How Many people on this board actually BOX ?

[Peterp]

Just wondering how many members here are armchair fans (nothing wrong with that, there are many sports i watch from the sideline and never actually do) and how many actually box whether to actually fight or just for the training ?

I ask because of all the PBF hate.

As a boxing fan, sure he can be a ****, you can certaintly take him or leave him.

BUT AS A BOXER, i love watching ever second of him in the ring to learn from his technical adaptability and pure structure. Which boxer can't learn something from his different types of defence ? etc

[BrooklynBomber]

I have boxed for about 4-5 years, but not anymore.

[Bucktown Beast]

Been boxing for almost 5 years. Fought in the Golden Gloves and other tournaments in New York.

[American_Ninja]

I have boxed for about 4-5 years, but not anymore.

Theres actually quite a few ex fighters on here. Iceman John Scully, Rockin 1, and a handful of amateurs.

[Welter_Skelter]

Umm unless you count "Ice Boxing" I played Hockey.. and as long as we the FANS ultimately pay Floyds salary.. Its our right to critique him.. I dont think ANYONE alive questions his ability.. JUST his heart...

[kayjay]

I shadowbox quite often.

[cyberthugpatrol]

.. and as long as we the FANS ultimately pay Floyds salary.. Its our right to critique him.. I dont think ANYONE alive questions his ability.. JUST his heart...

well said.

also, he is not the only talented, skilled figher today. if you want to learn from a skillful boxer, pull out some Ricardo "Finito" Lopez tapes or HUmberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez

I am a third generation boxer, and my son boxes now

[Dye]

boxing since i was 12

[adamk1304]

I've been boxing for a few years now, never been too serious about it though. I've had one amateur bout which i won, but i don't know if i realy want nother fight, too occupied with college.

[K-DOGG]

I grew up in a small, rural community in Tennessee that didn't have any boxing facilites; no gym, no trainer, etc. When I was 4 or 5, I remember being introduced to Muhammad Ali via television; he was everywhere it seemed, telling me to brush my teeth, obey my mom and dad, stay in school, and stay away from dope, whatever that was. I can still remember watching him lose the title to Leon Spinks and asking my Dad why he doesn't just knock him out? Ali was invincible to me, you see. My dad shook his head and said, "Old Ali underestimated him."

From these early days in my childhood and exposure to Ali, my love for the sport of boxing was born. In my teen years, my mom found some boxing gloves at a yard sale and got them for me. It wasn't too long before I'd talked all the kids in the neighborhood, or at least many of them, into weekly "matches" of sorts. We had no headgear, no gumshield....and no freakin' idea what we were doing. I watched every single fight I could and with the advent of VCR's, or at least our purchase of one, began taping fight after fight, even if I'd never heard of the guys, just so I could watch and rewatch the tape and try to pick up on how they moved, when they threw punches, etc., etc.

What does all this mean? Does it mean I consider myself an ex- boxer? No. It means I had a love of the game which remains within me to this day. I see boxing for the ugly politcally controlled entity it is, the business it is, the wonderful artistry that is performed on occasion, the sheer unadulterated brutality that it can embody, and I see it on many more symbolic levels as how it is representative of man's struggle and plight in life, itself. Boxing, to me, is a microcosm of the trials and tribulations we all face each and every day and how, if we are to overcome them, we must dig down into our very essences and fight our way out of it.....get our second wind.....roll with the punches....and every other cliche' you could possibly imagine.

One does not need to be or have been a boxer or practice boxing to appreciate this wonderfully naked sport and to express one's views on it or understand what it takes to be a fighter. It is true that it helps because it give incredible insight; but that insight can be gained by talking with any fighter who loves his craft. It takes a special kind of person to be a fighter; but one doesn't have to be actively engaged in the sport to be emotionally connected to it.

Boxing is artistic, scientific, and primal at the same time. There is no purer form of competition and it's sheer naked brutality turns off only those who are afraid to see the "primtive" within.....or, maybe I'm full of it.