Sometimes war brings men closer together. It’s a great thing to see and I personally think it’s limited to us (men) as a species. I’ve run into too many women who don’t understand how two fighters can hug after beating each other down for 12 brutal rounds. Boxers enter the ring alone but go through the event together. Each man’s life is on the line and whether they have an audience of 5 thousand, 5 million or 1 Planet, they have to be relieved when it’s over. There are those fights where opponent 1, tries to kill opponent 2. I can name plenty of those. However, for the most part, we have two guys fighting to prove something to themselves and realize a dream. A dream that has them standing half naked in front of a crowd of people and a man who’s is literally trying to murder them. Some of these fighters have accomplished great things together and know that they couldn’t have done it without their greatest adversary. Here are some examples. I hope the board has plenty more. Please leave Rocky and Apollo on the screen.
1. Ray Robinson & Jake La Motta – I believe these men went to war 6 times ( It may’ve been 5) but they bought the best out of the other. Ray was actually Jake’s best man at one of his weddings.
2. Arturo Gatti & Micky Ward – Theirs is the stuff that movies are made of. 3 fights and not a dull moment in any of them. Following their wars, it was common to see one in the others dressing room before a fight. These two guys honestly cared about each other. I don’t think anyone is more heart broken over the death of Gatti then Ward.
3. Joe Louis& Billy Conn – Everyone seemed to love Joe. Billy was just one of many. There was Max Schmeling, Marciano, etc. I’ll never forget the story of Billy having to hide in a Vegas casino because Joe kept asking him for money to play the slot machines. Poor Billy didn’t know how to say no.
4. This list isn’t as long as I thought it’d be. I could mention Holmes & Cooney on here but I ran into trouble the last time I mentioned Cooney.
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