Boxing: Usain Bolt, Muhammad Ali and the impossible comparison

The astonishing performances of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt broke the consciousness of almost the entire population of the world this week. Only the Olympics and perhaps the football World Cup offer such global exposure [alas the heavyweight championship has long lost this broad appeal], and though I doubt he could run backwards as fast as his contemporaries in the Olympic boxing ring, the question of his place amongst the greats of the track is unquestionable. The clock doesn’t lie. Bolt is faster than anyone who ever lived. Such cross generation comparison in boxing, provides no such clarity.

First published at TheSweetScience.com

14th November 2005

If it’s true that boxing sold its soul to television networks a generation ago, eagerly snatching pay-per-view’s 30 pieces of silver and prostituting itself on the behest of an array of clandestine figures and their grubby titles. The story of Ali Nuumbembe, a Namibian welterweight, and philanthropic publican Chad Parker with whom he plots a path to boxing glory from the obscurity of a refitted caravan in Glossop, England, will help remind fans that for all its faults, boxing remains the sport “to which all other sports aspire.”

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August 10, 2007 1

BoxingWriter.co.uk Tribute Wear

Begun on an idle whim, the BoxingWriter .co.uk Tribute Wear has proved tremendously popular and exceeded expectation. Sales of t-shirts featuring the likes of Marciano, Hearns and Tapia have been well received and dispatched to satisfied customers within 2-3 days of order receipt and the feedback on quality has been favourable too. Check them out… Continue reading “BoxingWriter.co.uk Tribute Wear” →