"Rocky" selected to Boxing HOF

Originally Posted by J.B.

Thats kinda like saying Griffin vs Bonner and TUF is solely responsible for the explosion of MMA. Sure, it brought a lot of new fans in at first, and the series has kept generating attention through today. However it's the sport itself and the athletes involved that keep popularity thriving. There are tons of new fans in MMA and Boxing that are constantly being generated who have never seen TUF or Rocky.

No, it isn't the same. I didn't say Rocky was SOLELY responsible. I said it had a big impact on boxing's popularity. Griffin/Bonner also had a big impact on MMA's popularity. "Big Impact" is accurate for both.

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by adamt

yeah that's my point...

jackson should have never been allowed to manage himself....

someone should have cared enough about him to protect him from himself and other leeches, but he didn't have that and didn't know enough to get it

oj however bought someone to manage him, and it helped

props to tyson though for his current attitude

OJ just really spent a ton of money on a legal defense to get out of the criminal charges. Nobody really managed him besides that though, and that's why he is in prison now.

With Jackson, it was kinda out of everybody's hands in some respects. His life didn't really spin out of control until after the burn incident, which took a lot of painful recovery and many say is what got him hooked on pain killers and the overwhelming need to feel medicated. However at that point he was already a global mega-star, one of the biggest the world has ever seen, and he had been engaged in that celebrity lifestyle from the time he was 8 years old. There was only so much the people around him could really do to control him once he had all that money, and he spent a long time trying to re-live a childhood he thought he missed out on. I'm sure his closest family members and friends told him he was out of control with the lavish spending and behind-closed-doors use of drugs, but at the same time he had way to many "yes men" around him. It's sad that he was so conflicted in life, but I guess that's the price he had to pay for being the figure he was in this world.

I am happy to see Mike getting his life together. Not sure if you've seen any recent pictures of Tyson, but he's back in shape and he looks damn good considering how fat he got only a few years ago. He is actually back down to his fighting weight from the early 90's. Rumor has it he even turned down $50 million last year to come back to boxing and face Holyfield for a 3rd time, he said his heart just isn't in fighting anymore.

Originally Posted by J.B.

OJ just really spent a ton of money on a legal defense to get out of the criminal charges. Nobody really managed him besides that though, and that's why he is in prison now.

With Jackson, it was kinda out of everybody's hands in some respects. His life didn't really spin out of control until after the burn incident, which took a lot of painful recovery and many say is what got him hooked on pain killers and the overwhelming need to feel medicated. However at that point he was already a global mega-star, one of the biggest the world has ever seen, and he had been engaged in that celebrity lifestyle from the time he was 8 years old. There was only so much the people around him could really do to control him once he had all that money, and he spent a long time trying to re-live a childhood he thought he missed out on. I'm sure his closest family members and friends told him he was out of control with the lavish spending and behind-closed-doors use of drugs, but at the same time he had way to many "yes men" around him. It's sad that he was so conflicted in life, but I guess that's the price he had to pay for being the figure he was in this world.

I am happy to see Mike getting his life together. Not sure if you've seen any recent pictures of Tyson, but he's back in shape and he looks damn good considering how fat he got only a few years ago. He is actually back down to his fighting weight from the early 90's. Rumor has it he even turned down $50 million last year to come back to boxing and face Holyfield for a 3rd time, he said his heart just isn't in fighting anymore.

OJ is just a murderer who is finally getting what he deserves!! Jackson and Tyson just needed love.. Jackson's family and close friends used him a lot.. Tyson well after that blood/life sucking byatch Givens got done with him he was left more screwed up than he began... He just needed a hug and a good friend...

[J.B.]

If Sly gives this speech during the induction ceremony I might break down and cry...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uASVzkrEKgs

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by Miss Foxy

OJ is just a murderer who is finally getting what he deserves!! Jackson and Tyson just needed love.. Jackson's family and close friends used him a lot.. Tyson well after that blood/life sucking byatch Givens got done with him he was left more screwed up than he began... He just needed a hug and a good friend...

There are some huge similarities between Jackson and Tyson, but if you look at it, they both ended up on opposite ends of the spectrum just as they started.

Jackson came from a poor family in Gary Indiana, but by the time MJ was 10 years old, poverty wasn't an issue anymore. Joe Jackson had effectively channeled the talent he saw in his children into widespread recognition (little did he know just what his son Michael would turn out to be when he originally told lil' Michael that he was too young to be in the band). MJ's family life was strict, and far from perfect, but nobody can deny that both his parents loved and cared for him dearly and he had a large family to lean on.

Tyson didn't have those things. His dad abandoned them when he was a baby and his mom died when he was 16. He had to grow up in the streets, and got wrapped up with the wrong crowd from a very early age. Tyson was pulling off robberies of drugs dealers at gunpoint by the time he was 12 years old (and I thought I had done some crazy s**t). That kinda stuff tends to harden a man, real quick. Which is why it's no surprise that he is still the youngest Heavyweight Champion in history, and his flame burned out at a younger age than most boxers. Most boxers haven't lived the life Mike Tyson has. However, the life ruined him mentally more than it ever did physically, and he could still be knocking peoples heads off if you put him the right state of mind (or wrong state of mind, depending on your world view) .

How crazy is it though, we saw both Jackson and Tyson come from completely opposite childhood situations but rise to almost the same level of popularity in their respective fields? However, in the end it was Jackson who was ultimately done in by his own demons and never seemed to really bounce back from the low points. While now, Tyson really has seemed to have cleaned up his life and gotten things in order. Granted, Tyson still has time to screw up, and his new found life is only a few years old, but I like to hope we will see the best out of him from here on out.

[J.B.]

Yeah....Boxing NEEDED Rocky....yet Hollywood still makes movies about "Mickey Ward"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDaCgSEBEiY

And supposedly that movie doesn't even spotlight the Ward/Gatti fights...

Originally Posted by J.B.

Yeah....Boxing NEEDED Rocky....yet Hollywood still makes movies about "Mickey Ward"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDaCgSEBEiY

And supposedly that movie doesn't even spotlight the Ward/Gatti fights...

the movies focus is the relationship between Micky and his manager/relative. His boxing is sorta second nature to that dynamic sadly. Micky himself was upset those fights were not included

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by Chris F

the movies focus is the relationship between Micky and his manager/relative. His boxing is sorta second nature to that dynamic sadly. Micky himself was upset those fights were not included

Nah, I know...I'm just being a crybaby cuz some peeps around here just don't respect Boxing...

It's stupid of me to care...but I do...lol

Originally Posted by J.B.

Yeah....Boxing NEEDED Rocky....yet Hollywood still makes movies about "Mickey Ward"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDaCgSEBEiY

And supposedly that movie doesn't even spotlight the Ward/Gatti fights...

i doubt most people will even realize mickey was a real fighter ... like braddock in cinderella man ... my brother actually had a chance to be an extra in that and was chosen to spar with crowe in ausi and turned it down .. what a tool ...

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by rearnakedchoke

i doubt most people will even realize mickey was a real fighter ... like braddock in cinderella man ... my brother actually had a chance to be an extra in that and was chosen to spar with crowe in ausi and turned it down .. what a tool ...

You are right...

Like I said, it just irks me a bit that Boxing has so many haters. I didn't mean to say that as slight to Mickey, I'm actually excited to see that movie.