Describing the box fight - Essay Example

?Yilmaz Yigit Tokman Writing 20 Jonathan Dueck 15 March When Your Wound is My Victory Ring magazine’s Filipino pound for pound king “P” returnedon the ring last year, November 13, to vie for another championship belt defended by Mexico’s “T”. That title was the 8th so far in P’s boxing career. It happened in Arlington, Texas at the famous Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Boxing has, usually, been a bloody sport. Additionally, in the small world of the boxing arena, one cannot expect a silent crowd particularly when a big title is at stake. Media, being a powerful tool in relaying graphic particulars of events, is able to offer even small details of an incident to people who are located in different parts of the world. That is the reason why even if I was not particularly at the site of the event, I was able to feel how it is to be with the crowd. The sense of excitement and rowdiness is almost magically transferred from the cameras to the television screen. The amazing technology is able to provide television viewers the thrill of hearing the shrill and echoing sounds of screams and the explicit details of swollen flesh and bleeding wounds. This is what I liked so much. I did not specifically like it due to the brutal details, but the experience that media provided me was as if I was there on the scene myself. Looking back on the field notes, here are some highlights that points out how the media was able to offer a differentiated level of experience to television viewers: Camera zooms in on T’s bloodied face. Those wounds sure look painful. Watching the replay of the 10th round’s highlight. Even the commentator bellowed “boom!” on one solid hit by P. Camera focuses on P’s side and he sure looks like he can stand several more rounds. T’s group hovers over him trying to get to his wounds. I cannot stand it when they zoom in on the wounds! Replay of highlights. These slow motions emphasize more the impact of the blows. T needs hospitalization..FAST! These are a few of the reasons why sometimes, watching at home is better than being there myself. The replays definitely ensured that my need for visual gratification will be satisfied with their well-chosen replays of the highlights of the game. I did not even need to guess which punch hit what place. The media gave all of that to me. I want to relay the commentators’ views verbatim, but I am at a loss. No matter how I probe my brain to remember how they said things, all I can remember were the feelings those words had on me. Still, in this narrative, I will try to relay the details by interpreting and paraphrasing what was retained in my memory (Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw 75). Additionally, in this account, I will also try as much as possible to refer to scenes as I have personally experienced and seen them, to provide the most detailed account of the event I want to narrate (Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw 83). In reference to the title I chose, I am not saying that people are asking for blood, but boxing, as we know it, sort of makes one expect that the more bloody the event is, the more exhilarating the winning is. This was what I felt during the hours of watching a spectacular boxing match a couple of months ago. I was at home cozily sitting on the plush brown sofa I chose to sit on for the event. On the mahogany center table, I placed a large bowl of yellow buttered popcorn that I just got out from the microwave. The flavorful scent that permeated the air made me smile as I placed a tall glass of iced tea beside the glass bowl. I was preparing myself to be as excited as the crowd because it is a very much talked about match. Curious to see what this titleholder has to offer, I began to immerse myself in the game. I was trying to listen to what the commentators were saying, and the crowd’s piercing screams caused me a frown or two occasionally. By the middle part of the match, my hands were already clammy with cold sweat. I did not realize I was so much taken by the events inside the ring. I clutched my white handkerchief, gripping it every time a good punch was given. My heartbeat was already above normal at that time, feeling like I took a 15-minute brisk walk. What really held my interest were the cuts and wounds on T’s face. I do not want to imagine how it feels like to have swollen flesh with nasty-looking cuts being hit with strong punches every few minutes or so. I could swear I see T’s grimace towards the latter part of the game. I even began to wonder whether they were really grimaces or his face was just badly swollen and disfigured. The camera zoomed across the audience at the end of every round. It focused on faces smiling, laughing, and anxious. The noise and screaming were overwhelming. Funny how the camera seems to quickly catch standout expressions like mouths wide open to scream their taunts and jeers. I noticed one teenage person in bright red shirt whose freckled face appeared to be more freckled as he seemed to shout his outrage. I particularly do not know what he is mad about, but his expression told me a lot. He kept nudging his other companions while waving and pointing his fingers towards the ring, making all verbal gestures that spoke of how agitated he was. On the other hand, some played it cool, casually smiling, and laughing with their friends, or even strangers who happen to be near them. Observing the crowd made me feel like I was there with them; the only difference is the advantage of watching specific angles of the whole arena. The bell for the last two rounds rang and the crowd sounded more frenzied. Everyone seemed to be talking about stopping the fight because T’s wounds looked bad even for an amateur boxing viewers like me. The funny thing is every time the bell rang, I found myself sitting almost at the edge of the sofa. So much for wanting to be comfortable while watching. With the iced tea and popcorn forgotten, I leaned forward to eye T’s face when the camera zoomed in on him. I bit my lips as I tried to listen to the professional remarks of the commentators who sounded as excited as the crowd did. I was keenly viewing the slow motion reply of the highlight of the previous round when I caught myself talking aloud. “They should stop it,” I said with conviction. I looked around to ensure that no one heard me. Then I said it again, louder this time, as if the coaches will hear me: “Stop it man! He’s bleeding to death!” However, at the back of my mind, I wanted it to go on. With my pulse rising, I smiled as the fighters stood to begin the next round. The media really played it well, focusing on T’s pain while cheering for P’s power punches. The crowd seemed not to care, they just wanted their money’s worth. One would think that in boxing, there is a thin line between entertainment and barbarism. No one seemed to be against punching a fighter to a bloody mess. Until this day the screams of the crowd and the graphic details of T’s face every time the camera zoomed in on him lingers in my memory. I cannot help but smile when I realized how much I enjoyed it. I did not really want to stop the game. I wanted it to go on and I wanted to see how T would react every time he absorbs the blows thrown by P. No, it was not barbaric and people were not really asking for blood during a boxing fight. One has to understand that boxing is not for the weak-hearted. These fighters earn enough money to be hospitalized anyway, so why stop them from entertaining people by their chosen profession. It appears to me that the more wounded the opponent is, the more honorable the victory is for the winner. You can tell it by the way the crowd cheers when the underdog suffers from hard punches, staggers backwards, clings on to something steady, that the referee has to literally anchor the fighter to ensure that he can still go on. The female viewers are more affected by the ghastly sight, I guess. Throughout the latter part of the match, when T’s face is already puffy and red, several female viewers held their hands to their mouths, eyes wide, frowns burrowed on their foreheads. I can imagine them holding back their breaths, waiting expectantly if it was already the end of the match, yet probably, just like everyone else, wanting it to go on. Who does not want the feel of adrenalin rush anyway? When the match ended, everyone already knew who the victor is. He was a victor not only because he threw more powerful punches than his opponent did. He was a victor because it was obvious to everyone how he backed off and avoided hitting T’s injuries towards the end of the match. I remember him saying, “Boxing is not about killing.” This great show of admirable and noble character inside and outside the ring definitely earned P not only the victory that day. On the other hand, T’s great show of courage to struggle until the end may not have gained him the title belt, but surely gained him the admiration of the people. Works Cited British Sky Sports. Pacquiao Video. 14 November 2010. 15 March 2011 . Emerson, Robert M, Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Print. Read More