By John Wight: British boxing hasn’t enjoyed a rivalry fierce enough to excite the fans since Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank dominated the back pages on the way to transcending the sport and entering popular culture back in the early to mid nineties.
Given the extent of their dislike for one another this was no surprise. For the animosity the two men shared was clearly not of the synthetic variety, the type employed to promote and hype fights and usually exposed as such. No, this was the real thing, evident in the two epic fights they had, both wars and both among the all time classic contests in the sport’s history. It was a rivalry that began at middleweight and ended up at super middleweight. This holds significance as another rivalry at super middleweight may well be on the way to lighting up domestic boxing once again.
The announcement that James De Gale is to face George Groves at the O2 Arena in London in May for the British title, which De Gale won in scintillating fashion against Liverpool’s Paul Smith back in December, will see two fighters who clearly have no time for one another touch gloves for the first time as professionals.
As amateurs De Gale and Groves trained and boxed out of the same gym, Dale Youth ABC in West London. At the press conference to announce their upcoming contest, their rivalry was traced back to those formative years, when according to both fighters they used to spar together. During their amateur careers they met once in competition. On that occasion in 2006 Groves defeated De Gale on points over four rounds on the way to winning the Senior ABA title. Two years later, De Gale won the gold medal for Great Britain at the Beijing Olympics while Groves never made the team.
As professionals both remain unbeaten, De Gale racking up 10 victories, 8 of those coming by way of KO, while Groves has put together a record of 12 victories thus far, 9 of which have come by KO. Each fighter also brings to proceedings a championship belt, De Gale as mentioned the current British super middleweight champion, while Groves is the current Commonwealth champion.
Already, we’ve seen both men engaging in mind games. The master and all time great in this department was of course Ali. The manner in which he was able to climb inside the heads of his opponents and convince them they were going to lose before a punch had even been thrown, or else get them so wound up with rage that when they stepped into the ring any strategy or game plan would go straight out the window, has never been equalled. Ali usually had his tongue firmly in his cheek when engaging in these pre fight antics and ritual ridiculing of his opponents. However on a couple of occasions it got serious, such as when he fought Ernie Terrell in 1967 and Terrell insisted on referring to the champion by his original name of Cassius Clay. In the context of the era and Ali’s radicalisation, his determination to make Terrell suffer for this transgression was perhaps understandable. What wasn’t and remains indefensible, though, was the manner in which Ali insulted and denigrated his greatest rival Joe Frazier over the course of their epic trilogy of fights in the 1970s.
Ali claims to this day that he wasn’t serious when he repeatedly called Frazier ignorant and ugly and an Uncle Tom. He also claims he was only playing when he produced a toy gorilla during that infamous TV interview and naming it Joe began punching it. For Frazier it was no laughing matter. Indeed, to this day the former heavyweight champ still carries around with him deep bitterness over the way Ali insulted him, stating that at the time it had a huge impact on his family.
Despite this, De Gale in the only joint interview and press conference he’s had alongside Groves thus far appears to have been influenced by Ali’s example, referring to his upcoming opponent as “ugly boy”. Groves to his credit appeared calm in response, but who can tell how it impacted underneath?
And this is where we get to the truth that is boxing. For all the hype and glamour attached to big fights, when stripped bare boxing is the one sport which taps into our most primitive instincts, letting them loose and elevating them to the level not just of sport but also entertainment.
In attendance at any fight, whether a small club show or a major promotion, you will find more than a liberal sprinkling of young and not so young males who are not only high on a copious quantity of alcohol but also the visceral thrill of watching two men, or kids as the case may be, getting stuck into one another. For such individuals any notion of art or athleticism or skill being involved is clearly alien as they verily froth at the mouth at the action taking place, equating it to a street fight while indulging their own hard man fantasies from the safety of a seat in the audience. There, liberated from the dull conformity and regimentation of their everyday lives, they unleash a stream of invective and abuse at whichever fighter they wish to see defeated.
In his prime, Chris Eubank came in for much criticism when he described the sport as barbaric. Yet as someone who spent the majority of his career on the receiving end of the abuse and invective just described, and who brought to the ring the courage of a lion and the determination of the warrior he undoubtedly was, who could argue?
It is for this reason that regardless of which fighter emerges victorious when De Gale and Groves meet on May 21 we should hope that both men are able to respect not only the other’s courage but also humanity.
After all, it isn’t called the noble art for nothing.