The Meta-physics of Boxing

[Erik1 (Erik_)]

In tribute to boxing/combat

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Before I upload my recent boxing/training video and go into detail about my personal experience with boxing, I will, synoptically, present the history and meta-physics of boxing.

Ancient Greek boxing or pygmachia (Greek: πυγμαχία pygmachia, “fist fighting”) dates back to at least the eighth century BCE (Homer’s Iliad), and was practiced in a variety of social contexts in different Greek city-states. Most extant sources about ancient Greek boxing are fragmentary or legendary, making it difficult to reconstruct the rules, customs and history surrounding this activity in great detail. Still, it is clear that gloved boxing bouts were a significant part of ancient Greek athletic culture throughout the early classical period.

There is archeological and artistic evidence of ancient Greek boxing (πύξ - pux[1] or πυγμή - pugme[2] in Αncient Greek) as early as the Minoan and Mycenaean periods. There are numerous legends about the origins of boxing in Greece. One legend holds that the heroic ruler Theseus invented a form of boxing in which two men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one of them was killed. In time, the boxers began to fight while standing and wearing gloves (with spikes) and wrappings on their arms below the elbows, but otherwise they fought naked.

According to the Iliad, Mycenaean warriors included boxing among their competitions honoring the fallen, though it is possible that the Homeric epics reflect later Greek culture. Boxing was among the contests held in memorial of Achilles’ slain friend Patroclus, toward the end of the Trojan war. It was in commemoration of Patroclus that the Greeks later introduced boxing (pygme / pygmachia) to the Olympic Games in BCE 688. Participants trained on punching bags (called a korykos). Fighters wore leather straps (called himantes) over their hands (leaving the fingers free), wrists, and sometimes breast, to protect themselves from injury. There was no protection for the face or head.

The scholar and historian Philostratus maintained that boxing was originally developed in Sparta. The early Spartans believed helmets were unnecessary and boxing prepared them for the inevitable blows to the head they would receive in battle.[3] However, Spartans never participated in the competitive aspect of boxing, believing the means of defeat to be dishonorable.[4]

Boxing is a combat sport in which two people engage in a contest of strength, speed, reflexes, endurance, and will, by throwing punches at each other, usually with gloved hands.

Amateur boxing is both an Olympic and Commonwealth sport and is a common fixture in most international games—it also has its own World Championships. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds. The result is decided when an opponent is deemed incapable to continue by a referee, is disqualified for breaking a rule, resigns by throwing in a towel, or is pronounced the winner or loser based on the judges’ scorecards at the end of the contest.

While people have fought in hand-to-hand combat since before the dawn of history, the origin of boxing as an organized sport may be its acceptance by the ancient Greeks as an Olympic game in BC 688. Boxing evolved from 16th- and 18th-century prizefights, largely in Great Britain, to the forerunner of modern boxing in the mid-19th century, again initially in Great Britain and later in the United States.

The earliest known depiction of boxing comes from a Sumerian relief from the 3rd millennium BC.[1] Later depictions from the 2nd millennium BC are found in reliefs from the Mesopotamian nations of Assyria and Babylonia, and in Hittite art from Asia Minor. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with any kind of gloves can be found on Minoan Crete (c. 1500–900 BC), and on Sardinia, if we consider the boxing statues of Prama mountains (c. 2000–1000 BC).[1]

Boxing was a popular spectator sport in Ancient Rome. In order for the fighters to protect themselves against their opponents they wrapped leather thongs around their fists. Eventually harder leather was used and the thong soon became a weapon. The Romans even introduced metal studs to the thongs to make the cestus which then led to a more sinister weapon called the myrmex (‘limb piercer’). Fighting events were held at Roman Amphitheatres. The Roman form of boxing was often a fight until death to please the spectators who gathered at such events. However, especially in later times, purchased slaves and trained combat performers were valuable commodities, and their lives were not given up without due consideration. Often slaves were used against one another in a circle marked on the floor. This is where the term ring came from. In 393 AD, during the Roman gladiator period, boxing was abolished due to excessive brutality. It was not until the late 17th century that boxing re-surfaced in London.

