As a fan of boxing it is hard not to compare your life and the events of your life to some of your favorite fights. Life is a journey of ups and downs just like many of the fights we have watched over the years. When we watch a fight we break it down based on a number of factors; skills, height, reach, weight, experience and other variables that can present an advantage. From years of watching boxing, we can all agree that anything can happen in a fight. Just like in life anything can happen and that’s why we watch the fights and that’s why we live our lives despite what the odds are. Boxing is a true metaphor of life when you dig deeper into the aspect of it and compare it with our own lives. Let’s take a look at a few fights and see how they could possibly compare to some of our greatest achievements or possibly our deepest failures.
Douglas KO10 Tyson: This is by far the biggest upset in boxing history. Mike Tyson, at this point in his career, was considered the baddest man on the planet. Many were looking at him as possibly the greatest fighter of all time and never thought he could lose. However the issue was Tyson also believed this hype as well. He did not properly train for this fight and his mind was not focused on the fight. Buster Douglas was focused and Tyson was not. Douglas put a beating on Tyson and unleased a combination heard around the world knocking Tyson out in the 10th round. What a humbling and embarrassing experience for a champion to lose his title to a man that most never thought deserved to be in the same ring with him. Have you ever had an experience in your life where you were so overconfident that you thought you could not make a mistake? Have you ever had a humbling experience losing something you felt was yours and thought no one could take? Maybe you had a triumphant victory no one ever thought you were possible of accomplishing like Douglas?
Corrales TKO10 Castillo: When Diego “Chico” Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo agreed to fight every true boxing fan knew this was going to be a war…and they delivered. After nine complete rounds of delivering heavy relentless blows to each other the fight was virtually dead even in every way. In the beginning of round ten Diego Corrales with both eyes nearly shut was dropped hard by Castillo. Corrales could barely see the punches and most fans felt the end was near. Corrales rose to his feet still dazed only to be dropped again. Castillo appeared to be on his way to a TKO victory over Corrales. After an extra couple seconds break from dropping his mouthpiece Corrales was determined to go out fighting. Somehow Corrales got in on Castillo and landed a left hand on Castillo and got him against the ropes. Corrales let his hands go like his life depended on that moment and left Castillo momentarily helpless on the ropes forcing the referee to jump in and stop the fight. Have you ever had a time in your life where everything in your life appeared to be on even terms and then it seemed like you were about to lose it all? You had no choice but to dig deep into your heart and give it your all. Someway somehow by just a little more effort you did just enough to get a victory. Have you ever had an experience that compares?
Park Si-Hun Defeats Roy Jones Jr.: Some of you may not even remember this but this is considered to be one of the greatest Olympic rip offs ever. Roy Jones Jr. had absolutely dominated the boxing games of The 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul Korea. There was absolutely no one on his level in his weight class where Roy Jones Jr. was dominating the Gold medal fight against Park Si-Hun of Korea cleanly and clearly outlanding Si-Hun 86 to 32 throughout the fight. However, due to behind the scenes politics and scandal Roy Jones Jr. was cheated out of the Gold medal he righteously deserved. No one thought Roy Jones Jr. lost that fight. A defining moment Jones Jr. had trained his whole life for was taken from him for reasons totally unfair to him. Jones Jr. used that injustice as fuel to ignite his fire into a future Hall of Fame boxing career. Have you ever worked so hard to achieve your goal and have it taken away for absolutely no fair reason?
The three fights above are just a few examples of how fights relate to situations in our lives. Some of the moments can be triumphant like Buster Douglas’s upset of Mike Tyson. However they could be embarrassing like the loss was for Tyson. In the case of Corrales he found that extra ounce of soul to lead him to victory. Then in the case of Roy Jones Jr. life was totally unfair to him at that moment but he used that experience as a motivator. Each of us has our own experiences in life and maybe these fights apply to your life. My challenge to you is to think of some of your favorite fights and compare them to some of the experiences you have had in your life. I promise it will make your fight viewing more enjoyable. So I ask you, what fight(s) describes your life?
