I fell in love with boxing a little over 15 years ago. I quickly found that lightweight fights weren’t interesting because the fighters couldn’t hit with power. Heavyweights are too powerful and those fights devolve into clinch-fests if they don’t end early from a knock-out. So, I found that the best balance was in the middle – roughly from welterweight through middleweight…maybe up to light heavyweight. Basically, we’re talking about guys weighing around 150-170 lbs. Get too light, they pound each other until they’re burger – like Ward/Gatti.

Eventually I stopped watching. Good fights, like Mosley/de la Hoya, become few and far between. If you start getting serious about it, you start shelling out for Pay-Per-View fights or go to bars…which ends up costing more.

I hear there was a fight last night, and I hear it was a snooze-fest. Apparently, in order to be a good boxer in the welterweight division, and to be successful over a long career, you basically have to learn how not to get hit. I just wish the Sumo Association would have sponsored an ad after the fight… “now that everyone’s asleep…we give you Terunofuji/Ichinojo to wake you up.”

I love how sumo bouts are over quickly. I love how they’re decisive – very few judging controversies – whereas it seems any prize fight or Superbowl or basketball game is tainted by some questionable call or a no-call. Prize fights are worse because undoubtedly there are judges’ cards that just make no sense. The controversy that broke out about Hakuho/Kisenosato seems to prove just how rare it is. Lastly, I just love how it’s an exciting sport but it’s nowhere near as brutal as boxing or football. Guys will go home and they won’t have mental issues in their 50s. Bottom line: sumo is sport. It is not combat. Intense competition with respect and sportsmanship — and the occasional live-wire like Asashoryu.