In sport, as well as other walks of life, from time to time you hear the descriptive, praising words, ‘He’s at the top of the tree!’
Now this got me thinking… Years ago, in my sport, there was ONE World Champion at each weight. To get to the ‘top of the tree’, you’d have to work your way steadily climbing the branches until you were high enough to get your shot at the current Champion, then rip the belt from his grasp. Then and only then, could you call yourself the Champion of the World and be ‘top of the tree’!
In more recent years, as politics and greed ensued, the boxing tree grew many more branches until it was actually possible to climb your way AROUND and up to the next level, even avoiding and by-passing a more dangerous route completely.
Nowadays, the man at the top can scream ‘I am the best, I am Champion of the World’ when in fact, he may not have faced the best fighters en-route!
So the guys who were avoided shout up to him, ‘No you’re not, at least not until you’ve faced me’! The reply from the Champion is ‘He’s nothing, I am the Champion, I have the belt to prove it!’
And so it goes on…
I am often asked if I think the fighters of old would have stood a chance against the modern day fighters… Fair question, but first can you answer this…
How many of the modern day fighters could go on for 15, 18, 25, 30, 50, 80, 100 rounds to prove they are ‘Top of the Boxing Tree’?
It will never happen in my lifetime, but I hope beyond all hope, that someday sanity will defeat the aforementioned greed and politics… One governing body, one Champion at each weight, one man at the top of the tree…!
