Well as far as training goes i think athletes should do whats best for them, even if that means running the 8miles at 3am when its freezing out. I've heard of people running several miles in the snow carrying bricks in their hands, i think its great for an athlete to have that to fall back on when their starting to get in trouble in a boxing match. They'll think about how hard they trained and it will motivate them to keep going
I just think if a boxers taking too much punishment, fight another day. If a basketball player, lets say Grant Hill for example, has an ankle injury...he should get it fixed up instead of having to miss his prime years (even though the Pistons lied to Hill about his injury, at least from what i read). And now we have RGIII who might have to miss all of next year and although i think he'll bounce back fully, theres no guarantee. It wasnt worth it for him to play, hes just a rookie and has many great years ahead of him.
I do however still respect the toughness these athletes display, I shouldnt call it stupid. Even though Margacheato is a cheater, i respect him for that beating he took from Pacquiao. A very small percentage of the worlds population, less then 1% would be willing to take that kind of beating. He sorta deserved it though, who knows how long he was loading up those boxing gloves
