I am not a huge boxing fan, but I have watched enough of the sweet science to know a little bit about the sport. Boxing, in the sports world, is the ultimate mano-y-mano physical endeavor. The sport in which there is no where to hide your failures; no where to escape the punishment when you face someone better than you.
There is maybe no modern superstar whose career has more closely resembled a pugilist than Kobe Bryant. He has turned so many possessions into a one-on-one battle where, like two men confined to the ring, there is no where to run from the onslaught he had prepared for his opponent.