By Gerardo Granados
I bet the reader has seen them come and go and for sure you all must have felt how those men and women are special in more than a single sense. When I saw them for the first time it wasn’t heading a main event, not even on the undercard but on a local boxing gym.
Centuries ago Odin (Nordic God) was praised and among others the Viking Warriors believed that if they were to die in battle that they would go to a heaven called Valhalla, in which they would not age, and they would feast every night with the best wine and food, and of course they would be accompanied by beautiful women.
There is a special kind of prize fighters who seem to be modern Valhalla Fighters; for them all the sacrifice and battles will lead them to achieve their own personal vision of Valhalla.
Not many of the young lions will land a spot at a major event even less will ever achieve a million notes purse but none of them stop fighting for their dreams.
Once I saw a boxing documentary related to the pugilistic dementia, it is a hard thing to deal with and you cannot hide it under the rug. Prize fighting is brutal and the consequences from its practice on times are not just a broken nose or bruised hands pain. But to achieve his personal Valhalla a fighter is determined to not to quit trying and does whatever is needed to achieve his goal.
The sacrifice of training and the endurance of injuries are nothing compared to the mental strength that a prize fighter must endure in order to succeed but he better not forget about having a good time.
Train thru pain fight thru pain to achieve victory and to never surrender your dreams.
Some get into boxing to avoid getting into more trouble, for some boxing is a way to stay away from wrong companies and to stay away from temptations you can find on the streets.
It’s not about been young; it won’t matter if you are past your prime when you start training, it is all about doing it because you still can; to stand your ground and to fight back.
All my respect to all those anonymous fighters who at all corners of the world put up great performances, I will not give a nationality to them because they are the Valhalla Fighters.
Many remember the Castillo – Corrales epic battle but we should better not forget that before that fight both lions were already Valhalla fighters. The thing that I remember the most of the Mike Alvarado vs Ruslan Provodnikov fight is the smile of the Siberian Rocky once he knew he had won the fight; it was the explosion of emotions built thru hard work and sacrifice.
A friend of mine thinks that you must be unbreakable and all things that go wrong won’t stop you from getting what you deserve, that to quit it’s not an option because you would be quitting on yourself and on your dreams.
For some it is a catharsis to go into the ring and for a few it is the only place they can claim to be in control of the world, for them it´s like nearing into Valhalla for just a few rounds.
But, I want to ask the reader: Are you a Valhalla fighter?