Hand-to-hand combat is one of the most primal activities that has existed since the dawn of time. It is, supremely, brutal - yet it always manages to intrigue us. There is something, fundamentally, alluring about it, something that taps into our psyches, something sublime about it. What is fighting, but a microcosm of life itself; the survival of the fittest, the agon - the great contest. Life is battle, a resistance to entropy.

The best fighters are the best race-producers. This is the verdict of Biology and the instinctive belief of the whole Feminine world in general.
In the molding of Organic Nature into all its diverse forms, Love and War (with their attendant penalties and correlated consequences) are the two most potent factors. Battle is the furnace-alembic that has been consciously provided for chemically separating the animate Refuse from the Gold. Sexual desire is the amalgam that thereafter unites the golden particles, perpetuating for ages and ages the selected qualities-of physical beauty, vigor, bravery, endurance - or vice-versa. “I am convinced: writes Darwin, “that natural selection has been the main, but not the exclusive means of modification.”
The same thought has been gemmed in a more sentimental but equally suggestive setting, by Dryden:
Happy, happy, happy pair,
None but the brave,
None but the brave,
None but the brave deserve the fair.
Heraclitus condensed it into the terser dictum ‘strife is the parent of things.’ Even Solomon (the hoary old kingling) chanted it in characteristic Oriental strophes: “Love is stronger than death, the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the flood drown it-Jealousy is as cruel as the grave.”
Fighting is the method whereby the most fitted to propagate conclusively prove the fact. Animals, plants, birds, reptiles, and fish, all exist in surroundings of unending sex-rivalry and
warfare - so do men. Organic life is one ceaseless round of Love and War. Sexualism and slaughter go hand in hand. Bacteria butchers bacteria-germ wars with germ-shark eats the shark-tigers struggle with tigers-the lion rends lion-eagle kills eagle, and man fights man, for the favor of the female - or the plunder of the vanquished. “Peace on earth and mercy mild,” is mere lunacy-babblement. Even sheep, the most “Christly” of animals, wage tremendous duels - in due season. There is no other earthly passion so fiercely, savagely egotistic, as sexual desire and it is the physical basis of all human “love” - even the most ethereal and romantic. Everywhere ‘the season of love, is the season of battle,’ and whenn the fires of sexual ism bur low in nations or men, they are as unfit for freedom, as they are unfit to reproduce their kind,
Topinard explains how sexualism operates among vertebrates of the deep: “The male Artocephali (sea-bear) arrive at the Falkland Islands in November, and scatter out along the beach. In December the females arrive, and immediately violent battles are being fought in all directions for their possession, Family life follows exactly as among humans. If the females behave badly, the male chastises them: they crouch at his feet, seem to beg his pardon, and shed copious tears. At times the male and female weep together.”
A geographer and naturalist of world-repute (AR Wallace) proclaims a series of similar facts - facts that are not new to observant minds:
“Among the higher animals it is a very general fact, that the males fight together for the possession of the females. This leads… to the stronger or better armed males, becoming the parents of the next generation, which inherits the peculiarities of the parents; and thus vigor and offensive weapons are continually increased in the males, resulting in the strength and horns of the bull, the tusks and shield of the boar, the antlers and fleetness of the stag, and the spurs and fighting instincts of the gamecock, but almost all male animals fight together, though not specially armed; even hares, moles, squirrels, and beavers fight to the death. The same rule applies to all male birds. From this very general phenomenon, there necessarily results a form of natural selection, which increases the vigor and fighting power of the male animal; the weaker being either killed, wounded, or driven away.” - as among men.
In his Descent of Man. Darwin makes a similar general statement: 'With social animals, the young males have to pass through many a contest, before they win a female, and the older males have to retain their females by renewed battles, they have also, as in the case of mankind, to defend their females, as well as their young, from enemies of all kinds, and to hunt for their joint subsistence.”
Among the Vertebrates, the king of the herd (or pack), selects himself by his battle - prowess-upon the same “general principles” that induced Napoleon to place the Iron Crown upon his own brow-with his own hand All the Regal Houses of the world have been founded by fighting - men, and upheld by - fighting-men; just as in the “brute” creation. The chief recommendation to both animal and human chieftainship, is fighting capacity. The “common herd” instinctively feels that a good fighter possesses all the requisite virtues of good leadership, and leadership is exactly what they want. By conquest alone can an animal - king be deposed, and his vanquisher is always his successor. As long as his sight, hearing, strength, and courage endures, he is absolute lord, judge, procreator-in-chief - but not one moment longer. ‘The king’s dead, long live the king’ is a biological affirmative.
This is the Natural Order. The un-natural order is to appoint feeble but eloquent rhetoricians as Chief Magistrates (or constitutional kinglings), this latter plan is adopted only by human swarms in eras of senility and wholesale decadence. Politicians are everlastingly “fighting” each other (if we believe the sensational headlines of our editorial Daily Liar) but that kind of warfare is a sham intended to deceive. No real “fight” ever takes place between them. What they call ‘fighting’ is gambling with “Ayes” and “Nays”; playing pitch-and-toss for the booty other men win and the harvests other men garner. Hark! Do you hear them frothing at the mouth, loudly professing their “divine enthusiasm for Humanity.” For what? In order that they (squalid scoundrels that they are) may sit on the seats of the mighty and steer the nation down to hell while putting money in their purses with taxes and blackmail. Nations have always risen to their highest pitch of fame and prosperity under the guidance of mighty men of valor, self elected: and they’ve sunken to the lowest depths of degradation and dishonor under the diabolical domination of elective rhetoricians. (Their ravages are not so obtrusive in America as in Europe, because territory here has been so vast-practically limitless.)
Women instinctively admire soldiers, athletes, kings, nobles, and fighting-men generally, above all other kinds of suitors - and rightly so.
Nothing so lowers a lover in a virile maiden’s estimation, than for him to be “whipped” in a personal encounter with a rival.
Among all classes of females this sentiment persists. The best bid a man can make for the admiration of any woman (even the most pious) is a display of undaunted physical prowess.

