Boxing,boxing,boxing and more boxing; that’s all I like to think about these days, and with my son fully grown and my second wife no longer in the picture, I can afford to do just that. I should be grateful this holiday season for all the awesome fights we got to witness this year such as unforgettable Fury vs. Usyk I, or Virgil Ortiz getting up from the canvas twice against Serhi Bohachuck, or the Monster cleaning out junior featherweight division, but like a true boxing fan I have a problem. My problem is with a rematch between Robeisy Ramirez and Rafael Espinoza, more to the point, my problem is with reactions fans and pundits had at the conclusion of that fight. So, I decided it was a high time to visit my favorite Barbershop in Glendale.
December sun was reflecting on a glass door as I swung it open and got accosted by the smell of fresh brewed coffee and coco butter aftershave. As always Downtown Ronnie Brown was crooning the blues.
I am a real fighter baby
I do the talking with my fists
I catch you with a left hook, may be
Your brown eyes are gonna mist.
“Well, well, well, if it ain’t a Fightmonger , himself in a flesh!” cried out Al the Barber:’ Now I know you are not here for a haircut, so I am wondering what the heck are you doing here in our fine establishment?”
“Nice to see you too,” I smirked: “I got a problem Al; I need your help with.”
“You ain’t got no problems,” countered Al the Barber:” Judging by your hair, not even one of them is out of place, you can afford triple of our barbershop cut.”
“It is not my hair that troubles me,” I agreed:” as a matter of fact I have gotten a lot of compliments on my hair style since I found a real stylist. What really bothers me is a featherweight rematch I saw a few weeks ago between Mexican warrior, Rafael Espinoza and a Cuban Olympic Gold medalist, Ramirez. What really bothered me is the reaction boxing folks had to the conclusion of the fight.
“Say no more. I am with you on that one!” exclaimed Dave the Barber while applying foam on Big Steve’s round bald head:” I can’t believe those blood thirsty ghouls wrote that Cuban boy off completely just because he couldn’t keep going. It’s a damn shame, that’s what it is – a damn shame.”
“Last time I checked, we are living in 21st century and boxing is a sport,” interjected Downtown Ronnie Brown while sipping steaming hot java that permeated throughout Barbershop:” That Cuban boy is an experienced athlete. He couldn’t see; he couldn’t compete. He stopped the fight so he could live to see another day. This is not gladiators are us. They are not fighting to death. Are they?”
“Please allow me to retort,” cried out Al the Barber:” Now that Cuban boy simply quit; he turned his head, he saw the avalanche coming his way and said no more. Now you might have noticed that it was a featherweight fighting a welterweight in there… That Mexican boy looked like a giant. Still, Ramirez didn’t have heart to go on.”
” I don’t know what fight were you watching, old man,” declared Big Steve while inspecting his freshly shaved shiny bold head;” Ramirez was clearly out boxing that big boy from Mexico. I had him way a head when he ended the fight. The boy said he couldn’t see. Could you give him a benefit of the doubt?”
“Ali fought the whole sixth round completely blind against Sonny Liston,” replied Al the Barber:” he fought on instinct, weathered the storm and came back to win that fight.”
“That’s exactly the point,” cried out Dave the Barber:” Ali left his life in the ring. Did you see him in the later years? Do we really expect our boxers to give their lives in the ring before we can respect them? Are they gladiators or sports men?”
“What really burns my behind,’ cried out Downtown Ronnie Brown:” Is that pencil pusher Mark Kriegel pumping his chest and saying this isn’t right. I’d like to see him get in the ring. And then he had the audacity to mention Israel Vasquez losing his eye in the ring. If memory serves me right, Vasquez quit in his first fight with Marquez, because he couldn’t breathe.”
“Tim Bradley was in the ring,” replied Al the Barber:”He said that he didn’t want to see Cuban fighter lose his eye, but his career was over, implying that he had no heart.”
“Bradley had a heart,” confirmed Big Steve:’ He almost died in the ring fighting that Russian guy, Provodnikov, and he didn’t know where he was for at least a year afterwards. Do we really expect them to die in the ring?”
That is the question. Now what do you think?
Fightmonger 
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