How can such a beautiful sport be so heartbreaking?

[El Dominicano]

I feel sad knowing that B-Hop's career is almsot over and I've started watching him fight since the Tito fight. I'm sick of hearing Mayweather is coming back...then he says he isn't and I don't know what to ***in believe. I'm sick of Guzman fightin once a year...boxing hasn't been good to me and today topped it off with that horrible decision...It can be a very heartbreaking sport

I just wish boxing would get better

[El Dominicano]

Some fighters even in retirement carry a lot of weight in boxing and sometimes they can make somthing very special when bridging the gap between the new and old. So it's not always heartbreaking to see them and a lot of times it's actually really touching. Here is an example and yes some ofit is in spanish but keep watching.

That ws a nice sight...The respect they gave eachother.

[Reggie Miller]

they need to get rid of the heavyweight division, full of lards with no talent! :thumbup:

*waits patiently for the gaymakers/wlad fan boys *

[lefthook2daliva]

Honestly. I consider this sport to be the most beautiful sport in the world. One on one, man to man, no excuses. The difference in winning and losing sometimes by a single point, the desire of your opponet, or shady judging officials who hold your livelihood in their hands.

I think Diego Corrales sumed it up best when he said "One on one, it can be beautiful.". At it's highest level, boxing is poetry in motion. A blistering, fast-paced war of skill and will.

As a fan, I sit here and watch these guys do what they do in amazement at the level of their craft, and the size of their hearts. It takes a special breed of man to climb into a ring with a man who wants nothing more than to take him out and end the night early.

Watching an epic fight from start to finish is something like being able to watch Rembrandt paint, or watching Scorsese direct. It's absolutely beautiful to me and I never tire of it.

But on the flipside of the coin, it's also the most heartbreaking sport in my opinion. As fans, we watch these guys go toe-to-toe in brutal bouts that would kill lesser men. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. And there's always another prospect on the horizon to look out for.

We watch them build their careers from the ground up with their fists, like watching a construction crew erect a skysc****r. The guys we like, we support. The ones we don't care for, we pick apart. All the while we have no idea the amount of pressure these guys feel from people like us, or the amount of pain they are in when they're in the ring.

There comes a point in every fighter's career when the foundation collapses, the the skysc****r falls. And we look over it, discuss it, analyze and debate it, and rank the fighter in terms of skill and accomplishment. Then we set our sights on the next one, and the one after that.

Who really cares about these guys when they're no longer competitive? When nobody will pay to see them fight. When they're at home on the couch watching tapes of themselves back in their prime wishing they could go back? When the arenas have long since emptied, and their name only rings a bell in the halls of one's memory? How must they feel at such a moment?

I know I've touched on a lot of different subjects. Feel free to comment on any, or all. Or you can just say I'm gay for thinking about it in such a way. But I was watching some old fights on youtube of guys who are long since gone and it really got me thinking about it.

Very well said. How can it be both? It just is.

[pistol whip]

That ws a nice sight...The respect they gave eachother.

Yeah it really brought my childhood and adulthood love for boxing together.

[ßringer]

Some fighters even in retirement carry a lot of weight in boxing and sometimes they can make somthing very special when bridging the gap between the new and old. So it's not always heartbreaking to see them and a lot of times it's actually really touching. Here is an example and yes some ofit is in spanish but keep watching.

That video is a perfect example of both aspects of the sport. You could generally see how happy Margarito was to have Julio there by his side, his face was lit up with excitement and he was highly ecstatic.

Nowhere to be seen was Cotto. Left bloody and battered infront of his family after he gave it his all.

And for the record guys, this isn't about Holyfield's robbery. That's not the kind of heartbreak I'm talking about here, so please, stop bringing him (and the Heavyweights) up.

[BKM-]

Honestly. I consider this sport to be the most beautiful sport in the world. One on one, man to man, no excuses. The difference in winning and losing sometimes by a single point, the desire of your opponet, or shady judging officials who hold your livelihood in their hands.

I think Diego Corrales sumed it up best when he said "One on one, it can be beautiful.". At it's highest level, boxing is poetry in motion. A blistering, fast-paced war of skill and will.

As a fan, I sit here and watch these guys do what they do in amazement at the level of their craft, and the size of their hearts. It takes a special breed of man to climb into a ring with a man who wants nothing more than to take him out and end the night early.

Watching an epic fight from start to finish is something like being able to watch Rembrandt paint, or watching Scorsese direct. It's absolutely beautiful to me and I never tire of it.

But on the flipside of the coin, it's also the most heartbreaking sport in my opinion. As fans, we watch these guys go toe-to-toe in brutal bouts that would kill lesser men. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. And there's always another prospect on the horizon to look out for.

We watch them build their careers from the ground up with their fists, like watching a construction crew erect a skysc****r. The guys we like, we support. The ones we don't care for, we pick apart. All the while we have no idea the amount of pressure these guys feel from people like us, or the amount of pain they are in when they're in the ring.

There comes a point in every fighter's career when the foundation collapses, the the skysc****r falls. And we look over it, discuss it, analyze and debate it, and rank the fighter in terms of skill and accomplishment. Then we set our sights on the next one, and the one after that.

Who really cares about these guys when they're no longer competitive? When nobody will pay to see them fight. When they're at home on the couch watching tapes of themselves back in their prime wishing they could go back? When the arenas have long since emptied, and their name only rings a bell in the halls of one's memory? How must they feel at such a moment?

I know I've touched on a lot of different subjects. Feel free to comment on any, or all. Or you can just say I'm gay for thinking about it in such a way. But I was watching some old fights on youtube of guys who are long since gone and it really got me thinking about it.

You define it very well bro, and I know exactly what you're talking about. Needless to say, I always feel that passion at those moments when a fighter is about to take a ringwalk, or waiting in anticipation through the national anthem, or when finally after all the waiting the 2 fighters touch gloves and get it on with no further adue.

[ßringer]

I don't know, I was just watching some old fights on youtube. From some guys who are still around, but not talked about much anymore. I won't name names, because I'd like the reader to be able to use the opportunity to think of a guy they don't se much of anymore.

It just got me thinking how lonely it must be for them when it's all gone. it's different if you're Oscar De La Hoya and you have a bank account that big, but what about the old timers who didn't get that money? Or the guys who were good, but never great enough to be legends?

Or the people like Meldrick Taylor who literally had their brains beaten out infront of millions of people and were never the same afterwards.

And then you see videos like that Margarito one and it brings a smile to your face.

It's a strange sport, isn't it?

Why do they do it? It must be love of the game.

[Chunk..]

I cried when Tarver knocked out Roy, i really did.

I didn't think boxing had that deep affect on me until that happened. You knew that was the time for Roy to retire but along came the likes of Johnson and Calzaghe to rub salt into the wounds.

You don't get that kind of fall from grace in any other sport.

[pistol whip]

That video is a perfect example of both aspects of the sport. You could generally see how happy Margarito was to have Julio there by his side, his face was lit up with excitement and he was highly ecstatic.

Nowhere to be seen was Cotto. Left bloody and battered infront of his family after he gave it his all.

And for the record guys, this isn't about Holyfield's robbery. That's not the kind of heartbreak I'm talking about here, so please, stop bringing him (and the Heavyweights) up.

What I really like is that even though he's retired he still cheered like a fan when he saw Margarito win. It made me feel like if Chavez get's so excited over a fighter maybe being a boxing fan isn't as unpopular as the media would have most people believe. It really made me proud to be a boxing fan when that man is still so passionate about the sport.