-Redbeard

For thousands and thousands of years, the ideal man was a ferocious warrior. He epitomized the core masculine values: Honor, strength, courage, tenacity, virility and so on. Though some agencies seek to invert this masculine ideal today, the concupiscence for it remains, firmly, in tact within the female psyche.

The Doctrine of Physical Power

You can’t, really, train a fighter to become a more powerful puncher; they say that it is something that you are born with. Most everyone admires the fighter who has awesome punching power. This is a shade of the more general attraction to power. The fighters who possess physical power are blessed by the gods of war; an inheritance of genetic battle prowess.

Physical power is a concentration and ordering of anatomical energies; a masculine principle.

Endurance and Master-Mentality

The most sublime aspect of boxing is the extreme amount of endurance required. This is the hallmark of the true fighter: his ability to withstand the fury of the other, to keep pressing forward, even when pushed back. As prior mentioned, this combat endurance is a microcosm of life itself- the resistance to entropy. All cosmic systems are self-valuing, they maintain their power structures against competing self-valuing systems and forces. All must perish in the end, but the noble one seeks to it to endure as long as possible. To survive in the boxing ring, one needs to become a master of his mind and body. Extreme self-severity and endurance are mandatory. One must conquer not only the competitor, but also oneself, that is to say, all of the negative thoughts, bad habits, and fears. The body must also be tempered, sculpted and organized into a brutal war machine.

