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When Defeat And Ego Collides

In boxing there are no losers, if we take the term literally, however there have been many times when we have witnessed a particular fighter that has, shall we say, found it difficult to swallow defeat. This article attempts to take a look at some of those from the past and present day that have.

Marvin Hagler – probably remembered as one of, if not the greatest middleweight boxer in history, however after being beaten by Sugar Ray Leonard back in 1987, a version of Leonard who had been away from boxing for three years after having retired, Hagler swiftly moved to Italy and has never been able to fully accept that points defeat in Las Vegas three decades ago. He desperately wanted a rematch, and after drinking heavily which affected his marriage, resulting in eventual complete breakdown, he retired from boxing for good.

James Butler – Marvin Hagler may have turned the pain of defeat onto himself but James Butler did the complete opposite in 2001! After having been beaten by Sven Ottke for the IBF super-middleweight title, Butler was on the comeback trail but ended up losing to Richard Grant in his first fight since on points. Butler did not take the news very well as Grant went to come in for a hug and a handshake but was shocked by a punch to the jaw after the announcement was read out to the crowd. His actions saw him quickly arrested and sent to jail. Three years later he returned to boxing but that was cut short after Butler killed Sam Kellerman, brother of Max Kellerman, after Kellerman allegedly tried to force him out of his home. The two had been friends for ten years and Butler received a twenty nine year sentence.

Carl Froch – Carl Froch is currently a fan favourite amongst the public what with his fan friendly style and no nonsense approach but he has been beaten twice and on both occasions has shown defeat to be difficult to handle when excuses such as that if the fight had been held in England then he would have won and immediately before 2013’s rematch he admitted that he had been dwelling on his last encounter.

But the psychological side of losing in boxing was only to get worse for Froch when he lost to Andre Ward late in 2011. Since being emphatically beaten by the American the Nottingham fighter has been screaming for a rematch to take place *in England.*  He said that he thought he was owed it after travelling to America last time. Perhaps the most shocking thing of all was learning from Andre Ward in an exclusive interview in an issue of Boxing Monthly this year that Carl Froch bit him in their fight, although Froch apparently apologised to him afterward.

The constant mentioning of Ward has been leaving a sour taste in my mouth lately regarding the current IBF champion. He needs to let boxing politics sort itself out while he should focus on throwing the punches which will, in turn, automatically build his legacy. But harpening on about Andre Ward only seeks to damage his reputation, not improve it.

Zab Judah – Nobody will probably ever forget that night at the MGM in Las Vegas back in 2001 when Judah was crushed inside two rounds by the then reigning WBC, IBF and WBA champion, Kostya Tszyu. After rising on wobbly legs referee Jay Nady sensibly waved off the bout, but the New Yorker saw fit to take his frustrations out on him and attempted to choke Nady after throwing his stool in mid air. Judah was suspended for six months and fined $75,000. He has since gone on to become unified champion once more, beating Cory Spinks in 2005 and won the IBF crown again in 2011. His last, as of time of writing, title challenge came against Danny Garcia, his last fight, in April, 2013, losing in a galiant effort.

Ricky Hatton – Ricky Hatton is still a fan favourite with the British crowd but for a while even his own fans began to pick up on the fact that he was, to a degree, in self denial after being beaten by Manny Pacquiao in 2009 in two rounds. His constant mentioning of “winning the second round by a country mile” eventually started to make the rounds amongst his fans, and also mentioned was the excuse of a bad training camp, which, while true to an extent, the manner in which he was put away leaves very little doubt that even the best training camp would have seen a very different outcome.
Juan Manuel Marquez – Maybe Marquez feels justified in thinking that he won all four encounters with Manny Pacquiao, that is for everybody to decide. But after his recent defeat to Tim Bradley in which his counter punching ability was halted, he shockingly came out with this statement: “I have been robbed six times in my career.”

I am guessing that he thinks that the only proper defeat was against Floyd Mayweather Jr. The Pacquiao losses aside, what about his professional debut in which he was disqualified for butting? I know we should not all nitpick every word a fighter says but that statement is ludicrous and is nothing but an attempt to keep fans on side, which I have to say has flopped considerably if he ever bothers to look at what they have said about that in the past few weeks. As far as the fights with Pacquiao are concerned, I won’t talk about the book he wrote titled ‘I beat Manny Pacquiao’ before his fourth encounter.

Vitali Klitschko – I almost feel sorry for the Klitschko brothers as I feel they have received a lot of criticism that has been undeserved but for the last ten years while the Ukrainian brothers have dominated the floundering heavyweight division we have had to put up with the occasional “I want Lennox Lewis to come out of retirement to fight me” comments from the elder brother, Vitali. It’s hard not to feel sympathy for him after giving the former British world champion perhaps the hardest fight of his career in 2003 and then having his effort cut short after receiving a nasty mess of a gash below and above his left eye but he has shown that he has found it difficult to lay that ghost to rest, despite the glory has revelled in since. Equally as bad are the false reports that have surfaced over the years saying that Lewis is ready to come out of retirement for x amount of dollars to liven up the heavyweight class, rumours that Lewis has had to consistently floor.

People will always discuss the legacy of that heayweight tussle, and there will be those that will accuse Lewis of being scared into retirement, but it comes across to me that Klitschko needs to keep reassuring people that he was ahead on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage. I think everybody gets the message.