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Punching Out 1000
31-Dec-10 04:19
As part of the journey, there have been some terrific memories to recall.
In 2004, I went to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota as a guest of Jeff Fenech. My goal for the four-day weekend was to meet Marvelous Marvin Hagler. I got to speak to him within hours of arriving. On the way to the welcome dinner, I was on the VIP bus with Fenech & Hagler, seated in the back two rows with Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver and Cory Spinks. Tarver is yelling out, “The time of the south is at hand. Let the southpaws rule the world”.
The same night in 2004, I got to listen to Aaron “Hawk Time” Pryor and Alexis Arguello talk about their two classic battles. Priceless.
In February 2001, I went to see Sugar Shane Mosley train at Johnny Tocco’s Gym in Las Vegas. This was when Shane was in his absolute prime. I have never seen someone move and punch so fast. Mosley was there working out with his father Jack. There were only four or five people watching that day. SecondsOut’s Gregory Juckett was one of them. I felt privileged to be there.
Calling the Kostya Tszyu-Ricky Hatton fight live in Manchester in June 2005 for the international television feed at 2:00am local time. I will never forget that night. The crowd atmosphere and the fight itself were special.
Imagine this. I’m sitting at a restaurant on Bondi Beach in Sydney in 2007 and heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is trying to show me how to loop a proper Windsor knot on my tie.
My first trip to New York was for the Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad fight. I arrived Monday night September 10, 2001. You all know what happened the next day. I was running down 7th Avenue with the panicked crowd as the planes hit the World Trade Center, not knowing what was going on. The sort of tragic event you never ever forget.
Covering boxing for SecondsOut has been more than fun. A great privilege that will never be forgotten. Thank you to everyone who played a part in making the last eleven years so special. I especially mention Clive Bernath, Robert Waterman, Rish Wiliam and my colleagues at SecondsOut.com, plus the good many people of boxing both in front and behind the scenes who have helped me along the way.
Moving onto more recent matters, as the final minutes of the year tick away, it is always time for reflection on the past twelve months. Another stanza of boxing is now filed in history. The pages of SecondsOut filled with the triumphs of boxers from around the world. Boxing still rivalling football as a truly world sport. It continues to be an undervalued strength.
While American heavyweights have tanked, the U.S boxing scene is filled with an impressive multicultural mix of boxing world title-holders. While the hotbeds of boxing in the USA, UK, Europe and Mexico continue to thrive boxing beats in many smaller countries and nations.
Boxing is one of the few sports where you have to be perfect all of the time to stay at the very top. But that also means you have to face the very best to be worthy of the highest respect and adulation.
Obviously, Floyd Mayweather Jnr not facing Manny Pacquiao inside the ring in 2010 was disappointing. It is the most obvious big fight that has not yet been made. David Haye versus Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko being the other.
Hopefully the Pacquiao-Mayweather super fight can occur in 2011. But if it doesn’t, its not the end for boxing either. The sport has always survived and will continue to move forward.
To all of those readers who took time to send emails and feedback this year, whether it was positive or negative, thank you. The heart of boxing really is its’ loyal fans.
No doubt, the year 2011 will bring its own unique mix of highs, lows, astounding revelations, wacky incidents and controversy for boxing. You never know just what will happen and never take anything for granted.
Just when you think you have seen it all, boxing will leave veteran observers with stunned looks on their faces.
Boxing has failed to achieve on many occasions, but when everything comes together perfectly, it is always memorable. Only the greatest sports have the ability to consistently re-emerge on top after being the underdog.
New custodians of the sport, both inside and outside the ring will come to the fore in 2011 to carry boxing onwards. There is always room for change for the better.
Boxing is a great example of consistent lows and highs.
As The Greatest Muhammad Ali once observed, “There’s nothing wrong with getting knocked down, as long as you get right back up.”
Paul Upham
Content Editor, SecondsOut.com
uppy@optusnet.com.au
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