Boxing is one of those leftovers from a more primitive past that should be finished off and killed. I don't love it anymore. ---Pete Hamill, a New York journalist and author.
The other night on Jimmy Kimmel, he had as a guest professional boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who will be fighting against Connor McGregor of the UFC on August 26th. Mayweather was all smiles and only seemed to want to talk about all the money he was going to make from this upcoming bout...I'd be thinking about something else if I were him...
Mayweather is at his career peak and has succeeded in large part to his skill at avoiding being hit in the head...but on the other hand he has inflicted much damage to his opponents over his 49-0 professional span, included 26 knockouts. And knowing how much head blows contribute to the disease known as dementia pugilistica and seeing the tragedy of how Muhammad Ali's life was drastically impaired by his boxing-induced Parkinson's, I personally cannot fathom how anyone in this day and age could go out there with a clear conscience and cause brain damage in others over and over again...even if they were adroit at fending off their opponents' blows to their own heads...
Speaking of Ali, the last boxing match I followed was the October, 1980 event between him and Larry Holmes. Unknown to the viewing public, Ali was already beginning to suffer the cumulative effects of his bouts and had recently entered a Mayo clinic with results showing slurred speech and lack of coordination...foreshadowers of his Parkinson's ordeals. But the fight went on and Holmes pummeled Ali, with a TKO in the tenth round putting it to a much belated end. Before that I had watched a lot of boxing over the years...especially Ali's fights...but afterwards lost heart in this brutal and debilitating sport after realizing how it ultimately destroys the lives of so many of these great athletes. And quite frankly, I don't have much respect for the public followers of boxing either...and this includes the hybrid sport of UFC...their bloodlust to me rivals that of the ancient world's Roman Coliseum spectators of gladiator contests...
By all accounts, Floyd Mayweather is charming and likable and seemingly indestructible...but so was Muhammad Ali in his prime. I've never watched Connor McGregor fight nor heard him speak, but he's in the same boat as Mayweather. I read that McGregor stands to make $75 million off this upcoming fight and Mayweather a whopping $100 million. But what good is all that money if down the road your mind is mush and your life a greatly shortened one full of disability and heartbreak?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment