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