Boxing fans getting it wrong

[TheLeprechaun]

A few fights recently where the consensus (99% of fans/experts) got it wrong.

Haye Bellew and Pac Horn. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone picking the winners.

What does that tell us I wonder. How can we all get it so wrong. Is there some kind of flaw in boxing fans thinking? Are we unable to understand the very advanced intricacies of the sport?

[Covfefe]

Haye Bellew was a freak injury. Even the people pickin Bellew didn't predict that. He was winning comfortably at the time of injury I don't think Haye was a bad pick at all.

[gilgamesh]

A few fights recently where the consensus (99% of fans/experts) got it wrong.

Haye Bellew and Pac Horn. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone picking the winners.

What does that tell us I wonder. How can we all get it so wrong. Is there some kind of flaw in boxing fans thinking? Are we unable to understand the very advanced intricacies of the sport?

Fans weren't wrong with Pac/Horn. The judges told a bullsh*t story.

One mistake fans made with both fights though is a lot of us expected an early KO victory for the favorite, and once that didn't happen, the age of the favored fighters showed. In both fights you use as an example here.

[Boxerbeetle]

Either:

a) We're all complete idiots and know nothing about boxing
or
b) Boxing can occasionally throw up upsets

It's probably A.

[JimJim2009]

Either:

a) We're all complete idiots and know nothing about boxing
or
b) Boxing can occasionally throw up upsets

It's probably A.

[Boxerbeetle]

A few fights recently where the consensus (99% of fans/experts) got it wrong.

Haye Bellew and Pac Horn. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone picking the winners.

What does that tell us I wonder. How can we all get it so wrong. Is there some kind of flaw in boxing fans thinking? Are we unable to understand the very advanced intricacies of the sport?

Fans weren't wrong with Pac/Horn. The judges told a bullsh*t story.

One mistake fans made with both fights though is a lot of us expected an early KO victory for the favorite, and once that didn't happen, the age of the favored fighters showed. In both fights you use as an example here.

Yes, fair point actually. Probably one of the most common flaws of hardcore boxing fans is insisting a fighter 'has still got it' when all evidence points to decline. We're romantics at heart, always wanting our favourites to remain unaffected by the passage of time.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

A few fights recently where the consensus (99% of fans/experts) got it wrong.

Haye Bellew and Pac Horn. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone picking the winners.

What does that tell us I wonder. How can we all get it so wrong. Is there some kind of flaw in boxing fans thinking? Are we unable to understand the very advanced intricacies of the sport?

One thing it reaffirms is that all time lists and current rankings, aside from p4p, should never be based on whom you think would win. It also makes mythical fights, and I'm guilty of this too, like Ali/Witherspoon where everyone says no way in hell comedic.

[Boxing Prospect]

Gonzalez Vs Srisaket as well?

[TheGingerBomber]

Gonzalez Vs Srisaket as well?

WAs just about to bring this us up, 20/1 to win on points! I know I backed it....

[Wales]

A few fights recently where the consensus (99% of fans/experts) got it wrong.

Haye Bellew and Pac Horn. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone picking the winners.

What does that tell us I wonder. How can we all get it so wrong. Is there some kind of flaw in boxing fans thinking? Are we unable to understand the very advanced intricacies of the sport?

This has always happened , nothing new. Such an unpredictable sport anyway, and even more so when you consider we see nothing of "the camp" , and injuries or mental doubts / issues are kept in house.

[TheLeprechaun]

A few fights recently where the consensus (99% of fans/experts) got it wrong.

Haye Bellew and Pac Horn. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone picking the winners.

What does that tell us I wonder. How can we all get it so wrong. Is there some kind of flaw in boxing fans thinking? Are we unable to understand the very advanced intricacies of the sport?

This has always happened , nothing new. Such an unpredictable sport anyway, and even more so when you consider we see nothing of "the camp" , and injuries or mental doubts / issues are kept in house.

Yeah every single fighter says that they have no issues, had the best camp and are in the best shape of their career, hitting harder etc before every fight. You learn not to believe a word that a fighter or trainer says in the lead up to a fight. They are only saying what they want the opponent and his camp to hear.

