Life is full of fighting. These battles take many different forms, but in many of the things we do we are fighting for or against something.

Sometimes these fights are of blood and muscle, sometimes they are fights of willpower and mental toughness. Sometimes they are fights against injustices, and sometimes they are fights against our own shortcomings.

Sometimes they are fights against problems in our own backyard, sometimes they are fights against global forces.

The purposes of the fights are many and varied. Sometimes these fights are for our own protection, sometimes they are to protect others. Sometimes they are fights that don't need to be won, sometimes they are fights for our lives.

Looking around me, I see lots of fighting. I am not talking about fighting in foreign lands over debatable goals, but about the fighting individuals are doing every day all around me. Most obviously, many people are fighting against unemployment, fighting for their very livelihood, fighting for their sanity. This fight is against economic forces that no one person can control, which is what must make the fight so very frustrating. Perhaps that is the worst kind of fight of them all: the kind in which we must participate but are given no weapons, with our hands tied and blindfolded against an opponent so large we have to just hope it goes away.

An outgrowth of this larger economic problem is the effect it is having on government and its ability to pay for the services on which we all depend. Mayors and city councils and legislators are fighting (or at least say they are fighting) to save the jobs of workers who make our cities and counties and states run and who make them safe. They are fighting for their constituents and for their jobs, since if they lose the fight, the constituents will vote them out.

On the other side of that fight are public safety workers and educators who fight against crime and fight to teach future generations. They, too, are fighting with hands tied as their budgets and jobs are cut or frozen. They also are asked to fight with dwindling forces against swelling opponents of crime, ignorance and apathy.

But somehow they keep on fighting. Sparks firefighters would not hesitate to run into a burning building to save a life despite smaller crews and regulations that might hinder them. Without the money to hire a new chief, Sparks police are fighting crime against a population that is increasingly violent. With less money to spend in their classrooms and teachers fighting to keep kids engaged and instill in them the skills and knowledge they need to become self-sufficient adults.

It is the last group with which I have the most empathy. For five years, I worked as a private tutor and saw first-hand how difficult it is to keep children's attention on their studies. And I was only working with one student at a time. I can only imagine doing the job with a room full of kids who would rather be listening to their iPod or playing Wii.

Then, many teachers are also trying to stay in the fight by spending their own money on supplies. The next step is to tell police they need to catch bad guys, but they need to buy their own guns and bullets, or firefighters they have to buy their own water and hoses.

On Friday night, I went to the fights at the Grand Sierra Resort. Despite 12 rounds of brutal punches exchanged between Jesse Brinkley and Curtis Stevens, it ranks as the easiest fight I can think of. These two men knew exactly who they were fighting, why they were fighting and no matter how hard the fight got, there were people around protecting them to ensure they lived to fight another day. From a boxing fan's standpoint, it was a spectacular fight with both pugilists performing their art well and showing great sportsmanship. When the bout was over, Brinkley and Stevens embraced and talked in a professional and even friendly manner (though they did a good job in the week before the fight of putting on a show of animosity that fueled the enthusiasm needed to sell tickets).

The judges determined Brinkley to be the winner, but both were victorious. Both are employed, both had their friends and family around them when the fight was over and both will surely return to the ring.

Except for a brief scuffle in junior high with a dorky kid named Shane, my life has been free of physical fights. Knock on wood, I have never had to fight for a job. Knock on more wood, I have never had to fight any major personal flaws that kept me from leading a normal life. My fight through life has been fairly easy and I'd like to say it's because I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, but really it's because I have kept my head down and had a whole lot of luck. I like to think that instead of wearing boxing gloves and trunks, I fight my battles with a camera and notepad. Or maybe I am just a chicken who will spend his whole life outside the ring of life reporting about other people's fights.

Now, if you'll excuse me, there is some fighting to be done.