I spent some time today in the company of a man who sees his own life drawing to a close. He told me that "when [the reaper] taps my shoulder and says it's time to go, I'll say I'm packed, let's go...." We had some business to transact, but in the midst of that we talked about a lot of things and for a time, our talk turned to boxing. It turns out this man was a part of a 1951 Gold Glove winning Navy boxing team. He described his fighting days, talked whistfully of a pair of brothers one of whom trained the other and warned me and my infant son off of boxing because of the unbelievable headaches he'd experienced on Saturdays after Friday night fights at the armory. He showed me a team photo and a sturdy stoic 19 year old MP (whom he had to point out to me) gazing out from the group photo of boxers. That young stud was nearly unrecognizable to me in the now-infirm lifelong union pipefitter who stood before me. It caused me to contemplate time and age's merciless undressing of us all from the glory of our youth and to reflect a bit on how it waits for us all...if fate allows.
His eyes sparkled when he volunteered his take on the all time greats. He told me that Marciano would've licked Louis, even in his prime and that he would've outfought Ali. I wasn't prepared to dispute it, nor am I equipped. Instead, I listened. After all, I've watched the fighters on film, but comparing styles, power, toughness and talent across generations is a tricky business and though I do it for amusement, I never had the benefit of watching all three of these fighters as they plied their trade. He had. With all the intensity he could muster, he touched my arm and looked me squarely in the eyes and twice repeated, never looking away, "he was a brute...an absolute animal." He told me the story of a man he knew who'd claimed to have fought Marciano and knocked him down. This man, he told me, described this as the biggest mistake he could have made, as Marciano apparently rose to mercilessly pummel him for his trouble.
I wonder can film study or even prose adequately impart the flavor or gravity of the real life experience of having lived in a boxer's time or of having seen a boxer fight? Surely not, though we are left to it inevitably as time unmercifully robs us of everyone who was there to see it live. There will always be arguments about the greatest fighters and the greatest heavyweights and they're no more likely to be settled today than ever before, but I can vouch for the resolute intensity of the opinion held by one man who knows fighing and who saw them all fight. There's also only ever been one undisputed heavyweight champion who retired undefeated. Marciano.
His eyes sparkled when he volunteered his take on the all time greats. He told me that Marciano would've licked Louis, even in his prime and that he would've outfought Ali. I wasn't prepared to dispute it, nor am I equipped. Instead, I listened. After all, I've watched the fighters on film, but comparing styles, power, toughness and talent across generations is a tricky business and though I do it for amusement, I never had the benefit of watching all three of these fighters as they plied their trade. He had. With all the intensity he could muster, he touched my arm and looked me squarely in the eyes and twice repeated, never looking away, "he was a brute...an absolute animal." He told me the story of a man he knew who'd claimed to have fought Marciano and knocked him down. This man, he told me, described this as the biggest mistake he could have made, as Marciano apparently rose to mercilessly pummel him for his trouble.
I wonder can film study or even prose adequately impart the flavor or gravity of the real life experience of having lived in a boxer's time or of having seen a boxer fight? Surely not, though we are left to it inevitably as time unmercifully robs us of everyone who was there to see it live. There will always be arguments about the greatest fighters and the greatest heavyweights and they're no more likely to be settled today than ever before, but I can vouch for the resolute intensity of the opinion held by one man who knows fighing and who saw them all fight. There's also only ever been one undisputed heavyweight champion who retired undefeated. Marciano.
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