Boxing: Free at last!

Boxing: Free at last!

The type of fight covered in the report Boxer extremely critical after brain operation, The Jakarta Post, Feb. 27, 1995, is exactly the type of competition boxing fans want to see.

Tragic though it was to see the WBC super-middleweight contender hospitalized, in boxing that's always a possibility. To call it "vicious" is to miss the point entirely. It sounds as if the fight was a hard fought, genuine competition enjoined by two very tough athletes. The middleweight divisions often produce great fighters but the greatest fighter of the post war years is about to breath new life into the moribund heavyweight division.

On gaining his freedom later this month 'Iron' Mike Tyson, popularly known as 'The People's Champion,' will walk from the place of his incarceration with the words "Free at last! Free at last!" on his lips. When that happens the geriatrics and great pretenders who now characterize the top ten contenders in the heavy weights will be quaking in their boots. And quite rightly too. He's not called 'Iron' Mike for nothing and by all accounts to take one of his punches is like being hit with a sledge hammer.

As Mr Tyson is now a Moslem I would like to wish him Selamat Idul Fitri and good luck in the future with his professional career which I hope he pursues with some vigor.

I.S. NORTH

Jakarta