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When a fighter encounters an opponent who has nearly the same talent, a fighter must call upon the foundations of his personality and experience to overcome the challenges before him. Even if he emerges triumphant in the end, it doesn’t necessarily mean he is the superior man for all time; he just performed better on that day. History is replete with examples of boxers reversing the results of their first encounters, so the glory of winning and the stigma of losing should only be limited to that slice of time.

When Ebo Elder and Courtney Burton met at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California on December 17, 2004, they not only exhibited their physical skills but also the contents of their characters both during the fight and afterward. It was a fight that was made for television because of the drama in both the sporting and human sense.

Before Elder was a "Contender," he was a prospect. The native of Newnan, Georgia and resident of Atlanta had a solid amateur foundation as he won 125 fights and captured the silver medal at the Goodwill Games. As a young pro, the man known as the "X-treme Machine" maintained an extreme schedule as he fought 17 times in his first 17 months, with his best win being a 10-round decision over future title challenger Emmanuel Clottey on July 3, 2001. But fight number 17 proved to be a shock to Elder’s system as Ubaldo Hernandez blasted him out in a single round and toppled him from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Elder’s hectic schedule burned him out on boxing and his relationship with father/trainer Greg suffered. The 22-year-old desperately needed a break from the sport and for the next 26 months he did everything but box, even joining a rock-and-roll band. But Elder’s roots in boxing ran deep and the time away allowed him to regain his love for the sport as well as reaffirm his relationships with both his biological and spiritual fathers. Elder returned to the ring by stopping Tyrone Wiggins in the third round and a lopsided 10-round decision over fellow unbeaten Oscar Diaz two months later propelled his career skyward. Three more victories, including a sixth round KO over Ricardo Fuentes two months earlier to win the vacant NABO/WBO lightweight belt, set up the match with Burton.

Burton got his start in boxing – and a big jump-start in life – through a chance encounter when he was eight years old. He was involved in a street fight in which he was outnumbered and was being beaten with a baseball bat when trainer Napolean Lark happened to drive toward the scene. Lark jumped out of the car and scared away Burton’s attackers, then asked Burton if he would like to learn how to defend himself. Burton accepted Lark’s invitation and stopped by the local community center the next day. Lark and his wife eventually would become the legal guardians of Burton and his younger brother Bill.

Like Elder, Burton had an excellent amateur career as he won 87 of his 91 fights and turned pro as a welterweight in July 1996 with a four round majority decision win over Sam Mahmoud. Following the victory, Burton didn’t fight again for the next 38 months. He returned in September 1999 as a 140-pounder and proceeded to roll off wins against nondescript Midwest competition. Burton was 16-0 with one no-contest when Eleazar Contreras Jr. dropped Burton five times en route to a fifth-round stoppage.

Burton rebounded strongly from the defeat as he registered back-to-back eighth round knockouts of Gabriel Ruelas and Angel Manfredy. The Manfredy win vaulted Burton into world prominence, but from that fight forward his form began to suffer. He struggled to a 12-round split decision win over Francisco Lorenzo and four months later Julio Diaz stopped him in 11 rounds in an IBF elimination fight. His most recent outing five months earlier resulted in a highly controversial split decision win over Emanuel Augustus, a verdict that many have called among the worst of the decade.

So Elder-Burton is a tale of two fighters going in different directions but whose desire to win were at a similar point. For Elder (21-1, 13 KOs), a win meant advancement while for Burton (21-2, 11 KOs with one no-contest) it meant career survival.

Both men began the fight working the jab and Burton, known for his constant switch-hitting, started in the right-handed stance. Burton, 135, began reaching Elder with lefts while Elder, 134 ½, found success with several left crosses. Burton momentarily switched to lefty to land a lead right, then immediately switched back. Elder was picking his spots, throwing right-lefts then moving to the side after landing bustling combinations to the body. As Elder dug a left to the body, Burton nailed him with a left over the top. The briefly stunned Elder reacted instantly by shoe-shining Burton’s body. As the round closed, they exchanged on the inside with some of the blows landing below the belt. Neither man gained a discernable advantage but the action planted a strategic seed about future tactics.