The master is, constantly, seeking out obstacles and opposition. He is in possession of an internal striving to discharge his power upon agents of superior might, in order to perpetuate his own self-valuing hypertrophy. The master does not moan and weep about the hellish pain, which must be endured, but rather welcomes it with a quasi-masochistic delight; he realizes that life itself would not be what it is today without the existence of pain and suffering. Christians and Buddhists moan about suffering, masters do not; they say with a life-embracing smirk " Shut up and take the pain!".

Some relevant quotes by Nietzsche:

Who can attain to anything great if he does not feel in himself the force and will to inflict great pain?

But what if pleasure and pain should be so closely connected that he who wants the greatest possible amount of the one must also have the greatest possible amount of the other, that he who wants to experience the “heavenly high jubilation,” must also be ready to be “sorrowful unto death”?

“Man, as the animal that is most courageous, most accustomed to suffering, does not negate suffering as such: he wants it, even seeks it out, provided one shows him some meaning in it, some wherefore of suffering.”

The discipline of suffering, of great suffering – do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far? That tension of the soul in unhappiness which cultivates its strength, its shudders face to face with great ruin, its inventiveness and courage in enduring, preserving, interpreting, and exploiting suffering, and whatever has been granted to it of profundity, secret, mask, spirit, cunning, greatness – was it not granted to it through suffering, through the discipline of great suffering?”

The greater the suffering, the greater the life.

My Personal experience

I first became interested in the sport of boxing after watching the Rocky franchise when I was about 11 years old. It wasn’t until I was 13, that I found a local boxing gym in my town. It’s located in the basement of an elementary school. It looks like the typical boxing gym; rugged, dirty, and the stench of blood and sweat. The trainer there is an old timer and boxing hall of fame coach. A very blunt and gritty fellow. He taught me all the basics: footwork, defensive hand positioning, feints, and even dirty tactics. I began sparring about two months after joining the gym, but I had to spar with grown men who were like 60 pounds heavier than me ( I was only about 140 pounds at the time ). It was a brutal learning experience, but I’m thankful for it; it only made me tougher. And you know that cliche quote from N. " What doesn’t kill you, makes…". After a year or so, I became well seasoned. My movement was fluid, my endurance was great, and my technique impeccable. My first amateur fight I won by KO in the second round. I had a few more amateur fights, but when I reached age 17-18, I became distracted by hedonistic activities. I’ve recently began my training again, at the age of 23. I’m planning on turning professional soon, but before doing so, I must master my mind and body again.

Boxing is seen by many to be an activity for dumb brutes, but such a perception only screams of ignorance. For me and many others, boxing is an art, a way of self-expression. It’s one of the most potent avenues for catharsis in my life. The amount of intensity, of raw aggression, passion and rage that are released during training is borderline unfathomable. When I’m in the ring, sparring or hitting the mitts, It’s as if there is nothing else, like I’m inside of a void, experiencing the core of reality, the cosmic agon. I feel so alive in there, so much intensity and emotions, overflowing with life - an internal raging for life. There is an irony that occurs, too; even when my mind and body become exhausted, my spirit never gives up. And the more physically tired I start to feel, the more intense, ferocious and powerful I become; a voluptuous contradiction. It’s almost like a spiritual defiance to the body’s enervation. The more pain and suffering I feel, the more alive I feel. I welcome the pain, because it strips me down to my core allowing my spirit to shine and say " This is what I’m made of ".

A video of myself, recorded yesterday, at the boxing gym. It’s broken up into three parts: The heavy bag, speed bag, and punching pads. Enjoy:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvkgNRDBMOE[/youtube]

[ended6]

Great post with a great vid, really enjoyed it. it looks like things are coming along. I would love to see you in a match, any plans for that any time soon?

[Fixed_Cross]

Very nice.

