By Jamie Eskdale: To have heart in the boxing context defines one’s ability to take punches, react positively in the face of adversity, take a victory from the jaws of defeat, to ‘suck it up’, being able to take a degree of punishment and come back. To posses courage, intensity, will and desire.
To question a fighters’ heart is almost like questioning his manhood. I think I would be correct in saying most fighter would rather get knocked out than be regarded as a quitter.where giving in or quitting is seen as an easy way out. The very minimum the fans expect from a boxer is heart.
There are plenty of examples past and present of fighters who have been accused of lacking heart. Kermit Cintron, Audley Harrison, Zab Judah, Devon Alexander, and Jose Gonzales.
We’ve seen two examples recently of heavyweights showing a seeming lack of heart. First there was Brit David Price. In his second fight against American Tony Thomson Price threw everything he had at the veteran in rounds 2 and 3. Thomson kept coming and Price seemed to wilt before our eyes eventually turning away from the action in the fifth as if to say no more.
Then there was Malik Scott. In a fight he seemed to be in control of suddenly Chisora started landing some big body shots on Scott putting him down with a chopping right hand to the head. Forget the controversy of the count. It looked clear ( at least to me) that with Scott’s demeanor and body language, the way he didn’t protest and his post fight interview that he just didn’t fancy it anymore.
I could go on but I think you get it. But the guy who has probably been branded by the lack of heart tag the most is ‘vicious’ Victor Ortiz.
Ortiz with his power and skillset coupled with the story of his tough upbringing is an absolute promoters’ dream. Added to the fact that he’s always well mannered and always smiling during interviews and always appears open to question this guy should be huge.
Let’s rewind to June 2009. Ortiz was receiving an almighty push by Golden Boy promotions and he looked destined for the big time. He was to fight Argentinian banger Marcos Maidana. The fight was thrilling from start to finish with both fighters scoring knockdowns over the course of 6 rounds.
After going down in the 6th Ortiz chose not to continue saying and I quote ‘I don’t deserve to get hit like this’. Quite a bizarre statement considering he’s a boxer. 3 years later he fought Jośesito López. This was supposed to be more like a tune up fight for Ortiz’s proposed bought with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. At the start of the tenth Ortiz quit due to a broken jaw.
Ortiz was absolutely slaughtered for this. Fans were up in arms because he quit again. Put into perspective there is no real shame in quitting a boxing match because of a broken jaw but because of Ortiz quitting against Marcos Maidana it was intensified. Ortiz is seen by many as a quitter, when the going gets tough seemingly he’s out of there.
Also if you factor in his head butt of Floyd Mayweather where a Lot of people thought he threw it because he was frustrated and wanted out it is hard to build a case for his defense.
Like I said earlier he does seem like a genuine nice guy and coupled with his background people do want to like him but quitting a fight just isn’t seen as being acceptable.
At the other end of the spectrum over the years we have seen an abundance of fighters with heart, determination, will and sheer grit when the going gets tough Joe Frazier, ‘sugar’ Ray Leonard, Evander Holyfield, Muhammad Ali and more recently Nigel Benn, Arturo Gatti, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton and possibly the guy who’s Heart and will drive him to levels above where his talent and skill should take him Carl ‘the Cobra’ Froch.
Everyone knows what Froch is about. To trade with him and get the better of him doesn’t seem to make a difference. He just keeps coming. Froch has the heart of a lion, is a true warrior, he has a granite chin and never knows when he’s beat. Take the Jermaine Taylor fight. Taylor was cruising to a UD in the 12th. All he had to do was see out the last few seconds and the belt was his. Froch absolutely put it on him scoring the TKO keeping his title in stunning fashion.
In his fight before that Froch won the vacant WBC super middleweight title against Jean Pascal in an absolute tear up. The 2 men traded blows for most of the fight with Froch desire and Granite chin winning the day.
In his 2 wars with Mikkel Kessler we’ve seen him win and lose. The first one was a war of epic proportions that Kessler rightfully won. In the rematch Froch would win in an equally intense fight.
His only other defeat was against Andre Ward where Froch’s deficiencies were there for all to see. He seemed confused at times and unable to change the game plan to counter Ward’s style. They say that’s what separates the great from good, the ability to change your game to suit different styles so it would seem in the skills department Froch falls a little short.
Boxing is a brutal sport where guys are literally risking their lives in the name of entertainment. To step between the ropes is an indictment of guts and heart in the first place and I would never dare try and belittle anybody who steps foot in a ring to fight. Also the training and dedication that has to be put in for a fight is incredible.
I have used certain fighters as examples just to show what the perception is. The point of the article has been to see what’s more important, skills or heart. Obviously a good blend of both would be the best combination and there have been plenty who have shown both. Floyd Mayweather Jnr. I’ll agree that he hasn’t had many moments where he’s had to show it. Granting Castillo an immediate rematch was one such time, the 2nd round against Mosely and perhaps the Cotto fight.
Other fighters to show both have been Manny Pacquaio, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, ‘sugar’ Ray Leonard, the aforementioned Mosely. There are loads more I can think of and I’m sure you can too.
I’ll finish by quoting the great Muhammad Ali: ‘A true champion has talent but the will must be greater than the skill’.
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