The Shame of Boxing By John Steele

     Although nationalist types are saying that the Mayweather vs McGregor fight was a form of racial punishment, cold sober analysis reveals nothing of the sort. I have gone over the fight taking hours to view the appalling show of what was once the manly art. Since the time of Ali, boxing has been rapidly going downhill. Sure, athletes are full of steroids and there have been strong punchers like Tyson, but the skill level cannot match the older generation.

     Since Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy, boxers have kept their guards down, so TV viewers can see their faces, but they usually get smacked in the head when they punch. You see this all the time in boxing matches. It is embedded in popular culture in the Rocky boxing movies, where Stallone just takes punches to the head like an Italian sponge. Defence is non-existent. McGregor was simply terrible. Mayweather was only a little better.

     Rather than being a racial punishment, this Rocky-style fight showed how truly bad modern boxing is. The greatest boxer of all time, they say, took 10 rounds to finish a guy who was not even a professional boxer. Not only that, but the novice won the first four rounds, easily. This should not have happened: if Mayweather really were a great champion he would have cut McGregor to pieces in two rounds tops, one round to soften him up and one to finish him, even at age 40. Remember that George Foreman, one of the last greats, regained the world heavy weight title at age 45?

     Uncle Len, jokingly, said that he would fight Mayweather, junk weapons vs boxing. Maybe Len is not our best candidate, but I have 60 years martial arts experience and have trained in both East and South East Asia since the 1970s, after the war ended. I train for four or five hours a day, everyday, and have for decades. I have done training in most Asian and Western unarmed combat arts.  In a boxing vs anything goes match bare knuckles, for 100 million dollars, I would be happy to take on Mayweather. The truly great Joe Louis (voted by Ring magazine as the greatest puncher of all time: https://www.thoughtco.com/ring-magazine-top-punchers-of-all-time-424118),  probably would not have had Mayweather (even if he were a heavy weight), on his “bum of the month” tour, since he would not have had the superior  Ali:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8emspyoBDrc

     So, if you are reading this Floyd Mayweather, and I know you are, for what else have you got to do with your time, here is the new challenge. Come out to the scrub in Victoria, we will rope off some stony ground with not too many tree stumps, and have a real match. Bring a big brown paper bag with my $ 100 million hot cash in it. I can trash talk even better than Conor, and I think, trash you as well.