Elder landed the first significant punch of round two with a straight left and he immediately followed up with several body shots. The unhurt Burton tagged the charging Elder with a strong right and pushed him back toward the ropes with a series of jabs and dug a good right-left to the body. On the inside, Burton switched to southpaw and caught Elder with a short left to the cheek and a long right that made Elder back out to long range. Back at ring center Burton was committed to the left-handed stance and Elder used his quicker hands to pepper Burton with combinations.

Midway through the round, Burton’s heavier hands came into play as a right-left – mixed with an accidental head butt to the face – made Elder briefly stumble back. Eager to prove he wasn’t hurt, Elder threw a six-punch flurry that included two solid left uppercuts to the body before backing away. Though Burton was more effective as a southpaw, he was determined to use the switch-hitting approach, and he showed why as he nailed Elder with a lead right, then a split-second later hitting him with another right as he turned lefty.

As each man tried to gain a foothold on the inside, the action sometimes got messy and at one point both men tumbled to the canvas. Elder sought to regain the momentum with several flashy flurries but Burton, again as a southpaw, landed a solid right hook as the round ended.

Elder attempted to regain his rhythm in the third as he connected with a sharp right-left followed by a four-punch flurry capped by a right to the ribs. More body shots from Elder set up a quick right hook, and a second hook connected a few seconds later. The orthodox Burton caught Elder ducking in with a straight right to the jaw, then switched to connect with a double right hook to the head and body. Burton was switching stances freely and effectively and took advantage of any openings Elder provided while not trying to do too much.

The intensity of the exchanges escalated with every passing second, with Elder using his faster hands and more educated combinations and Burton utilizing his superior single-shot power. Midway through the round, Burton opened a cut around Elder’s right eye and Burton worsened it by landing a chopping left. Elder remained composed as he nailed Burton with a right hook and a solid right-left. Burton’s right hook hit the target forcefully but Elder fired right back with a right, a right-left and two jabs.

As Elder sat in the corner between rounds, not only did he have the cut over the right eye, a common problem for him, the area around his left eye was discolored and slightly swollen.

Burton started the fourth strongly by landing a lead right to the jaw and backing Elder off with a looping right to the body as a righty and a ripping jab as a southpaw moments later. Burton was building momentum but Elder sought to stem it with bursts of body blows followed by a sharp left uppercut to the face. Burton was determined to draw Elder into a firefight and he slowly was finding success as the action morphed from a boxing match to a toe-to-toe slugfest.

It was not the kind of fight that Greg Elder wanted to see from his son.

"I want to see presence of mind in there," he told him between rounds four and five. "Head feints, head movement, short shots, use the ring a little bit. Catch him coming to you and don’t make a big fight out of it, OK? When he goes right-handed, throw left hooks to the body and when he goes left-handed, throw right hooks to the body."

The two met at ring center and launched simultaneously punches – with Burton’s landing with far more impact. Elder landed a short hook to the body and began to follow his father’s advice by using his speed at long range. A long left to the stomach by Elder hit the borderline and Burton jumped in behind a right hook to the jaw. Elder retaliated with a stinging right-left to the jaw that made Burton back away for the first time in the fight. Burton recovered quickly by shooting a right through Elder’s guard and landed a chopping left directly on Elder’s cut right eye. Elder connected on an on-the-move triple jab and another three-punch flurry seconds later.

The blood was now running into Elder’s eye but he remained composed as he worked behind the jab. Burton’s solid right jab knocked out Elder’s mouthpiece and a sweeping right hook to the forehead wobbled Elder in the closing seconds. As the bell sounded, Burton fired a long hard stare as if he intended to land a blow to Elder’s psyche. The nonplussed Elder returned the stare by briefly glancing over his shoulder.

