Following an incident similar to Scottland/Mercante, managers should be
telling fighters, "If you get hurt, make sure you throw some punches.  It's
up to you to show the referee you're okay.  He's going to be looking for a
reason to stop the bout."

Despite the potential for bias, I thought McAuliffe was right about a few
things; for one, Tunney and Leonard were outstanding boxers.  For another,
the conditioning and seriousness of Baer was questionable.  I think what he
seemed to be looking for was a sense of professionalism.  A good
illustration of this in the modern age was Naseem vs. Barrera.  Through
discipline and good boxing technique, Barrera defeated Naseem.  Likewise,
Tyson was defeated by Douglas and Holyfield, who were able to exercise
disciplined plans to exploit a weakness in Tyson at that time.

I note that McAuliffe wrote before the Louis and Robinson era.  I suspect
that he would have found flaws in the style of the young Louis, as Schmeling
did.  I think he would have acknowledged the greatness of Robinson, though,
which is virtually undeniable.

I think it comes down to this; if boxing were just about natural ability
alone, it would not be a sport, just a spectacle; no better than the
brutality of animal vs. animal fights.

woz