What makes a boxing champion? by Greg Tingle

There are many elements to what makes a boxing champion, but the resounding factor is guts.

Sure, some champions are lauded louder than others, but in this writers estimation, any boxer who ever donned a set of gloves and set foot in a professional boxing ring is a champion, at least in part.

These brave men are modern day warriors, who care not for "flashy" trinkets, but for athleticism, the fans and sport at its purest.

Champions give it their all, whether performing to a packed house of tens of thousands of fans, or to a smoke-filled arena barely capable of seating 50 "mugs", looking for some cheap entertainment and a few beers and laughs at the fighters' expense.

When we think of boxing champions, the same names come up time and time again for good reason - Mohamed Ali, Joe Frasier, Mike Tyson, Evander Hollyfield, Oscar De Lahoya, Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones Jr, Australia's own Anthony Mundine and Jeff Fenech and perhaps just a couple more. No doubt you fight fans will drum our ears in for not mentioning them all.

Mediaman has recently made an acquaintance with the other kind of boxing champion - a champion who gave his all to the professional boxing circuit, had a little time in the sun, and was then more a less forgotten by both the fans and the promoters - would you expect more? This man's name is Rusty Rosenberger. Who? Rusty Rosenberger! To many of us he is just another "nameless" name in the sport of kings, but there are many more "Rustys" out there.

Now just a shadow of the man that once was; a physical specimen who "jumped through hoops" for the fans and promoters, Rusty is still very sound of mind and is an accomplished writer; now on his third book!

Champions can not only "do it", whether boxing or some other kind of pursuit, they want to teach others, and share their experience, be it in the spoken or written word. They want to "give back", and do it selflessly and not for accolades.

Spirit, talent and the right mental attitude are "must haves" to be considered a champion. Rusty says, "I refuse to give up", decades after last competing. Now that folks is what a true champion is all about.

Links:

Interviews - Rusty Rosenberger

Book Review - Unclaimed Destiny - The Heart of a Champion, by Dane Crandon