Elder began the sixth by firing a triple jab and looping a left uppercut to the stomach while Burton worked the angles with his constant switch-hitting. "The X-treme Machine" turned up the speed in this round, unleashing a four-punch combo capped by a sharp left cross that caught Burton pulling out. A few seconds later, Elder strung together another four-punch flurry and ended it with a solid right hook to the jaw.

Elder was landing the cleaner punches but they lacked the steam to really hurt Burton for long. For Elder, his plan for victory would be a long-term strategy that involved chipping away at Burton little by little while Burton had the luxury of short-circuiting everything with a single blow. That was demonstrated in part when Burton hurt Elder with a right hook, but Elder was in no mood to back away and collect himself, instead opting to fire back immediately.

With 1:05 remaining, Elder fired a right hook that caused Burton to double over and back away to the ropes. Elder rushed in to throw a left but referee Jerry Cantu held him back, led him to a neutral corner and deducted a point for a low blow. The replay showed the blow in question landed on the belt line, but Burton’s reaction enabled him to induce Cantu’s action. During the 40-second time-out, cornerman Malcolm Garrett told Burton to take his time and it paid dividends when he cracked Elder with a chopping left, a right hook and a left cross that forced Elder against the ropes. Elder flurried busily to the body, but Burton neutralized it with a thumping right to the head and left to the body. They finished with round with a rousing exchange, but it appeared Burton had regained the momentum after a difficult start to the round.

Elder landed a strong combination to force Burton against the ropes early in the seventh, but a good counter left by Burton put an immediate stop to it. Whenever one man launched an attack, the other would immediately retaliate to neutralize its effects. Elder was landing the quicker, flashier punches while Burton used his superior upper body strength to maneuver Elder into position and his superior power to counteract Elder’s point-scoring efforts.

After they frenetically traded blows in the final moments of round seven, the pace slowed in the eighth. Blood was still seeping out of Elder’s right eye, but his peppering combinations raised small swellings under and over Burton’s right eye. A quiet ninth turned noisy when Burton first stunned Elder with a lead right to the chin and again with a right hook to the jaw as well as a left cross. The pace dramatically slowed as Burton followed his corner’s advice to "rest this round and pick him apart." Still, Elder’s face was turning into a grotesque mask. Not only was blood coming out of the right eye, the area around the right side of his mouth was swollen and misshapen.

Burton accelerated his attack in the final minute and Elder went with him with his bustling combinations. A split-second before the bell, Burton nailed Elder with a whistling left cross to the jaw and followed with a right uppercut a tad after the gong. The punch spun Elder’s body 180 degrees and forced him to stumble back to his corner.

Burton continued to roll at the start of the 10th when he rocked Elder with a counter right hook. But Burton, mindful of his own stamina, didn’t press for the knockout, instead choosing to tag Elder with occasional single punches. Elder used the respite to recharge his batteries by following Burton around the ring and firing jabs. He was being given the most valuable commodity he needed at this point – time.

Early in the 11th, a Burton rooter in the crowd yelled, "come on Burton, he ain’t got no heart left." One of the greatest insults a fighter can hear is that he lacks courage, and the instant after Elder heard it he sprung into action behind a strong left cross. A second one moments later drove Burton to a corner, and though he had regained the upper hand his face hardly had the look of a resurgent fighter. Both eyes and the area around his mouth were swollen and he had to have felt searing pain, but both he and Burton drove themselves forward because they knew the winner would be the man who was willing to dig deeper within his reservoir of courage and desire. Elder’s successful sequences were longer lasting and more consistent, but Burton may have stolen the round with a tremendous round-ending flurry that forced Elder to give ground.

