I n Greek Mythology, Thanatos is the death drive, an instinct for death, a god of death. It probably exists in all of us. It explains why we embrace a violent streak hidden deep in the core of our beings. It probably explains why violence has gone hand in hand with most kinds of human entertainment. Don’t we even wildly cheer two cocks fighting to the death in enclosures? Don’t we stream to boxing contests if not to witness the knockouts? I am a pugilist, a professional boxer, and I suspect that I have a slightly higher dosage of this death drive in me than the average man in the street for in the boxing ring you live like you are dying. It explains why Miyawa Mitoko died in the ring, died because he had tempted fate and paid for it with his life. He too was a modern gladiator and I had killed him. I was at the tail end of my career, He was starting his; It was a lucky punch from me that had brought him down, a sucker punch that saw life ebb away from him at t
