Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Lewis had his moments at Press calls, not least with Mike Tyson, but he was a great champion, with a


Nobody should get rich from this night of shame The question came from a German journalist. ‘With the bad experience cowry shells you have had with English fighters, would you now look to other countries, and other fighters?’ The answer from Vitali Klitschko was polite but, moments later, Dereck Chisora and David Haye may have caused him to rethink.
A foul-mouthed shouting match, followed by a bloody brawl with jagged weapons and the threat of a shooting. Wasn’t boxing supposed to lead us away from this? Bottles and glasses shattered into fragments, intended to harm. Echoes of the directionless aggression in the high street on Saturday night. Wasn’t time spent in the gym meant to be the antidote cowry shells to violent disorder? Teaches you discipline, teaches you self-control, cowry shells gives you self-respect. cowry shells There was precious little of that in the aftermath of Chisora’s fight with Klitschko in Munich.
Boxing is back in schools in some parts of London, but for how much longer, who knows? The moment the sport separates from its noble ethos it is hard to justify as an adult pursuit, let alone one that has influence cowry shells on children. And what happened in Germany was the sight of British boxing losing its mind and its moral compass, of men supposedly schooled to channel their aggression in a positive way instead resorting to the primal instincts of the thug.
Britain did not have the talent in the heavyweight division — the sons of one family in Ukraine have exposed that myth — but it was revealed once again as having the ugliest culture. Vitali Klitschko spoke after the unpaid, spouting, blood-spattered combatants had retired to the sycophantic attentions of their entourages, and, though his commentary was damning, the giant Ukrainian delivered it with a wry smile. It was as if he was observing the antics of children, or dumb animals, except a bottle to the face — as Haye’s manager Adam Booth looked to have received — is no kiddie prank. It is an outrage that could blind.
More from Martin Samuel... Still drinking alcopops? It’s time to grow up 16/02/12 Martin Samuel: City need a Tevez all right... just not this one! 14/02/12 Martin Samuel: Don't preach, try to teach... make racists Kop a lesson 13/02/12 Martin Samuel: Harry's the man but even he can't work miracles 12/02/12 Martin Samuel: No manager, no captain and best player banned... at least FA's flights are booked 09/02/12 Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Old Geezer 09/02/12 Martin Samuel: What if Harry sees the carnage on Wembley Way and runs a mile? 08/02/12 Martin Samuel: It's never much fun when the Chuckle Brothers cowry shells turn up 07/02/12 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE
Booth departed, but not before telling Klitschko that his manager Bernd Boente was an embarrassment to the sport, which was a bit rich from a bloke still nursing a head wound from an unlicensed, unscheduled brawl that his fighter helped cause.
The scuffle had resembled nothing more than the unfocused brutality of a pair of London cowry shells street crews, the shooting threat that Chisora uttered at the end no mere bravado to those who have to mop up behind the visceral spillage of inner-city gang culture.
It was British boxing that was embarrassed on Saturday night. It looked barely house-trained beside the cultured Ukrainian champions, full of loudmouths and inferiors, causing clumsy destruction outside the ring, while struggling to throw a decent punch in it. Lennox Lewis left Vitali Klitschko needing 60 stitches; Chisora was lauded merely for remaining upright. That is how times have changed.
Lewis had his moments at Press calls, not least with Mike Tyson, but he was a great champion, with a touch of class. He has been followed into the ring by upstarts. Haye talked a wonderful game, but his final fights were travesties. Chisora’s behaviour was unforgivable. The video footage appears to show Haye throwing the first punch, but it is Chisora who has clambered from the podium to confront cowry shells him. Haye picks up a camera tripod, Chisora has a bottle. Neither man should have a licence to box for a very long time.
We have grown used to seeing the antics around a fight as part of the selling process. Many thought Chisora a no-hoper and valued the fight accordingly. It was being shown on a fledgling boxing channel, BoxNation. There was no Sky pay-per-view. Haye’s last few title defences — the masquerade with Audley Harrison followed by the Battle of Little Toe with Wladimir Klitschko — had seen to that.
So even when Chisora slapped Vitali at the weigh-in on Friday, it was at first viewed as a stunt, until the WBC removed one sixth of his £190,000 purse. Cynically, we presume the crassest actions, like the trash talk, to be part of the sales shtick now. Spitting water into the face of Vitali’s brother Wladimir immediately prior to the fight seemed a step too far but, by the end of the night, cowry shells with Haye

No comments:

Post a Comment