The start of the final round saw both men pick up the pace and put more energy into every punch. A Burton combination made Elder bend over at the waist with his gloves at his side. He was clearly in pain and was desperately tired but his will would not permit him to slump to the canvas. With a minute gone, Elder made a last stand as he fired off combinations and backed Burton up. Several in the crowd now chanted Elder’s name but soon his rally slowed down, albeit briefly.

Knowing his son needed energy down the stretch, the deeply religious Greg Elder had prayed with his equally devoted son several times between rounds, asking for strength to allow the fighter to do what he had to do. With Elder seemingly on his way to a stoppage defeat, those prayers were answered in a most dramatic way.

With 1:15 left in the fight, Elder, who had just missed a three-punch combination, sprang out of a crouch and nailed Burton with a left cross that sent him flying to the corner pad. Burton was in huge trouble and he desperately clung to Elder’s waist as they stumbled to ring center. After breaking, Elder snapped Burton’s head with a massive left to the chin that sent Burton stumbling forward to the canvas near the ropes. Up at five, he was able to walk forward well enough to satisfy Cantu.

Elder rushed forward and missed with his first flurry. The second one, capped with a final straight left, caused Burton to fall into the ropes in a sitting position. Because Burton hadn’t fallen all the way to the canvas, Elder hammered him to the floor with a final left. At that point – with just 50 seconds left on the clock – Cantu declared the fight over.

Elder, his face a gargoyle-like mass of swellings, discolorations and blood, raced to his corner and immediately dropped to his knees, closed his eyes and offered his thanks. His earthly father told him "you knocked him out. You had to have it and you did it."

As Elder rejoiced and the crowd chanted "Ebo! Ebo!," Burton was flat on his back and he wasn’t in a good state. Exhaustion racked his body and he remained on the canvas for several minutes as he attempted to collect himself. As soon as Burton was deemed well enough to sit on a stool, Elder made his way over to his freshly vanquished foe.

Elder got on one knee so he could look directly into Burton’s eyes and he asked "do you want to pray with me?"

"Yeah," Burton said.

"Lord, I thank you for this gladiator, this man with such heart and such skill, such determination," Elder began. "I pray that you make this loss for him a benefit like you did for me three-and-a-half years ago. Make it the best thing that ever happened to him so that he’ll turn his life completely to you, God. I pray that you touch his heart. Make him have no pain, no hurt and no misunderstanding, and let him know that I love him as a brother in Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen."

"Amen," Burton said.

No matter how one might feel about religion, it was a most touching and human scene borne of pain, emotion and mercy. Just minutes before, each man was inflicting terrible punishment on the other in the pursuit of a singular goal. But as violent as the action was at times, there was no malevolence in either man’s heart, and their actions after the fight proved it beyond doubt.

Though the result propelled one man’s career upward while inflicting a setback upon the other, the human element remained refreshingly the same. It is one of boxing’s unique ironies that a hard, competitive and violent fight can bring two fighters closer together as human beings. Only they could ever know the suffering they went through and their shared knowledge, more often than not, translates to everlasting admiration. And that’s the way it should be.

Epilogue: The 28-year-old Burton has fought three times since the loss to Elder, and he has lost all three fights by knockout. Eight months after the Elder fight, Burton returned to the Chumash Casino, but the result was unfortunately the same as Rolando Reyes stopped him in eight rounds. Four months after that, Juan Lazcano scored a ninth round TKO and in his most recent outing in September 2006 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Emanuel Augustus knocked out Burton in eight rounds. His record is now 21-6 (11 KOs).

Elder fared no better in the two fights he had since beating Burton. Nine months later Lavka Sim stopped Elder in the final round of their WBA lightweight eliminator, after which Elder joined the cast of "The Contender" during its second season. On January 27, 2006 at the Contender Gymnasium in Pasadena, Calif., Elder won the first three rounds against Michael "No Joke" Stewart, only to suffer a one-punch knockout loss in the fourth. The 28-year-old Elder’s record reads 22-3 (14 KOs).