Where’s the Respect?

By Nationvegas - 08/15/2013 - Comments

haye24By Rusty Nate: If your happy to read an article that is not related to the back and forth between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, the constant bad mouthing that seems to be building up between David Haye and Tyson Fury or the discussion of who is the next great heavyweight and who has he fought to prove himself, then please keep reading.

I am writing in defence of the noble art and those that take part, a lot of the time for very little reward but with the highest criticism. There are more and more fans these days that seem to treat the sport like a reason to talk trash (for lack of a harsher word) get aggressive and ultimately slag off each other and the fighters that we all love watching and discussing. The increase in social media and online forums have given us all a voice and the small minority that choose to use it seem to think the best way to do so is by abuse towards anyone and everyone.

20 years ago, or just over, a fight took place between two young warriors that shaped the way boxing is done today. Ray Mancini and Duk Koo Kim fought over 15 rounds for the Lightweight Title. The match ended in round 14 with Kim being knocked out by two right hands from Mancini. It didn’t look like a particularly harsh KO by comparison to some but the effects were massive. Kim slipped into a coma from his injuries and never recovered. Kim’s mother could not handle the loss of her 23 year old son and 4 months after the fight took her own life. The referee Richard Green took his own life just a couple of months after Kim’s mother. Mancini went through serious depression following this fight and as result fought very few times after that and with no where near the same level of aggression or passion.

The WBA, WBO and soon after the WBC and IBF changed their rules to restrict the world title contests to just 12 rounds and referee’s were under strict guidelines to be more aware of a fighters state within a contest and if under any doubt at all then to stop the contest.

Similar instances have occurred with Leavander Johnson, Pedro Alcazar, YO Sam Choi, more recently Michael Norgrove and the list goes on and on.

Gerald McClellan, Paul Ingle & Michael Watson all hurt permanently in the ring on live TV.

From reading the posts and in some cases articles about the likes of Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Mayweather, Cotto, Froch, Groves, Ward and so on, I just find myself getting more and more annoyed that people just don’t seem to show the respect for these guys that they deserve. This sport is full of fighters that risk their lives for a (often pathetic) pay check for our entertainment and all the minority of small minded fans can do in response to this is moan and b1tch.

My question I guess to sum this up is to all those fans out there reading this that have made comments and posts in an aggressive angry manner stating “he hasn’t proved himself yet”. Who the hell do you think you are to even think this let alone write it?

Every fighter from Joe Blog’s in the local small hall charity show right through to the hall of fame greatest fighters ever have ALL proved themselves the moment they stepped in the ring and risked their lives, and in some cases the lives of their family in order to earn money and entertain us!  Show them that respect or keep quiet completely.

Now you may all feel free to blast me for saying it out loud, I welcome all respectful comments! ;)



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