[AutSider]

Hand-to-hand combat is one of the most primal activities that has existed since the dawn of time. It is, supremely, brutal - yet it always manages to intrigue us. There is something, fundamentally, alluring about it, something that taps into our psyches, something sublime about it. What is fighting, but a microcosm of life itself; the survival of the fittest, the agon - the great contest. Life is battle, a resistance to entropy.

Hand to hand combat is for the primitive.

Notice how none of the most powerful people in the world are most powerful due to their hand to hand combat skills.

Even the strongest fighter will go down when somebody sticks a knife in his throat.

In nature there is only survival by any means necessary, the practical exercise of bravery and nobility is often in direct conflict with survival.

The true survivalist will run away from a fight he can’t win and fight another day, when he is the one in advantage . The “brave” one will stay to die, refusing to run away due to his pride. Bravery is foolishness and naivety. Some of us have risen above the 12y old concept of fairness/bravery and acknowledged reality for what it is.

[Lev_Muishkin]

The World’s Greatest and most enduring Boxer is eighty year old Shinohara.

youtube.com/watch?v=IxM_6wQGmSk

Enjoy!

[Fixed_Cross]

@Atheris

Hand-to-hand combat is one of the most primal activities that has existed since the dawn of time. It is, supremely, brutal - yet it always manages to intrigue us. There is something, fundamentally, alluring about it, something that taps into our psyches, something sublime about it. What is fighting, but a microcosm of life itself; the survival of the fittest, the agon - the great contest. Life is battle, a resistance to entropy.

Hand to hand combat is for the primitive.

Notice how none of the most powerful people in the world are most powerful due to their hand to hand combat skills.

Even the strongest fighter will go down when somebody sticks a knife in his throat.

In nature there is only survival by any means necessary, the practical exercise of bravery and nobility is often in direct conflict with survival.

The true survivalist will run away from a fight he can’t win and fight another day, when he is the one in advantage . The “brave” one will stay to die, refusing to run away due to his pride. Bravery is foolishness and naivety. Some of us have risen above the 12y old concept of fairness/bravery and acknowledged reality for what it is.

You wish. Only the wretched could disavow the pleasure of combat as something ultimately unrelated to power – it is the wretches that would dream of sticking a knife in someones throat, or preferably, someones back. And yes, this is politics - sticking knives in others backs. Until someone comes along, they usually do once or twice a century, who is not quite as weak, and capable of a true fight.

Boxing and such martial art raises not only ones alertness and health, but as you could have read in Erik’s message, it is by itself supremely pleasurable.

“Only excess of strength is proof of strength” - to engage the concept of combat sport from a utilitarian perspective is proof of total ignorance of strength. Power wants to unleash itself, it does not care what ‘goal’ there is for it. It will set its goals by the measure of its abundance. This excess, strength upon strength, is what gives birth to Style, the fluidity and art, the mastery that guides raw strength into elegant and supple form. Erik is someone I would like to step in the ring with.

[AutSider]

Did I ever say it was unrelated to power? Or that it doesn’t raise alertness and health or that it isn’t pleasurable?

The point I was trying to express is that some of the concepts Eric introduces in his philosophy contradict his statements. IIRC, he said that he disproves people acting anti-nature, yet concepts such as bravery, honesty and such require of you to act against nature.

[Erik1 (Erik_)]

@Atheris

Did I ever say it was unrelated to power? Or that it doesn’t raise alertness and health or that it isn’t pleasurable?

The point I was trying to express is that some of the concepts Eric introduces in his philosophy contradict his statements. IIRC, he said that he disproves people acting anti-nature, yet concepts such as bravery, honesty and such require of you to act against nature.

Interesting.

Bravery is, essentially, a universal value. I wouldn’t call it " anti-nature", because it’s not born out of some life-hating, or nihilistic sentiment. Yes, it’s often the case that acts of bravery are done contrary to intense feelings of fear. But just because something is contradictory, that doesn’t mean it is, necessarily, anti-nature, in the sense that I mean it. Getting up and going to work could be considered anti-nature, if you really want it to be; your body, naturally, wants to stay in bed, but something makes you act contrary to that.

