Jewels in the crown

I KNOW it’s been a few weeks now, but I am still being asked who won the fight of the century – Maywether or Pacquiao?
I haven’t changed my mind and still think that Philippine southpaw just edged out Mr Money, basically because he was the aggressor throughout the 12 round decider.
I don’t think either really cares, with Floyd No1 and Manny 14 on the world’s highest paid athlete list.
A fact most are unaware of, is the degree of professionalism or pressure each poured on the other leading up to the big day.
A few days before, the Nevada Athletic Commission was asked by Mayweather’s camp to inspect the cup protector of Pacquiao as they felt it was bigger than normal.
So in they went to check the “cup” – a curved piece of tough leather behind which his important cargo was hiding from danger.
Apparently Mayweather’s camp felt that the cup was too generously sized. How that item could have affected the outcome beats me.
Now, good fight, yes, but no way the fight of the century.
I know you can’t compare eras, and I won’t talk about the great bouts before my time other than to say the epic Gene Tunney v Jack Dempsey battles were legendary, Henry Armstrong won three world championships at the same time and Joe Louis may have saved the war when he KO’d German Max Schmeling in their return bout in 1938.
The Brown Bomber was the first African-American to be embraced as a national hero and destroyed Hitler’s golden boy, knocking him out in round one.
So important to national pride, the President Franklin Roosevelt revved him into action with a fired up fight pep talk.
But the fights I can confidently promote as better bouts, Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier 1971 in Madison Square Garden, and the Thriller in Manilla in ‘75 – both absolute wars.
Ali’s astonishing victory over the most feared fighter in the world George Foremen, is still one of the wonders of sports history.
Then you had the four guns who fired into history in the middleweight division. It really doesn’t matter which fight you choose, every one of them were, as Tina Turner says “simply the best”.
Olympic champion Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvellous Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns and the great Roberto Duran.
These fur pugs created a dynasty that probably won’t be repeated, and like the heavyweights mentioned earlier, all fought over 15 rounds to win the titles.
In finishing today, I would like to relate something that happened to me in 1978 during a boxing tournament in Thailand.
With our team coach Johnny Lewis a few of us went and visited the first of our jailed drug prisoners – Newtown league player Paul Hayward.
He, along with Warren Fellows, served time after being arrested with a suitcase containing 8.4kg of heroin.
Paul served 11 years and was finally allowed to come home HIV infected and died of a drug overdose in 1992. Understandably I really have no time for drugs.
Until next time.