The Importance of Learning to Fight

"I think everybody can benefit from learning how to, when it's appropriate, use aggression," says boxer Anthony Dirrell. "It took the cover of violence to have those sorts of relationships with men in my life." He adds that boxing opened up a space for talking about things people might otherwise be uncomfortable talking about. In terms of being a little bit more vulnerable or talking about things that you don't usually talk about? I do think that learning to fight had a cache. And I noticed that most men were willing to respect me if I was a guy who did something unusual and brave.