By BFQ: It has been about 3000 years since the first organized pugilistic contest took place in the Greek Olympics but in almost three millennia it hasn’t been a sport. In its most rudimentary form which almost every individual understands is that this oft called “sport” is indeed a life and death event.
It is a gladiatorial event where one man goes against another with their lives on the line albeit with a finely tuned skillset and technicality. One of the misconceptions that I and many other prizefighters have to encounter on a day to day basis is the audacity by which people categorize this event as a sport.
Through this false categorization young and even seasoned professionals alike forget at times that this isn’t a lighthearted jest of a sport but indeed an unforgiving platform bathed in blood and sweat. Amir “King” Khan has been a recent victim of that loose mindset that led to his brutal KO in the 6th round against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A pure gladiator such as Gennady “GGG” Golovkin understands the severity of the word boxing and respects the unforgiving platform albeit dishing out punishment to those that make a less of it such as Kell “Special K” Brook whose orbital bone was crushed into fragments which could have caused an ocular defect due to an internal hemorrhage. Learning from mistakes of others is key in life and in a platform such as boxing, but this doesn’t come easy to even seasoned individuals such as Tony “Bomber” Bellew who is about to move to the heavyweight division to face David “Hayemaker” Haye whom he has called the “Bermondsey B***h” further aggravating the situation and one would think that Dereck “Delboy” Chisora ought to have been a cautionary tale but unfortunately that isn’t the case. As a fighter one learns not to fear ones opponent but we should truly ask ourselves regarding the true nature of boxing. In essence what every fighter must understand is that a step too far in boxing is a step closer to death or cerebral damage and even the late great Muhammad Ali wasn’t spared by the unforgiving platform that is Boxing.
It was a bleak morning about 2 years ago when I ran the Ben Franklin Bridge as usual to make it on time for training, and alongside me was my late paternal grandfather. I learned the noble art of pugilism from him and as a youth I learned to respect the severity of the sport through him. He once told me, “Boxing is not a sport, you don’t play boxing” and as a youth with pugilistic aspirations the aforementioned comment seemed unjustifiable and seemed to spoil the fun out of a sport that I very much enjoyed watching, after all boxing was one of the most popular sports in terms of attendance and revenue generation. Where else can two men generate half a billion dollars in about 36 minutes? Where else can two men fill up a stadium of 80,000? Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr. and Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao broke the bank so to speak during their pugilistic contest and Carl Froch – George Groves sold out the Wembley Stadium, but as I grew older I realized that sport was a much less forgiving word than boxing. As an athlete in a sport such as college basketball you have on average 30 games per season but as a professional boxer the average career only comes out at about 30 bouts. Every bout counts as one can only absorb so many punches, skill and will go mano a mano in boxing, and a loss can be career ending as it was for the young Nick Blackwell who was put in a coma from the Eubank Jr bout. At 20 years old I realize that I have a long way to go before I fulfill my aspirations and dreams, I like so many fighters that came before me have been through the pain that boxing has imparted upon me and yet I still dream but with an adequate understanding of the true nature of Boxing. I will fight on but to my fellow fighters both old and young I would like to request them to evaluate this so called “sport of boxing” with the severity that it deserves, to learn from the mistakes of others and to take precautions. In ending I wish firstly the family man and secondly the fighter Tony “Bomber” Bellew a safe night on March 4th, 2017…
To Be Continued in Part II of The Chronicles of Pugilism