By Chad Oliver: Equal parts artistic, scientific and brutal. It’s why we love professional boxing. Just think for a second. Floyd Mayweather Jr – Manny Pacquiao could be the biggest global human event in our cosmic history. Seriously, think about that. Two men. In a ring. Will command the attention of the world.
I’ve loved every second of this build up. And I will sit with my heart in hand on Saturday night, enjoying the spectacle. Two men. In a confined space. Fighting. For their survival and ultimately, my entertainment.
As much as I love boxing. And I do, believe me. I occasionally find myself sitting in the left-corner spot on my couch, sipping my 4th Corona (or Tecate depending on what network I’m watching), thinking about the glaring hypocrisy that I’m a part of. Not from the sport. From me. From you. From everyone who buys a ticket, a pay-per-view or cares about the outcome.
We (generally speaking) go out of our way to ostracize (and imprison) anyone involved in a cock-fight or a dog-fight. Yet somehow we’ve made peace with replacing them with humans. Sure, we add some intellect and call it a sweet science (which it is). But at its core, you have two creatures, owned (save for a few) by their promoters, bred and trained to fight, ushered into an arena, placed in a ring, while people stand around cheering and making bets on the winner.
I’m not justifying cock/dog-fighting (neither am I an animal activist, to be clear). Just asking that we consider for a split second that we might not be as evolved as we like to think. And that’s okay because Darwin’s whole point was that evolution is a process.
What’s ironic though, is that hypocrisy is what keeps boxing alive. As cultures evolve and we become more “decent,” it’s natural for us to want to eradicate evidence of our prior primitive existence. The minute we accept that boxing is human cock-fighting, is the minute boxing dies. But who’s complaining? Like Hymen Roth said, “this is the business we’ve chosen.” Long live hypocrisy. Long live boxing.
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