| alanm |
10-14-2005 12:11 AM |
This is from a old Mike Royko collumn. Royko, Who I really miss used to write for the Chicago Sun Times.
He Was Called 'Quick Death'
October 3, 1975
Many sports experts are now declaring Muhammad Ali is the greatest heavyweight fighter "of all time" Ali, of course, says so himself.
That's ridiculous. Ali may or may not be the best heavyweight fighter of our time, but he is not the best to ever live.
That distinction belongs to the late Brza(Quick Death) Smrt, the magnificent Bulgarian boxer who has never received the recognition he deserves. To those who are familiar with Brza Smrt(pronounced Berzha Shmert), the idea of Ali beating him is laughable. Ali wouldn't have lasted more than a few seconds. Smrt's record, which I'll go into in a moment, has never been appreciated because he fought before TV and other mass communications made athletes world figures. (Incidentally, Brza Smrt was called "Quick Death" because that is what the words "brza smrt" mean. It was his real name. Ask any Bulgarian.
His career spanned the years between 1234 and 1250. Because of poor record keeping in Bulgaria, his accomplishments later drifted into obscurity. But thanks to an international group of sports minded scientists and scholars, his brilliant career has recently been reconstructed. In fact, his skeleton has been reconstructed. That's why we know today what a superhuman physical specimen he was.
It was through a remarkable bit of luck that his remains..the location of which had not been known.. were discovered a few years ago. A Bulgarian farmer was harvesting cauliflower, but when he found something that looked like a cauliflower, but didn't feel like it. It turned out to be the skeleton of Smrt's ear. This led to excavation and discovery of his tombstone and the rest of him. Smrt had a remarkable physique. He was almost seven feet tall and his arms hung down to his knees. His reach was extraordinary. And because he was born without fingers, his huge hands were natural clubs. Scientists say his knees were quadruple-jointed. He could bend them as easily backwards and sideways as the normal way. With his flexibility, he could run as quickly sideways or backwards as he did forward. This made him easily the most mobile boxer in history. They estimate that he weighed 350 pounds or more-- all rocklike muscle--and had tendons in his arms and wrists as thick as those found in the legs of a large elk. So much for the dry scientific data. It was the way he used his physical gifts that made him so fine an athlete. Smrt had a simple but effective style. He would glide forward then sideways in a circle at tremendous speed, literally surrounding his opponent. He would throw one punch. And the results were always the same. His opponent went down. Not only out, but dead. Thats's one of the reasons Smrts career got off to a fast start. then lagged. Nobody wanted to fight him. In fact, his first 3 fights ended before they began because he killed his opponents during the weigh-in ceremonies. Authorities banned Smrt from fighting because they feared he might decimate Bulgaria's male population and make it vulnerable to attack by the Turks. despite his assurances that he would kill all the Turks himself. His fans were furious because he was a popular figure. In one way he was like Ali, who recites poetry. Smrt didn't recite poems, but he sang. Not just before a fight, he would sing loudly all during the fight. And despite his size he had a amazingly high voice. He sounded exactly like an operatic soprano. This was disconcerting to his opponents, but pleased the fans. Even those who didn't enjoy boxing came out just to hear him warble an aria while he punched someone. The ban was finally lifted when the rules were changed to permit his opponents to wear thick metal helmets that covered the entire face and head.
This made the matches even more popular because the helmets made a loud gong sound and when Smrt really got going, it sounded like a carillon concert. With his soprano voice ringing out at the same time, it was spectacular. However these fights also were banned when it was discovered the helmets, while saving the lives of the opponents, made them deaf because of the noise. Authorities worried that nobody would hear the Turks sneaking up on Bulgaria.
That's when Smrt's career entered its most interesting phase. And when we find another parallel between Smrt and Ali. As we know, Ali taunted Joe Frazier by saying "He is a gorilla."
That's exactly what Smrt said about his next opponent. Except it really was a gorilla. And Smrt knocked it out with one blow to the chest. He later fought several bisons, a few hippos, and finally an enormous rhino, winning all by knockouts. The rhino fight was his last. He quit because the rhino, when it finally came to, was permanently cross-eyed. Smrt who was basically a softhearted man, said the sight of the rhino's eyes, looking at each other, haunted his conscience and he vowed never to fight again.
I'm sure that Ali's sdmirers will stubbornly insist we can't be sure Brza Smrt would have beaten Ali. since they never fought. But it can be proved through scientific means. Tests have shown that a punch with sufficient force to knock a rhino cross-eyed would not only KO Ali, but would actually separate hsi head from his body and propel it almost thirty-eight feet into the third or fourth row of seats, and this would not only kill Ali, but might even silence him. Even Howard Cosell might not have the words to adequately describe such a dramitic moment in sports.
So when we talk about the greatest fighter of "all time," I will take Brza (Quick Death) Smrt.
On the other hand, Sven the beast, a Norwegian who could crack icebergs with one punch, was great back in the early four hundreds. And before him, there was Oooga the Rock Eater, the baddest man in the caves.
After all,"all time" is a long time. :)
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