Quote 59 of 497

The closer a heavyweight comes to the championship, the more natural
it is for him to be a little bit insane, secretly insane, for the
heavyweight champion of the world is either the toughest man in the
world or he is not, but there is a real possibility he is.  It is like
being the big toe of God.  You have nothing to measure yourself by.

Lightweights, welterweights, middleweights can all be exceptionally
good, fantastically talented---they are still very much in their
place.  The best lightweight in the work knows that an unranked
middleweight can defeat him on most nights, and the best middleweight
in the world will kill him every night.  He knows that the biggest
strongman in a tough bar could handle him by sitting on him, since the
power to punch seems to increase quickly with weight.  A fighter who
weighs two-forty will punch more than twice as hard as a fighter who
weights one-twenty.
		-- Norman Mailer, "Black Fists" in _Ulisse 2000_, p.
		   133

Tags: god littlebit ulisse strongman bigtoe middleweight normanmailer blackfists championoftheworld heavyweightchampionoftheworld