Things that you really miss about boxing

[Datsue]

Fvck me, all of the above.

[orbtastic]

Scouring the "international sports" summary page on teletext early on Sunday morning looking for a result that wasn't on the regular boxing pages.

Waiting for it to cycle through all 27 pages to check you hadn't missed it.

[Ezzard]

Scouring the "international sports" summary page on teletext early on Sunday morning looking for a result that wasn't on the regular boxing pages.

Waiting for it to cycle through all 27 pages to check you hadn't missed it.

Happy days

[Ezzard]

Discussing international fighters with your mates based on what you'd read in The Ring, KO, Boxing News... because you'd never actually seen them fight.

Or watching Larry Holmes in a 15 rounder on Sportsnight... But you only got to see rounds 1, 4, 8, 11 and 15...but even so you'd swear blind the ref got it wrong.

[JimStone]

How do you beat Frank Bruno? With a spoon.

[bigjack]

This:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXHPyLEJTHk

DUN-DAAH-DAAAH-DAH-DAH-DAH-DUNNN-DAAAH-DUNN-DUNN-DAAAH, DUNN-DUNN-DAAAH.... DUNN-DUNN-DAAAH....DUNN-DUNN-DAAAH.... DUNN-DUNN-DUNNNN-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH..... {DAH-DAH-DUNN-DAAAAAAAAAH}!!!!

Ahem.

Oh yes,used to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck

[JimStone]

Cedric Kushner's 'Heavyweight Explosion' on Eurosport.

South Africans with big moustaches.

Lou Duva going nuts in the corner.

[bigjack]

Waiting desperately for my boxing news to arrive to find out a result because it wasn't mentioned on ceefax,buying bulk packs of vhs blank tapes,watching sportsnight,midweek sports special,fight night,seconds out,big fight special all for free then going into work the next day to talk about it,even your granny knew all the boxers before sky t.v.

[Ezzard]

Do boxers on average make more or less money since SKY came in?

[Datsue]

How do you beat Frank Bruno? With a spoon....

South Africans with big moustaches.

Lou Duva going nuts in the corner.

{my ellipsis}

& Ceefax trolling, fvck me I'd forgotten that! Though weirdly I can still remember the number for the boxing menu page on Oracle. Which says something about me, but nothing favourable.

[JimStone]

How do you beat Frank Bruno? With a spoon....

South Africans with big moustaches.

Lou Duva going nuts in the corner.

{my ellipsis}

& Ceefax trolling, fvck me I'd forgotten that! Though weirdly I can still remember the number for the boxing menu page on Oracle. Which says something about me, but nothing favourable.

I notice you neglected to give Heavyweight Explosion a bow. D

[Datsue]

^ that's only because Heavyweight Explosion, er, exploded & became the entire heavyweight division, & no pudendum noticed...

[Ezzard]

British title fights being scored on 1/2 points...

Why change that? Very odd...

[JimStone]

When the Linford Christie-Anita Dobson-Gary Bushell triumvirate were the official universal barometer of a big fight night.

[orbtastic]

British title fights being scored on 1/2 points...

Why change that? Very odd...

Quarter points!

[Datsue]

British title fights being scored on 1/2 points...

Why change that? Very odd...

Like everything in boxing it was a knee-jerk response to individual failings of competence.

I think it was the Henry Wharton - Fidel Castro Smith fight (don't crucify me if I'm wrong, I'm meant to be working) & the uproar afterwards over the "wrong" decision (latest in a long line) meant the BBBofC decided in its infinite wisdom that what was wrong was the complexity of adding up fractions, rather than say proper criteria for scoring a fight & competent officials who aren't mates with anyone involved.

Now, South America scores in fractions, because (quite rightly) giving a dude a one-point round for nicking it by two soft jabs & giving a dude a one point round for beating a fella half to death who will not fall down is fvcking stupid.

I know we never used it like the South Americans, but still, the potential was there.

For another wonderful example of this: guys fuckin' themselves up by cutting weight. Boxing's answer: Move the weigh in back a day! Now they can fvck themselves up with impunity, 'cos they got 24 hours to rehydrate!

Uh, what you say? Now half the dudes on the "B" side of the bill are hideously outweighed?

I know, if we add robot legs to the underdogs...

(Cont'd, p93...)

[Cholo_cws]

When only very few fighters had shaven heads.

Nicknames that told you where a boxer was from (ie Easton Assasin, Camden Buzzsaw etc) rather than just something that rhymed or is a pun...(I don't know why I just liked them.)

