By Eugene Carnachan: The dictionary definition of hubris is; an excess of ambition, pride, etc., ultimately causing the transgressor’s ruin.
Roy Jones Junior, Evader Holyfield, James Toney are the obvious trio of faded fighters that have chosen to fight on well past the pinnacle of their careers.
Each man has been a multiple division champion and has a plethora of career defining wins on their resumes (in some cases against each other). An overview of what this troika of fighters have done is not necessary. They have basically done whatever can be done in a professional boxing career in ensconcing themselves as part of boxing folklore and all are shoe ins for Canastota.
What they haven’t done in their hall of fame careers is given up when they should have. Not unusual in a sport of EMA aka egos, millions, adulation however all three are now serious threats to themselves in continuing in a sport that has made them the men they are but are now making them men no man wants to be; whipping boys for lesser men.
To write that such men can be whipping boys for anyone given their pugilistic credentials can be seen as the height of disrespect however the fact remains is that all three men are now being bested by fighters who once upon a time did not have the credential to help them pull on their groin guards.
Hubris the meaning has two parts, the first being ‘an excess of ambition, pride, etc’ of which in and of itself can be the potential source that can drive men to try harder, dream bigger and achieve those dreams. That is the very nature of believing in oneself, even in excess.
To put it another way how many men have achieved Hall of Fame careers by being belief deficient?
In the sport of boxing if you are a success that hubris has plenty of people willing to stoke it, affirm it and support it because there is often a monetary slash status gain in doing so and the best example of that is all the sycophants that live of the back of the hubris of one Floyd Mayweather Junior and his uncle Roger.
Stoke the hubris fire and like anything it enflames even more and grows bigger.
The second part of the meaning of hubris ‘ultimately causing the transgressor’s ruin’ is the primary reason why fighters such as James Toney, Roy Jones Junior and Evander Holyfield keep fighting.
Hubris does not have an on and off valve and those that have relied on their hubris that once made them great fighters are driven to keep fighting by the same hubris that brings about ‘the transgressors ruin’. People who succeed by their hubris often fail because of their hubris.
Hubris is ultimately what fogs reality.
James Toney is probably the most pronounced case of the three, slurring speech, grandiose claims, unrealistic expectations of what he can still achieve in the game, unrealistic expectations of who he wants to fight in the game. Sadly both RJJ and Evander Holyfield are only a slick behind but luckily not showing the same cognitive wear as Toney and if they are looking for a reason to get out now both should sit down with their fellow legend for a 5 second conversation, if that doesn’t do it probably nothing will.
The issue of fighters fighting on past their best raises the question of should there be a battery of cognitive tests for fighters once they hit 35 years of age and every year thereafter in assuring their cognition and faculties are in sound order to keep fighting. If they fail they are de-licensed because if these decisions are left in the hands of hubris….well take a look at James Toney, RJJ and Evander Holyfields next fights.
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