By Bill Gabay: For most people around the globe, sports at the end of the day, is but a pastime. But one of the things we love about sports is when athletes share their opinion, admiration or criticism about their peers and other athletes. Thus when Kobe Bryant talks about Michael Jordan or Allen Iverson and vice-versa, or Jon “Bones” Jones on Anderson Silva, or Peyton Manning on Tom Brady, we listen intently and absorb.
In the Boxing world, we get great pleasure hearing legends and current fighters alike talk about the other people in the sport, and not necessarily just those in their own weight class. This enjoyment comes from the realization that these boxers are part of the industry and do not look at a fellow boxer’s skills from the perspective of the avid fan but from that of another athlete who trains (or used to train) on the Sweet Science.
“Conversations” and interviews with Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr., Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns, Mike Tyson, Ricky Hatton… what they have to say makes upcoming fights even more exciting and, let’s admit it, helps market the sports event. It also provokes thought: Do I agree with Iron Mike? Isn’t Oscar biased when he says that? Doesn’t Sugar Shane think of himself too much if he thought that things might have gone differently with Floyd and later Manny if he was not injured at that time? Then call himself a humble person?
It is great to hear someone from within talk about match-ups, other fighters’ skills and prowess, and what happened in this fight and that fight. These help create the hype that we all tend to fall for.
Having said all that, Manny Pacquiao will be fighting Floyd Mayweather in about a month in what is deemed The Fight of the Century. Here are a few of what other current boxers and trainers have had to say about the Pacman:
“…Pacquiao left-hand is like a bullet, very powerful and very fast.” – Juan Manuel Marquez said via thesweetscience.com.
“When I fought Manny Pacquiao, I thought I was fighting an octopus that day.” – Brandon Rios told esnewsreporting.com.
To Chris Algieri before Algieri fought Pacquiao: “… you will know what fast is on November 22nd…” – Timothy Bradley.
“Pacquiao is just a different kind of fighter because of the way he fights. He has that in-and-out movement, jumping from one side to another and throwing punches from all angles.” – Robert Garcia said via ringtv.com.
Comments are closed.