Part I
1. It’s a year-round sport. No need to have pre-season boxing.
2. No bats, balls, rackets, or teammates. A boxer has no one to fault and nothing to blame but themselves for the outcome of their fight. In boxing, it can’t be said that it was the bat, stick, or racket breaking that caused it’s participant to lose their game. Nor can a teammate dropping the ball or missing a free-throw lose a game for handfuls of others. It’s all on the boxer, win, lose, or draw.
3. Manny Pacquiao. (Note the period)
4. Without boxing, we wouldn’t have Nintendo’s Mike Tyson’s Punchout with Glass Joe, Bald Bull, Pizza Pasta, and Mr. Sandman.
5. Corrales-Castillo I.
6. Best chances in virtually all of sports to go from rags to riches.
7. Knockouts.
8. Haglar-Hearns.
9. Watching old Mike Tyson fights never get old.
10. There’s nothing like having a highly anticipated PPV party with all your friends crowded around the TV hoping that your fighter wins.
11. Grudge matches where the fighters have a sincere hatred for each other.
12. Going to a fight live is one of the best father-son bonding experiences.
13. Getting the new issue of The Ring Magazine in your mail.
14. Jim Lampley calling the fight. Especially when he said, "And down goes Tyson." I remember my head literally hit the ceiling when that happened.
15. Fighters are by far the most fan-friendly athletes in all of sports. Getting a picture with them or their autograph is a cakewalk.
16. LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEE!!!!
17. Is Floyd Mayweather ever going to lose??? There’s only one way to find out.
18. NBA, NFL, NHL, and MBL don’t have their games broadcasted from the Playboy Mansion a couple times each year.
19. Hearing Harold Lederman go up a few octaves and decibels when saying, “Jim.”
20. Raging Bull
21. Rocky I, II, III, IV….ok…and VI, but not V.
22. Edwin Valero and his 100% knockout to victory ratio.
23. Will Holyfield actually win his 5th World Title?….I think so.
24. Sugar Ray Robinson.
25. Potential blockbusters like Hatton-Mayweather, De La Hoya-Hatton, Cotto-Mayweather, and Pacquiao-JM Marquez II.
26. Fights where each fighter gets knocked down…in the same round.
27. What would happen if Valero and Pacquiao got in the ring together???
28. Class acts who are as much gentlemen out of the ring as they are warriors inside of it, like Carlos Hernandez, Jesus Chavez, Juan Diaz, Julio Diaz, and Marco Antonio Barrera.
29. Internet boxing sites.
30. Don King. Love him or love to hate him, he is a fixture in the sport that has transcended the sport, and gets people talking. Plus, how else would a convicted felon ever meet the Pope?
31. The Gatti-Ward Trilogy.
32. How will it end for Tyson? Will he go the way of George Foreman or of Sonny Liston? I hope it’s the former rather than the latter.
33. Heavyweight have had their time, the lighter weights are a blast to watch.
34. One day you can tell your grandkids how you saw the Morales-Barrera trilogy, the Pacquiao Morales triology, and the Holyfield-Bowe trilogy.
35. Double knockdowns. They’re super rare, but when you see them, you’re seeing something special.
36. Muhammad Ali.
37. Boxers have NEVER gone on strike.
38. No other sport has scantily-clad females coming onto the field/court to show that the 2nd quarter/period/half is coming up.
39. No longer hearing Nicoli Valuev in the same sentence with Rocky Marciano.
40. Everlast. I bought their stock at $21 per share…it’s now trading in the mid-30’s.
41. One day, we will have a universally recognized undisputed heavyweight champion, and you will have seen it happen from the beginning.
42. James Toney’s mouth.
43. The knockout Sam Peter delivered to Jeremy Williams.
44. No time-outs. Don’t you hate it when the last two minutes of a football/basketball games lasts 20 because everyone is calling time-outs.
45. Only your fists can protect you.
46. Who would win between Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler? I hope Kessler.
47. You can see people you love to hate get knocked out.
48. A boring boxing match will last less than an hour. Any other sport you have to suffer through 2-3 hours before it’s over.
49. You can watch five fights on a single fight card. In baseball, football, and hockey there is one game per sitting.
50. Steroid use is actually tested for and penalties are actually enforced.
51. The best underdog stories in all of sports.
Check out Part II, #52-101 tomorrow!!!
M
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