Harry Mullan.

When Gareth A. Davies wasn't around.

[lefty]

I'm starting to wonder how old you lot really are

[Ezzard]

British title fights being scored on 1/2 points...

Why change that? Very odd...

Like everything in boxing it was a knee-jerk response to individual failings of competence.

I think it was the Henry Wharton - Fidel Castro Smith fight (don't crucify me if I'm wrong, I'm meant to be working) & the uproar afterwards over the "wrong" decision (latest in a long line) meant the BBBofC decided in its infinite wisdom that what was wrong was the complexity of adding up fractions, rather than say proper criteria for scoring a fight & competent officials who aren't mates with anyone involved.

Now, South America scores in fractions, because (quite rightly) giving a dude a one-point round for nicking it by two soft jabs & giving a dude a one point round for beating a fella half to death who will not fall down is fvcking stupid.

I know we never used it like the South Americans, but still, the potential was there.

For another wonderful example of this: guys fuckin' themselves up by cutting weight. Boxing's answer: Move the weigh in back a day! Now they can fvck themselves up with impunity, 'cos they got 24 hours to rehydrate!

Uh, what you say? Now half the dudes on the "B" side of the bill are hideously outweighed?

I know, if we add robot legs to the underdogs...

(Cont'd, p93...)

Most prospects don't seem to fight anyone who is actually the same size as them for about the first 15-20 fights.

[Tuan_Jim]

A boxer battling his chief rival, often several times

The heavyweight division being sporting theatre of the highest calibre

Heavyweights being fit rather than fat or musclebound

15 round fights

Boxers being active and in shape

Champions fighting the best challengers—not being able to run up title defences against handpicked bums

Dominant fighters cleaning out their division

Boxers unifying the belts

Boxers who were not drugs cheats

Men who jab, grab, run, squeeze, throw and cheat being ridiculed—not venerated as kings

Simple ring walks that don’t insult the intelligence

Simple ring introductions that don’t insult the intelligence

Building up world class fighters rather than precious undefeated records

Boxers with eccentricity and personality, not drones who speak in PR soundbytes or bland stock sporting expressions

Speed, style, defensive mastery, punch variety and a general high ring IQ being the rule not the exception

Boxing production with a more classy, dignified air, commentators with class and style, eloquence, who critique fighters rather than sell them to us

Boxing commentators who are not corporate shills – who tell it like it is

Boxing writing being stylish, lyrical and literary, i.e. Mailer, Schulberg, Baldwin, Hemingway, Berger, Sugar, London . . . not the modern ‘slang’ and ‘cyber blogging’ style suitable for the semi-literate

Boxers who attempt to manufacture a legacy of greatness / the fans and writers who accept it

FIGHTS THE WORLD CARED ABOUT.

[Datsue]

^ Do you also miss "toeing the line" & fighting to the finish?

[littlepug]

Boxers not referring to themselves by their full name, boxers using "I" rather than "we", boxing news in newspaper format.....

[martinmrts]

when the boxer with the most tattoos would invariably lose

[Bodyshot3]

The pint-sized, super feisty Mills Lane reading the feckin' riot act to a couple of big heavyweights.
Don King turning up for a press conference dressed as Dame Edna Everage...without actually realising it.
Rock Newman dressing gangsta, looking like the kingsize, total berk he was.
Nigel Benn's very early hairdos. Ponytail, Last of the Mohicans Mohawk or slickback Nige?
Ambrose Mendy; just for being Ambrose Mendy.
Bruno doing a turn on Saturday night TV - usually Noel's House Party - stuffed into a shiny or dayglow suit.
Des Lynam for loving European title fights so much and doing them justice.
Lloyd Honeyghan's jibbering post-fight interviews; part patois, part Bermondsey, plus as slice of eccentric Lloyd.

[Mimmy]

The thing I miss mostly is the boxers who were warriors. If you were a boxing fan in the early 80's to late 90's you'll know what I mean. Fights that were bloody battles and exciting, Hearns v Hagler for example. The live out door shows

http://boxrec.com/show_display.php?show_id=446

You will never see shows like this anymore. Shows packed with talent.

I used to get up all hours to watch fights on satellite tv before SKY took over the world, fights on German TV from America, TV2000, and that other channel that also showed 'Tootie Fruitie'

The British greats, Bruno, Benn, Eubank, Graham, McGuigan. Those fights on ITV that made you stay in to watch.

Thats what I miss 1980 to 1999