The Bull Fighters, Prize Fighters and Hypocrite Fans

By Boxing News - 10/05/2015 - Comments

By Gerardo Granados: When I was a kid an uncle of mine took me to my first Bull Fight ever and it was simply a great show to watch from beginning to end; you can feel the adrenaline when the “Banderilleros” get so close to the bull, if you understand what I am saying you will also be able to feel the art involved when the “Torero” gets close to the bull making a pass after another.

But do you need to have been a bull fighter to have an opinion on a Matador´s performance? Aren’t fans allowed to give their opinion in a sport or art even if they have never been masters of the craft?

When he was young a friend of mine was a professional Rodeo bull rider and also performed as clown at some events; he is the classic cowboy and of course he is fun to hang around. Once I asked him what it feels to ride on those big bulls and why did he do it, I can’t recall his precise answer but it must have been, why the hell not! I told him it requires courage to jump on an angry bull which balls are being squeezed; also to try to save a fallen bull rider aint something a coward will do.

Well prize fighting is pretty much the same for me and I do have a huge respect for all men and women who get into the ring. I am not a former prize fighter and I have just being a fight fan all my life; I confess that I´ve been involved in a couple of street brawls and I have taken and dished pain so a fight is something I do know firsthand just as the reader must have too.

It is possible that many readers don’t know the name of David Silveti “El Rey David” the late Silvetti was a famous and great bull fighter back in the late 70´s the 80´s and on the 90´s he no longer had the knees to do what he loved but he still had the courage to stand in front of the beast.

When I read comments I respect them all but it is quite weird to read some in which the so called boxing purist and hypocrite fight fans state that they believe boxers should look for their safety first and that after they retire we the fight fans won’t be there to support them.

As a fight fan I pay to watch a spectacle of violence which may involve the Boxing, MMA or Muay Thai technique on its participants. I don’t watch a fight to see solely the technique involved but instead to see two human beings hit each other into submission; and the most brutal and violent the bout is the most pleased that I will be. Am I wrong? Are readers who think like me wrong too? Or are boxing purist just a bunch of hypocrites?

If you care so much about prize fighters then you should simply don’t watch and don’t support Pro Boxing at all. For you it is ok to see them get hurt just up to certain level that might not be so dangerous for their health or life. You appreciate the technique over the brutal punching exchange but you are pleased to see how a brawler gets picked apart by a crafty boxer.

Prize fighting is brutal and dangerous, the consequences from its practice can’t be hidden under the rug and fighters are alone when they get into the ring and will be alone when they retire. But it’s their choice to become prize fighters.

It is a cognitive dissociation to support prize fighting but at the same time criticize fight fans that enjoy a cruel violent epic battle. How come you are so humane and claim to care about the ring warriors but don’t offer them an alternative job so they don’t have to risk their health and life? Why do you follow Pro Boxing at all? Don’t you know its goal is to make money while entertaining the audience?

48 years old David Silveti wasn´t poor or lived on the street when he died, he was rich and according to the news the reason he shot himself might have been because he lost a long battle to depression which worsened when he was forced to retire due his injured knees.

I admire and respect all men and women who have decided to become prizefighters. I also know the risks involved when they climb into the ring but I will never be so hypocrite to say that I genuinely care about them because if I truly did so, then I simply would not watch them fight at all.

Either you have the passion for it or not; do you have it inside you?



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