COTM: Boxing, the life less ordinary

December 10th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

I fall woefully short of the qualifications necessary for a boxing enthusiast, but will always tune in for the big bouts — namely because someone I know has ordered them on PPV. In the bumper time between the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight and Hatton-Mayweather on Saturday night, I didn’t consume any media on the fight, (except for a bit of 24/7) talk with anyone about it or really realize it was going down till the day of.

But there I was Saturday night in a room full of people, hanging on every jab, every body blow, every ring of the bell. There’s just something so incredibly mesmerizing about boxing the sport. It’s the overt physical nature of it all, because honestly, how crazy do you have to be to be a boxer? You have essentially signed a contract that states: I agree to let my opponent try and punch the crap out of my face for an entire match. (Those slow-mo replays of the biggest hits from each round are amazing.)

But there’s also this sort of romanticism to it all that journalists and writers have seemed consumed with for years, finding the poetry and beauty in two finely-tuned foes duking it out. It’s man vs. man in a ring for all the glory. A boxing champ is a king; he’s a local hero; he’s an inspirer to the kids coming up in the training facilities.

Anyways, as for the fight itself? Yeah, that Mayweather dude is pretty good.