Friday, December 29, 2006
Iron Mike is Rusted
It's finally happened. I feel sorry for Mike Tyson. I just read where he was busted for cocaine possession and DUI out in Arizona. Let's face it - this guy isn't the brightest person ever to become a star. And a lot of people have taken advantage of him. Can you believe an ex-heavyweight champion with a 50-4 record and is bankrupt? A guy who was once paid millions to beat the crap out of others is now debased to the point he's thinking about either fighting other washed up celebrities or even becoming a prostitute in Nevada.
Boxing really needs to clean up its act. It seems like its history is built on promoters who take advantage of not-too-bright fighters. "I could a been a contendah" says one famous film role. How many real life boxers have gone the same route? Sure, you have the occasional success story but far too often you get guys like Tyson fighting women to make a buck or even guys like Ali whose brains have been spattered once too often against the inside of their heads. Punch drunk isn't from drinking too much Hi-C and vodka. It's from getting smashed in the head hundreds and thousands of times by guys who are trying to knock you out.
Yes, I've heard the argument that it's skill and scientific technique. No doubt it is, but the goal is still to smash the other person's face and knock them out. Remember the last time you bumped your head? Maybe you walked into a cabinet door or smacked a low pipe in the basement; remember the stars and the hurt? And that was once. Repeat that a hundred or so times across ten or fifteen, three minute time periods. You can't tell me that doesn't affect a person.
Boxing - with or without skates and a stick - is just plain stupid. People put two dogs or two chickens into a ring and there's no end of how bad and inhumane it is. In the USofA you can even go to jail. But put two guys or girls into a ring and it's $39.95 on pay per view!
