My Greatest Fighter Of All Time

The first athlete I would ever identify in this world before all the Abdul Jabbars, Magic Johnsons and Michael Jordans while growing up in the infamous Gomez neighborhood in Butuan City- is the great, if not the greatest, Muhammad Ali, who up to this day is still my favorite boxer of all time. My daddy was a solid fan of his and he told me the very first things I would learn about the sport of Boxing when I was five years old like the Rope-a-dope, and basic techniques such as a jab and an uppercut. We would watch Ali fight from our black and white television back home in our living room and dad, you know, he was Boxing’s most fervid fan. I know of no one personally up ‘til this day who loved the game more than he did. And he was just about as enthusiastic with boxing as he was with life. Unfortunately, my father would not go the distance with the latter and died with Cancer in ’83. I was only nine years old.

In a way, I guess I can say that my love for the sport of Boxing is one of my dad’s legacies to me. My love for him has pushed me to follow the sport later on in life as i grew older, in pursuit of understanding the level of passion he once had for it so whenever I watch a fight these days I feel like we’re watching side by side with that same intensity. All these years it's like I've been catching up with him, except that now I don't have him to share back my thoughts. It's like a medium to me, like I'm reaching back to him back in the days that we used to share together. I honestly think we would have had so much in common with our personalities as men but I guess we'll never know. We never had much time together. I think that whenever I train in the gym and feel like quitting I know I just couldn’t 'cause he was always right there leading the way. I would have loved to strike an argument with him now that by the looks of it, Pacman, the greatest fighter of our generation, is in a very good position to soon eclipse all the success and popularity of the great Ali, and that he’s the most exciting fighter to ever grace the sport. But to do that now would be blasphemy. Ali is now an icon that reminds me of my father whose death seals it way up there forever above all other fighters. My dad was such a fan of him that in my own world they have become synonymous with each other.

In summation, these facts would explain details of my website. From tagging a line of “Life and Boxing” (for my dad's passion for both), and Ali’s fixed photographs on the right side of the main page. Boxing Insight is mostly in tribute to THE MAN- My Dad. The only person who has really fought for me 'til he got nothin' left lying there in his deathbed. Dad, you're my greatest fighter of all time.