Mannequin wrote:

Great post with a great vid, really enjoyed it. it looks like things are coming along. I would love to see you in a match, any plans for that any time soon?

Thanks, man. I’m going to have a few amateur fights before I turn professional, in order to get the ring rust off. I will record my bouts when they occur. I’m going to have one in December, so until then.

[Orbie]

Eric, PLEASE BE CAREFUL! Just heard that upwards of 20% of fighters suffer some degree of neurological cranial damage. Some very severe. That includes football players.

Great blog, and wish You well with it. Saw Muhamed
a few years ago, when he was honored by the then
Mayor Bradley, and he looked spastic. His speech was erratic and garbled. Again, Please be extremely careful, You are an intellectual, a terrific gift, a few
unexpected lefts to very vulnerable areas could put an end to Your acute mind. Is it worth it? Have You given that aspect due consideration?

[Erik1 (Erik_)]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dKmgPMDnCI[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvhhW9lsyAU[/youtube]

Inspiring scenes from the Rocky franchise.

Edit: On a high school field trip, we went to Philadelphia and visited those iconic stairs that Rocky runs up. I, of course, ran up them as well .

Edit: Obe, I realize the potential risks of boxing, but that’s why I’m getting in tip top shape and mastering my craft before I enter the arena. " Hit and don’t get hit".

[Fixed_Cross]

Bravery is the natural quality pur sang. Without it, life is forced into herds and dark caverns.

Indeed mans mass instinct is to regard the human species as either herd or cavern dweller. This is why I dont put much stock in the term humanity or mankind. There are two distinct types, and they don’t breed or mix.

[AutSider]

Getting up and going to work could be considered anti-nature, if you really want it to be; your body, naturally, wants to stay in bed, but something makes you act contrary to that.

Yeah, the fact that what your body needs even more are nutrients and the way to obtain the nutrients is to buy them with money, which you earn by getting up and going to work

Have you ever considered training something else too? I trained karate until red belt (not much, I know) and my buddy, who trained Jiu Jitsu took me down easier than I’d like to admit

To be a complete fighter you need to “mix them up”.

[Erik1 (Erik_)]

@Atheris

Getting up and going to work could be considered anti-nature, if you really want it to be; your body, naturally, wants to stay in bed, but something makes you act contrary to that.

Yeah, the fact that what your body needs even more are nutrients and the way to obtain the nutrients is to buy them with money, which you earn by getting up and going to work

Have you ever considered training something else too? I trained karate until red belt (not much, I know) and my buddy, who trained Jiu Jitsu took me down easier than I’d like to admit

To be a complete fighter you need to “mix them up”.

Yeah, I’ve trained in Jeet-kune-do and MMA. I was interested in learning Krav Maga, too - but can’t find any body in the area that teaches it.

[A_Shieldmaiden]

obe wrote:

Eric, PLEASE BE CAREFUL! Just heard that upwards of 20% of fighters suffer some degree of neurological cranial damage. Some very severe. That includes football players.

Great blog, and wish You well with it. Saw Muhamed
a few years ago, when he was honored by the then
Mayor Bradley, and he looked spastic. His speech was erratic and garbled. Again, Please be extremely careful, You are an intellectual, a terrific gift, a few
unexpected lefts to very vulnerable areas could put an end to Your acute mind. Is it worth it? Have You given that aspect due consideration?

Agree, agree, agree.

Erik, why turn professional, when you have all the attributes of boxing, now at this present time, without the potential damage.

