For a brief period during my childhood I had a thing about boxing. It was my first sporting enthusiasm. I had a subscription to an English weekly paper called, if I remember correctly, Boxing News, and an Australian friend of my Dad's used to pass on copies of Ring Magazine when he'd finished with them. By Googling I determine that this phase lasted from when I was eight until I was eleven. I infer it from the dates of certain fights I took an interest in: Sugar Ray Robinson vs Carl 'Bobo' Olson in early 1952; the South African Vic Toweel's two bouts against the Australian Jimmy Carruthers in 1952 and 1953; and Rocky Marciano vs Don Cockell in 1955. For me at that time, Marciano was Da Man. Then cricket took over.
Why am I telling you this? Well, why not? Last night me and the missus went out to see Clint Eastwood's latest movie, Million Dollar Baby. It isn't possible to discuss it in detail without giving away things I shouldn't. So I'll just say that it starts out as a feelgood movie and turns very dark, and that it's an admirable follow-up to Eastwood's Mystic River. Hilary Swank is outstanding as the aspiring champion, and Eastwood himself and Morgan Freeman are also both excellent. Go if you're ready for the change of mood.
