Once in a great while, ESPN gets it right.

A case in point is Triumph And Tragedy: The Ray Mancini Story airing on ESPN Classic Tuesday November 13, 2007 at 8:00 PM Eastern.

That day is the 25th anniversary of the WBA lightweight title fight between Ray Mancini and Korea's Deuk-Koo Kim. During that fight, Ray Mancini knocked out Kim who died 4 days later. Overwhelmed by grief, Kim's mother committed suicide 11 weeks later. Mancini was devastated and, until now, has not talked about the fight and Kim’s death in a tv interview..

Ray Mancini is a half-Irish, half-Italian working class Catholic kid from Youngstown, Ohio. His dad, Lenny [the original "Boom-Boom" Mancini] missed his shot at a world lightweight title in February 1942 because he was otherwise occupied: Uncle Sam drafted him to fight in World War II. Ray became a fighter to get a title for his dad.

Boxing is a brutal, beautiful, savage, glorious, dirty, sweet, crooked and yes, sometimes deadly game. But the men who participate in it know this.

Someday, the emasculation of mankind will be complete and boxing will be no more. Before that happens, the question we should be asking is this: How will men expend their aggression then?