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by David P. Greisman - Boxers, for all their willingness to have their features become mashed and their innards become mush, do not quite share the same mentality as those who partake in the most extreme of sports.
Challenge is good. Success is best. But rare is the fighter who is taken to the brink, survives by the skin of his teeth, and then promptly returns for more of the same.
Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward fought each other three times in 385 days. Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez fought each other three times in 364 days. For each, however, there was no better option, no other match immediately available that would reward them more.
Chad Dawson first met Glen Johnson more than a year-and-a-half ago, defending his light-heavyweight title with a unanimous 12-round decision on April 12, 2008.
It was a close fight, the kind of fight where the final score, 116-112 on all three judges’ cards, appears to reveal a wide margin, eight rounds to four, but fails to disclose the competitiveness of the action, fails to give due credit to the loser.
Dawson, in the moments immediately following his victory, felt himself the clear winner.
“I’m looking forward,” Dawson said in a post-fight interview. “I’m looking to fight the best. Glen Johnson was one of the best. Time to move on.”
The best, at the time, would have been whomever came out on top in a bout taking place a week later between Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe. [details]
Challenge is good. Success is best. But rare is the fighter who is taken to the brink, survives by the skin of his teeth, and then promptly returns for more of the same.
Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward fought each other three times in 385 days. Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez fought each other three times in 364 days. For each, however, there was no better option, no other match immediately available that would reward them more.
Chad Dawson first met Glen Johnson more than a year-and-a-half ago, defending his light-heavyweight title with a unanimous 12-round decision on April 12, 2008.
It was a close fight, the kind of fight where the final score, 116-112 on all three judges’ cards, appears to reveal a wide margin, eight rounds to four, but fails to disclose the competitiveness of the action, fails to give due credit to the loser.
Dawson, in the moments immediately following his victory, felt himself the clear winner.
“I’m looking forward,” Dawson said in a post-fight interview. “I’m looking to fight the best. Glen Johnson was one of the best. Time to move on.”
The best, at the time, would have been whomever came out on top in a bout taking place a week later between Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe. [details]
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