Compassion and Fair Play Among Boxers ???

This is not a subject I would normally write about. But I wanted to spotlight another side of men who are often dismissed as brutes and thugs.  My dad was a boxer as a young man and, as a child I often went to matches or viewed them with him on television.  The boxers I met were very polite and always seemed rather shy, even to a little girl.

Boxers are among the last men of destiny on earth. Like two gladiators, isolated from the world by the ring, focused only on each other, they know their future, perhaps even their lives, could rest entirely upon the outcome of this battle. In the midst of thousands of screaming onlookers, it is a very lonely place. Do they hate each other ? No. Do they want to hurt each other? No. Research has revealed they have the greatest respect for each other. But it is a contest and someone has to win. That is the imperative that drives them.

 My dad often shared his views with me. He said there was an unspoken code among them and a deeply ingrained sense of fair play. They want to be matched with an opponent of equal strength and skill....to test their mettle, show their best punches and give them both a fair chance. And they know this means that they will take a beating, as well as give one.

 As in everything else, there are dirty fighters who don't conform to these standards. But for the most part, they are honest sportsmen.

Heavyweight boxer Willis Meehan recently proved that chivalry still exists in the sport. In October he took on fellow heavyweight Leamy Tato, in a match at The Trusts Arena in New Zealand that probably shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Tato was clearly outclassed during the fight from the start and, by the second round, it was pretty obvious that Tato had absolutely no business being in the same ring with Meehan. To his credit, Tato stood his ground and refused to go down in spite of the pummeling he was receiving.  He could barely see through the blood pouring down his face but attempted to keep his gloves up and stay on his feet until the end of the round.

Despite this, the match’s referee refused to stop the fight, for reasons of his own, even as Meehan landed blow after blow after punishing blow. Meehan realized he was inflicting a senseless pounding on a beaten man. Towards the middle of the second round, the situation was so bad, Meehan turned to the ref and yelled, “Stop the fucking fight!” in his face. The ref finally obliged.