BRAINS DAMAGED, SOULS HEALED

Two British fighters of two different generations, both permanently brain damaged as a consequence of fighting two Eubanks (Chris and Chris Jr), also of two different generations, met for the first time on Sunday 13th August and recognised their unique and cruelly coincidental shared affinity through them both suffering devastating cognitive trauma.

It's easy in these days of content over saturation to become desensitized to genuine displays of actual human emotion when you're observing it through the screen of the miniature monolith in your hand, but for me, this was one such moment.

There was a beatific look on both fighters' faces, that seem to say 'I'm home' like two beleaguered vessels that had been battered and thrown about on the violent waves of heavy life storms suddenly finding safe harbor in the light of each other's eyes that I'm happy to confess broke down my defenses completely.

And I'm not too proud to admit that there was also an envy of sorts as I looked upon their healed souls as if they conquered something bigger than any elite sporting accomplishment or conventional life goal or perception of success. There appeared a genuine spiritual peace in the way Nick Blackwell (32) and Michael Watson (58) had both seemed to overcome their hardships and it was hard not to be inspired by it.

Conversely, most especially in the case of Chris Eubank Sr who had dealt the devastating punishment that had prematurely ended Michael Watson's boxing career, we see a man, who though physically fit, is mentally and spiritually broken. It almost makes you wonder who lost the most that night the two men fought back on September 21st, 1991 at White Hart Lane, Tottenham.

Sometimes it seems, the battles won in the ring are lost outside of it. And vice versa as in the case of Watson and Blackwell.