From: sxl@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Simon Lau)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.misc
Subject: Re: Boxing: Heavyweight division, random comments
Date: 15 Oct 92 13:03:32 GMT
Expires: Sat, 24 Oct 1992 23:00:00 GMT
Reply-To: sxl@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Simon Lau)
Followup-To: rec.sport.misc
Distribution: rec
Organization: Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh U

In article <SINGH.92Oct13151305@julius.cs.uiuc.edu> singh@julius.cs.uiuc.edu (Rajendra Singh) writes:
>The HWs still seem to have interesting possibilities.  The current
>Final Four tourny thing is great.  I think there are several
>problems which hopefully will be overcome.  So I'll ramble
>a bit about some of em.
>
>1. The spectre of Tyson.  He has the legend but is in jail.  He
>	is neither still involved, nor is he gone.  He is in
>	this limbo state and people will say he would crush
>	whoever it is that is champion.  When he gets out in
>	a few years, people will say what if he hadn't wasted
>	his best years and lost his talent.
>

This kinda reminds me of what happened to Ali. Before 
spending time in jail, he was just approaching the peak
of his powers which were quite considerable even then.

They say that the pre-jail Ali was as close to perfection as 
you could get. Like a heavyweight Sugar Ray Robinson but only faster!

Even Tyson's former trainers/entourage (Kevin Rooney, Jim Jacobs) agree that
not even Tyson at his peak would have touched this (1967 ?) Ali.
Consequently, Ali spent his best years in jail; and when he came
out he was a different fighter. His speed and reflexes weren't the same
but he developed other attributes to offset these losses.

In short his determination and durability became greatly magnified.
He also relied more on his brains.
Ali himself (in later years) said that he would've hated to have had 
to fight the pre-jail Ali.

People usually remember Ali for his great fights after coming out of prison
but the truth was that he had left his best fighting years inside [prison].
It makes ya think what a peak Ali would've been like, especially considering 
what he achieved once he got out. 

Of course, people have said that Tyson was in decline even before
being thrown in the slammer so maybe we've already seen the best of Tyson.


>2. Fear of losing.  The top fighters don't want to fight any
>	contendors for fear of losing.  Other divisions seem
>	to have more big matches, with losses not being
>	percieved as much career threatening.
>

>3. Pay-Per-View.  PPV has brought big money to boxing, but I
>	wonder if it's good.  The big fights are expensive
>	and there is the previously mentioned lack of second
>	tier fights.  Exposure for new fans has diminished.
>	Then again, there's the HBO and showtime fights, but
>	that's still cable.

At least you have that OPTION; seriously though, you're correct
about lack of exposure for lesser known fighters, who get regulated
to the sidelines, and so get less (or nothing ) of the pie so to speak.

>4. Don King.  Scum, giving the sport more bad press.  The idea
               ^^^^
>	of owning fighters and all that is a part of the
>	sport and a very bad part I think.
>

Here, this might cheer you up :
I read in the new Ali biography that King once got the shit kicked out
of him in a hotel room because he managed to somehow offend the 
Muslim brothers who were part of Ali's entourage.
An accomplice of king's got off the hook by claiming he had a bad 
heart/stomach. No such luck for King unfortunately.  

Apparently King didn't get along with Angelo Dundee (Ali's trainer),
and made various disparaging racial remarks (sounds SO unlike King don't 
it ? :-)) about Dundee to hopefully get rid of him. 

Ali got fed up with this and gave King a right ticking off.
Way to go Ali ! 

Cliche time : The only colour King likes is green.

>There seem to be some interesting HW fighters out there, hopefully
>they'll actually fight each other once in a while.  The other
                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sure they will, if the money's right.

>divisions may overtake the HWs, which may be a good thing.  Has
>it already happened?
>
>Comments highly encouraged.
>
>peace,
> -raj
>--
>			  __ \_;
>****- OM -****		 (  \
>Rajendra Singh		    |
>singh@cs.uiuc.edu	   /__/--\
>			   \   @_/
>			    |
>			^.  /
>			 `==


Simon.
Newsgroups: rec.sport.misc