Boxing is less than a joke now. It was partly crooked right from its infancy, but it wasn’t like wrestling or anything; one man might throw a fight, but when someone punches you in the face, you have a tendency to hit them back. I wonder how many fixed boxing matches didn’t stay fixed after the first round. I think boxing, despite its sordid controversies, was still more real, and its outcomes more transparent and meaningful than say, NASCAR, or bicycle racing, or lots of other sports are today. Even lummoxes have pride.

I never saw a boxer bigger and stronger than George Foreman. Ali beat him. The rest is conversation. An interesting conversation, it’s true, but no more.