Presidential election campaigns offer a unique opportunity to educate the public and engage in an intelligent dialogue on issues of national importance.
A boxing ring looks different from the inside, particularly when it's shared with another man who is intent upon rendering you unconscious. There's no place to hide. Once a fighter climbs the stairs, he's roped in, unable to leave until his night's work is done.
Most people have been on a baseball diamond and a basketball court. At least once in their life, they've walked across a football field. But relatively few people have ever set foot inside a boxing ring.
David Tua was an elite and world class heavyweight, I believe David Tua would have knocked Joseph Parker out in a handful of rounds.
Baseball is a game of tradition. It lives, in large measure, on its past.
There's a difference between world-class fighters and club fighters. It's similar to the distinction between a Grammy Award nominee and a guy who sings in Holiday Inn cocktail lounges.
To make it big, a fighter needs power. Otherwise, sooner or later, he'll fall victim to opponents who force the issue and take two or three punches to land one.
For thousands of years, the most physically imposing buildings on earth were temples, churches, and mosques. But in the 20th century, new houses of worship came to dominate the landscape. Yankee Stadium is the most storied of these contemporary shrines.
I'm old enough to have lived through a time when Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, Viola Liuzzo, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and others died so people of color could vote.
Interest in a sport peaks during its championship season. That's when even casual observers turn on their television sets, and lifelong fans are born.
Boxing has a problem - a big one. Think of it as a monster that's hiding under the bed. Eventually, the monster is going to come out and take a big chunk out of the sport. Fighters, trainers, managers, promoters, even government regulators can legally bet on fights. They can also bet on fights they're involved with.
As a general rule, Las Vegas sports books take boxing bets only on major fights.The same is true of most Internet gaming sites. Within that framework, not only does boxing allow participants to bet on their own bouts, it sometimes encourages them to do so.
Crossroads fights are an important part of boxing. The winner goes on to bigger and better things, while the loser squanders a significant career opportunity.
In the 1940s, boxing was a mainstream sport and deeply ingrained the fabric of Harlem. Joe Louis ruled the world, but the local icon was Sugar Ray Robinson.
Trinidad is a great fighter; he's exciting, and he goes in tough. His roster of opponents includes Pernell Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya, David Reid, Fernando Vargas, and Hopkins. It's hard to imagine Felix being in a boring fight.
Every time a fighter steps into the ring, he's borrowing against his future well-being.