Way back in the day, I did a bit of boxing. I wasn’t very good, but I loved the idea of thinking that – at the time – boxing was one of the purest forms of sport in the world.
Two men… in a ring… see who wins.
So, I’m a fan, especially of beautiful tactician boxers. A big, fat guy can swing for the fences and knock a guy out, but watching the intricacies and details of a master is really cool to me.
So imagine my surprise when I recently couldn’t sleep and found a replay of one of my favorite fights ever.
The 1993 title fight between Pernell (Sweet P) Whitaker and Julio Cesar Chavez (AKA: Mr. KO El León de Culiacán or “The Lion of Culiacán”.
As you can probably tell by the nicknames, one was a tactician (Sweet P) and Mr. KO was a brawler and a “knock-out” artist.
The fight was HUGE as Chávez was the number one fighter on The Ring magazine’s pound-for-pound list and Whitaker was number two.
It was the first time in the history of The Ring magazine’s pound-for-pound list that the two top ranked fighters on the pound-for-pound list had faced each other.
When asked about becoming the number one fighter in the pound-for-pound rankings Whitaker said this… “That is the title every man dreams of. This fight is the World Series, Super Bowl, NBA finals. It’s boxing’s two best fighters at any weight.”
The fight… WAS… EPIC… UNFORGETTABLE… CRAZY GOOD… with both displaying their tremendous skills.
The two men fought each other’s guts out for 12 rounds and when the final bell rang, the judges scored it…
a DRAW.
It was such a GREAT fight… and such a DISSAPOINTMENT all at the same time.
And it got me to thinking about the fact that… unfortunately, this is a fact of life.
Sometimes, even though we fight our heart out, we won’t always win.
This is why it’s risky to put our happiness in someone else’s hands.
It has to come from within.
This is why I believe in celebrating small (sometimes even tiny) victories. And doing my best to find the joy in the journey.
Because sometimes… we will face… not just a draw… but a devastating loss. No matter how hard we work. Believe me… I know.
Both Sweet P and Mr. KO could be proud. They both did their best on the biggest stage.
But what matters more than victory is who we become on the journey.
Do we learn to control the darkness inside each of us?
Can we face the uncomfortable?
Will we continue to fight and go harder than we did before – even if we were not victorious?
Our journey in life will never be a straight line. Even if we do EVERYTHING right.
There will always be obstacles and setbacks, storms to face and deep holes we’ll need to climb out of.
But I believe… as long as we keep fighting every day, the best is yet to come.
Listen… it’s okay. Really. It’s okay to fight our hearts out and still lose, because life will always be unpredictable.
I’m starting to think that “PEACE” may be the new currency.
If you want to learn what it takes to build emotional fitness and increase your certainty (and gain peace) in an uncertain world, I’d love to help.
Moving forward, we can create opportunities… or we can be a victim of our circumstances.
Which would you rather be?
Leave a Reply