Preview:
Sadly, the once proud and noble sport of boxing, is swiftly becoming one of the ‘I remember..’ sports. In other words, ‘I remember when Ali was a glorious leading light’ or ‘I remember the drama and suspense before and often after Mike Tyson fights’. I remember my family bringing home a new puppy when I was young, and the obvious choice for his name was ‘Bruno’, it being the night of the Frank Bruno\Tyson fight and the crowd baying ‘Bruno, Bruno, Bruno!’.
I remember Tyson, Bruno, Evander Holyfield, George Foreman and heck, even Lennox Lewis had a certain ‘draw’ to him. The great heavyweight fights, the drama and the prestige. Being allowed stay up late to watch a big bout. People talking about it the next day in school, college and then work. Well, people are still talking about fights, however the water-cooler conversation is now invariably based around whatever controversy is drowning Boxing at the time.
The once great sport is absolutely reeling right now in the wake of the incredible scenes after the Pacquiao versus Bradley fight from the weekend just passed.
Essentially, every single person who watched, commentated on or wrote about the fight is saying, with authority, that Manny Pacquiao was the clear winner of the fight. Post-fight analysis of the statistics is also showing, again with authority, that Pacquiao was an overwhelming winner. The only dissenting voices around? Two of the three judges. Duane Ford and C.J. Ross both scored the fight in favour of the challenger, Timothy Bradley Jr, thus awarding him the welterweight title fight 2-1.
Read the rest in my column on Irish Central
Thanks!
Cormac
Comments