Erik wrote:

Boxing is seen by many to be an activity for dumb brutes, but such a perception only screams of ignorance. For me and many others, boxing is an art, a way of self-expression. It’s one of the most potent avenues for catharsis in my life. The amount of intensity, of raw aggression, passion and rage that are released during training is borderline unfathomable. When I’m in the ring, sparring or hitting the mitts, It’s as if there is nothing else, like I’m inside of a void, experiencing the core of reality, the cosmic agon. I feel so alive in there, so much intensity and emotions, overflowing with life - an internal raging for life. There is an irony that occurs, too; even when my mind and body become exhausted, my spirit never gives up. And the more physically tired I start to feel, the more intense, ferocious and powerful I become; a voluptuous contradiction. It’s almost like a spiritual defiance to the body’s enervation. The more pain and suffering I feel, the more alive I feel. I welcome the pain, because it strips me down to my core allowing my spirit to shine and say " This is what I’m made of ".

It looks beautifully impressive but, all this can be lost with one devastating punch to the head.

[Ecclesiastes]

@Fixed Cross

You wish. Only the wretched could disavow the pleasure of combat as something ultimately unrelated to power – it is the wretches that would dream of sticking a knife in someones throat, or preferably, someones back. And yes, this is politics - sticking knives in others backs. Until someone comes along, they usually do once or twice a century, who is not quite as weak, and capable of a true fight.

Well, Putin is a fighter, trained in martial arts/boxing or something.
And?

Man is one of the weakest animals on Earth, most insects possess more strength relatively.
But he has evolved to run. It’s something that he does naturally without any training or instruction.

In terms of endurance he can out run many animals that are much stronger than him.
African tribes actually hunt animals this way, wearing them down until they are too weak to run anymore.

[Fixed_Cross]

@Ecclesiastes

@Fixed Cross

You wish. Only the wretched could disavow the pleasure of combat as something ultimately unrelated to power – it is the wretches that would dream of sticking a knife in someones throat, or preferably, someones back. And yes, this is politics - sticking knives in others backs. Until someone comes along, they usually do once or twice a century, who is not quite as weak, and capable of a true fight.

Well, Putin is a fighter, trained in martial arts/boxing or something.
And?

Not that he doesnt know how to put a knife in the back of his unsuspecting enemy but he is a man, not just a politician. His fighting skills are of course exaggerated. He was thrown to the mat at judo by a teenage Japanese girl.

Man is one of the weakest animals on Earth, most insects possess more strength relatively.
But he has evolved to run. It’s something that he does naturally without any training or instruction.

In terms of endurance he can out run many animals that are much stronger than him.
African tribes actually hunt animals this way, wearing them down until they are too weak to run anymore.

Then running is clearly not only defensive.

Relative strength is meaningless. We are relatively stronger than the sun. At least those of us that can lift our own body weight. Insects are relatively brutally strong compared to virtually all other animals.

[Ben_JS]

Is boxing a game?

What is our primary strength?

To become a vegetable - increase in net strength?

[AutSider]

His fighting skills are of course exaggerated. He was thrown to the mat at judo by a teenage Japanese girl.

He was? I thought he has a black belt in something. He’s a tiny guy though.

[Fixed_Cross]

I believe that black belt is part of his state propaganda - he might have received it but it’s very doubtful that he acquired it by regular standards.
The incident with the girl was at the beginning of his first term, when his image-machine wasn’t as well oiled as it is now. In his defense, I don’t think he was at all prepared for the fact that the girl (a black belt) was actually going to fight him. He must have thought it was a diplomatic event, but the girl was fighting for her honor. Or something.

By the way, obe - Muhammad Ali has Parkinson. That is why he is twitchy and can’t speak properly. You don’t get Parkinson from boxing. Also, for the record, it does not affect your intellect, only your capacity to express it.

[A_Shieldmaiden]

Also, for the record, it does not affect your intellect, only your capacity to express it.

Is that all, well no need for concern then. hehe!

Hi Erik,

Showed your vid to the men of my household, who do similar training.

Their verdict.

Really good, a marked improvement on the last vid, (although I explained you had just had your op). We all noticed you have put on some weight and looked much stronger.