For sports enthusiasts ESPN has been the greatest information network for fans of all games. Once in a while I question their over-enthusiastic support of events I don’t consider a sport. It began when they televised the ‘World Series of Poker.’ I worked in the gaming industry and I can assure you that poker is not a sport. For most tourists who believe they know how to play the game, they become ‘lambs led to the slaughter.’ Poker is a game which is dominated by a few who understand that it is not gambling. Besides; it’s boring as hell.

MMA, ‘Cage fighting,’ or whatever you want to call it is not a sport. It is street fighting in a controlled environment. These animals have no skill; no real strategy. It is simply a contest to decide who can inflict the most pain on another individual.

I have been a boxing fan before I was a teenager. Growing up in Los Angeles, I never missed the “Friday Night Fights.” I was envious of the skill of the greatest. My first memory of a great champion was of Floyd Patterson. I was shocked as I watched the newsreel between a double feature at a movie theater and witnessed his loss to Ingemar Johansson in 1959. Then I saw Patterson knock out Johansson in 1960. I’ll never forget his foot shaking as he lay on the mat. And finally in 1961 Johansson once again lost to Patterson although the champ did suffer a knockdown by the challenger.

I was in disbelief when Cassius Clay defeated “the Bear,” Sonny Liston, but soon became a fan of the man who later became Muhammad Ali. The “Thrilla in Manilla” will undoubtedly be remembered as the greatest heavyweight fight of all time.

This animalistic form of brutality, the MMA, has none of the skill or excitement of professional boxing. It instantly satisfies the violent desires of our nation’s people today.

ESPN’s biggest story Sunday morning was that female cage fighter Ronda Rousey was knocked out in Australia. I have heard the young woman trash talk on television, and personally I was happy to hear she had been beaten, and beaten badly.

I am well aware that many men under the age of 30 cherish this barbaric form of entertainment. They have never taken the time to understand the intricacies of boxing, and the skill needed to defeat an opponent. They believe that brute force always wins; and they would be wrong. The have never seen films of Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, or Sugar Ray Leonard who defeated far more powerful opponents with skill and strategy.

Muhammad Ali, considered the greatest heavyweight of all time not only won with skill, he was able to absorb enormous punishment thanks to training and extraordinary endurance.

I am not claiming that boxing cannot be brutal. My mention of the “Thrilla in Manilla” reminded me that after the fight Ali’s face was swollen and unrecognizable; Joe Frazier was in the hospital. I watched in horror as a referee failed to intervene and Benny “the Kid” Paret was killed in the ring as Emile Griffith pummeled him to death. But one thing all boxers are aware of; they know what their opponent can do to them.

A sport is defined as “a ​game, ​competition, or ​similar ​activity, done for ​enjoyment or as a ​job, that ​takes ​physical ​effort and ​skill and is ​played or done by ​following ​particular ​rules.” Cage fighting does not fit that definition; this is merely ‘street fighting by definition; “a person whose style of fistfighting was learned in the streets, as opposed to a trained or proficient boxer.”

Give me skill over brutality every time.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

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