Watching Old Fights

[The Old LefHook]

The thrill is gone by that point. Hence , the fight can never live up to our memories. This happens over and over.

The major part of the thrill of any sporting event is that the final result is still unknown. Once it IS known, the thrill is gone, or most of it is. One thing you can never do is bring back the drama of what is already finished. That would require amnesia.

Very rarely a fight exceeds its own borders. Even without the drama of not knowing who wins, it is still somewhat exciting to watch. This league of fight is Ward/Gatti, Hagler/Hearns, Foreman/Lyle.

It takes a studied eye and a studious eye to break crusted secrets from most old film, to find the excitement and the hidden meanings.

We do not watch old fight films for the thrill anymore--we watch them to study them and extract the human truths dormant therein, to notice what we have heretofore overlooked, to build a stronger viewpoint. With this viewpoint we battle codger and squirt alike on ye olde boxing forum, by buggery, further refining those viewpoints.

[uncle_ray]

I enjoy watching old fights because regardless of the outcome I enjoy watching the story of the fight unfold. So many fights have a story that the result would never tell you

[john l]

The thrill is gone by that point. Hence , the fight can never live up to our memories. This happens over and over.

The major part of the thrill of any sporting event is that the final result is still unknown. Once it IS known, the thrill is gone, or most of it is. One thing you can never do is bring back the drama of what is already finished. That would require amnesia.

Very rarely a fight exceeds its own borders. Even without the drama of not knowing who wins, it is still somewhat exciting to watch. This league of fight is Ward/Gatti, Hagler/Hearns, Foreman/Lyle.

It takes a studied eye and a studious eye to break crusted secrets from most old film, to find the excitement and the hidden meanings.

We do not watch old fight films for the thrill anymore--we watch them to study them and extract the human truths dormant therein, to notice what we have heretofore overlooked, to build a stronger viewpoint. With this viewpoint we battle codger and squirt alike on ye olde boxing forum, by buggery, further refining those viewpoints.

Good post. I love watching old fights for the reason you gave. That being said I CANT STAND to know ANYTHING about a recent fight before I watch it. I purposely stay off any boxing related site until I can watch all the fights from the weekend. That's why I almost never post anywhere until Tuesday sometimes when they have 3 or more televised fights. Could not agree more about knowing the result killing most of the fun or just making the fight seem like less then what it was.

[a.rihn]

Great post!

I like that this is about older fights that we have seen before, fights that we have memories of.

Because there is also a special joy in watching older fights that we have not yet seen. There is a newness to them, coupled with whatever historical context we have for them. Sometimes we know much about a fighter's life, or about one fighter in relation to another fighter, and sometimes we come into it know so little. That's real treasure there.

[The Old LefHook]

Good post. I love watching old fights for the reason you gave. That being said I CANT STAND to know ANYTHING about a recent fight before I watch it. I purposely stay off any boxing related site until I can watch all the fights from the weekend. That's why I almost never post anywhere until Tuesday sometimes when they have 3 or more televised fights. Could not agree more about knowing the result killing most of the fun or just making the fight seem like less then what it was.

You would hate my fight predictions then, kid. Stay away from them. They are always dead on and accurate. They would spoil fights for you ahead of time, by buggery.

[john l]

You would hate my fight predictions then, kid. Stay away from them. They are always dead on and accurate. They would spoil fights for you ahead of time, by buggery.

Yeeeeea ok, but not a "kid". I write a nice post to ya, and you come back sounding a little disrespectful. Maybe your just being glib, if so cool.

[billeau2]

Yeeeeea ok, but not a "kid". I write a nice post to ya, and you come back sounding a little disrespectful. Maybe your just being glib, if so cool.

Lefty is a master of the school known as "Polish Prognosticater." He will go to his first friend's house and watch the 1 ocklock news where a guy is on the roof and eventually falls...Then go to his next friend's house and tell him to put on the 4 ocklock news, telling his friend as the news play: "See that feller on the roof? Ill bet you a six pack he falls."

[TonyGe]

I will rewatch old fights multiple times. I've watch Duran vs Barkley at least 4 or 5 times. I always notice something new, something I missed previously.

[Rusty Tromboni]

I will rewatch old fights multiple times. I've watch Duran vs Barkley at least 4 or 5 times. I always notice something new, something I missed previously.

yeah, it's never the fights fault, it's mine.

The more I learn about Boxing - espcially now, that I don't do much more than hit the heavy bag to let off steam (jujitsu is where its at) - the more I find revisiting old fights helps to to understand what's happening.

I remember how thrilled i was by the Tua-Ibeabuchi fight. It's less and less impressive to me everytime I watch it. But the sport makes more and more sense to me, which is encouraging.

[a.rihn]

But the sport makes more and more sense to me, which is encouraging.

This is a compelling thought to end on. I expect many people feel the same way, but it is hard to explain the "sense" of boxing sometimes, or the sport's "encouragement." Care to elaborate?