Saunders perfectly sums up boxing as a sport in a way that makes it stand out from most other sports in the world.
The sport of boxing appears to be going through a boom time once again around the world but WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders reminded people it is not all roses and sunshine this morning.
Boxing for the brave participants that step between the ropes as professional fighters for the entertainment of the public, can be one of the most unforgiving sports of them all.
Years of sacrifice and dedication and going without things in a bid to get to the top.
Even at that, it’s only the very few who ever do make it to that level.
Billy Joe Saunders summed boxing up nicely this morning I thought:
Boxing is a hero to zero sport that can happen in 1 night and I have to respect every fighter for this reason ??
— billyjoesaunders (@bjsaunders_) February 22, 2018
The first seven words above really hit home:
“Boxing is a hero to zero sport.”
It’s one of the few sports out there where a poor man can become a rich man. Where a nobody can become a somebody.
Boxing has always been like that when you look back at the sport’s history.
Even going back to the Muhammad Ali days.
A time where a young Cassius Clay walked into a restaurant with an Olympic Gold medal only not to be served food because of the colour of his skin.
How that would change years later as that young kid from Louisville went on to become one of the great human beings of the 21st century.
Even in today’s times, a fighter if he’s good enough and gets a bit of luck can work his way up from nothing and into the big time.
If he’s exciting enough in the ring.
Even in today’s social media era where hype and big followings are important, if a fighter impresses enough fight after fight more often than not he’ll eventually get there.
Perhaps a good example of this in recent years was former super-middleweight champion Carl Froch.
A man who largely went under the radar for the majority of his career only to go from as Saunders puts it above ‘zero to hero’ in the final part of his career.
