My copy of AJ Liebling’s The Sweet Science came from Con Houlihan’s house in Portobello. Such was his genius of generosity he would never let me leave that house without a couple of books under my arm, sometimes with a jar of marmalade to go with them.
Con also being a genius judge of books meant they were invariably great reads – and The Sweet Science is no exception. One of his measures of greatness was longevity, how well the book stood the test of time, against those that came before and after. Which is why The Sweet Science is still on my bookshelf.
For Liebling, whose series of boxing essays in The Sweet Science originally appeared in The New Yorker magazine, between 1951 and 1956, this was also the measure of a great boxer: he covered that golden period which featured the rise of Rocky Marciano and the demise of those who fought him (including Joe Louis); the comeback of the nonpareil Sugar Ray Robinson; the exploits of unsung heroes like Sandy Saddler.
Greatest boxer
Of Louis, Liebling wrote, “his light extended in both directions historically, exposing the insignificance of what preceded and followed” – and that says a lot. It’s not much good being the greatest boxer of your time if that light doesn’t shine over time, against those that came before and after.
Indeed this could also be said about the cover of Sports Illustrated. “What a time to be alive,” declared Conor McGregor, self-promoting his appearance on the cover of this week’s issue, ahead of UFC 196 in Las Vegas next Saturday. “It is an honour to be the first Irishman to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated.”
Except of course he’s not – McGregor shining a light on his own ignorance or else deluded sense of his own importance. Or a good deal of both.
What some critics of the UFC and particularly UFC fans don’t like is the notion that nothing in sport has mattered before UFC, and McGregor’s failure to recognise Ireland’s already rich tradition of making the cover of Sports Illustrated certainly reflects that. And whatever about after his time there is precious little history to the before.
Worse still McGregor failed to recognise the two athletes who beat him to the honour – Ronnie Delany and Eamonn Coghlan – weren’t just greats of their time but whose light extends in both directions historically. Rory McIlory has also made the cover (twice), and it should only be a matter of time before his greatness extends in both directions too.
World famous
Plenty of athletes have also made the cover of Sports Illustrated and were never heard of again (especially the swimsuit issue), although in Delany’s case the opposite was true. He was already world famous when he made the cover in February 1959, three years after winning his Olympic 1,500m gold medal. The cover shot – showing Delany in his Irish vest, a white knitted sweater over his shoulders – was captioned: “Ron Delany: Irish star on the American campus”, with the strapline: “Is the United States a second-class track power?”
Delany had just returned to Villanova, studying for a master’s degree, and was proving unbeatable on the US indoor circuit.
By the end of that 1959 season he extended his four-year unbeaten indoor streak to 40 races (33 over the mile), while also lowering the world indoor mile record to 4:01.4. It remains one of the greatest unbeaten records of all-time, bettered only by the likes of Herb Elliott, who went five years unbeaten over the 1,500m and mile.
Coghlan made the cover of Sports Illustrated not once but three times, firstly in May 1975, running behind Filbert Bayi of Tanzania, in the Freedom Games, staged in Kingston, Jamaica: “Dream Mile Comes True” read the caption, and it certainly did – Bayi setting a world record of 3:51.0, with Coghlan, running in his Villanova vest, setting a European record of 3:53.3.
Then, in 1979, Coghlan became one of the first athletes from any country to make the cover of Sports Illustrated twice in the same year: that February, after running 3:52.6 indoors in San Diego, the cover caption ran “Begorra! Eamonn Coghlan shatters the mile record”; that July, after Coghlan ran 3:52.8 in Philadelphia, the caption read “A mile to shout about” – and so it was, as he’d beaten all the greats of the time, such as John Walker, Steve Scott and Rod Dixon.
Not that McGregor was in anyway bothered by his immodest oversight: his press conference to promote UFC 196 descended into the usual farce when he accused injured opponent Rafael Dos Anjos and also Frankie Egdar of suffering from “sore vaginas”, before making some various Mexican-American slurs against his new opponent, Nate Diaz.
Failed doping tests
Diaz then responded by accusing McGregor and “the whole UFC, everybody” of being on steroids, and he should know: two of his training partners, Gilbert Melendez and Jake Shields, have failed doping tests, Melendez banned for taking steroids as recently as last July. Older brother Nick Diaz has failed three doping tests, and although originally banned for five years, last month had that reduced to 18 months.
No wonder the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) still don’t consider UFC compliant with the Wada-code, specifically when it comes to sanctions. All of which suggests it’s far too soon to start judging the greatness of any UFC fighter, even those that make the cover of Sports Illustrated. Only time will tell if McGregor truly deserves that honour.
