In the end, you want to say "but that's not what life is really like; people make choices and can always change their life path." But the common thread for both young and old is an addiction: to the gamble of becoming famous, to the stupor of avoiding the pain in one's own body, to avoidance of meaningful attachments to a wife and child. This story is about more than winning and losing: it is about those deep and meaningful elements of being human that become lost, regardless of the outcome of the match. The boxer eventually recognizes the damage that they are capable of, to both themselves and their opponent.