[bruthead]

Not really good examples of people getting it wrong. Haye suffered an injury and age finally caught up with Manny who only last year scored comfortable wins over better fighters than Jeff Horn. You can't really expect people to foresee things like that. You have to expect Haye to not get injured and Manny to not go off a cliff physically. And had that happened they would have won, Haye probably, Manny definitely given he arguably did anyway.

[Wales]

A few fights recently where the consensus (99% of fans/experts) got it wrong.

Haye Bellew and Pac Horn. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone picking the winners.

What does that tell us I wonder. How can we all get it so wrong. Is there some kind of flaw in boxing fans thinking? Are we unable to understand the very advanced intricacies of the sport?

This has always happened , nothing new. Such an unpredictable sport anyway, and even more so when you consider we see nothing of "the camp" , and injuries or mental doubts / issues are kept in house.

Yeah every single fighter says that they have no issues, had the best camp and are in the best shape of their career, hitting harder etc before every fight. You learn not to believe a word that a fighter or trainer says in the lead up to a fight. They are only saying what they want the opponent and his camp to hear.

I interviewed a well known U.K. fighter once in run up to a European title shot. Did the interview then he told me he'd broken his cheek bone a few weeks precious but didn't want it reported as it was his big opportunity.

Look at how Hatton describes the camp he had before Pacquiao in hindsight. Or claims of flu post Collazo.

[Ossyrules]

I'd be interested to see the %'s for say a years worth of big PPV fights and see how many times the betting favourite wins. Sure there are upsets like the 2 in this thread, but my guess is the favourite will win an awful lot

[Ossyrules]

A few fights recently where the consensus (99% of fans/experts) got it wrong.

Haye Bellew and Pac Horn. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone picking the winners.

What does that tell us I wonder. How can we all get it so wrong. Is there some kind of flaw in boxing fans thinking? Are we unable to understand the very advanced intricacies of the sport?

One thing it reaffirms is that all time lists and current rankings, aside from p4p, should never be based on whom you think would win. It also makes mythical fights, and I'm guilty of this too, like Ali/Witherspoon where everyone says no way in hell comedic.

Fantasy fights are an absolutely pointless discussion, but I always end up putting my two pence in. There's no sport like boxing for it either. I love tennis but rarely wonder how nadal vs Borg would have gone. Or how 1970 Brazil vs Spain 2008 would fare in football

[Frazier71]

Fantasy fights are an absolutely pointless discussion, but I always end up putting my two pence in. There's no sport like boxing for it either. I love tennis but rarely wonder how nadal vs Borg would have gone. Or how 1970 Brazil vs Spain 2008 would fare in football

Good to see you put the ace Spain of Euro 2008/Luis Aragones and not the game-strangling Del Bosque version that followed.

[Ossyrules]

Fantasy fights are an absolutely pointless discussion, but I always end up putting my two pence in. There's no sport like boxing for it either. I love tennis but rarely wonder how nadal vs Borg would have gone. Or how 1970 Brazil vs Spain 2008 would fare in football

Good to see you put the ace Spain of Euro 2008/Luis Aragones and not the game-strangling Del Bosque version that followed.

I know my football Frazier!

[TheLeprechaun]

Not really good examples of people getting it wrong. Haye suffered an injury and age finally caught up with Manny who only last year scored comfortable wins over better fighters than Jeff Horn. You can't really expect people to foresee things like that. You have to expect Haye to not get injured and Manny to not go off a cliff physically. And had that happened they would have won, Haye probably, Manny definitely given he arguably did anyway.

Hayes injury was constantly reported in the week of the fight yet nobody changed their opinion and lots of boxing fans on here lost money backing Haye.

Are you sure Jessie vargas and Bradley are better than horn after that performance? I don't see how anyone can definitively say that.

[boxingknockout]

Right - so is anyone predicting a McGregor upset victory when he and May fight?

That'll sort the men from the boys

[Ossyrules]

Right - so is anyone predicting a McGregor upset victory when he and May fight?

That'll sort the men from the boys

Call me crazy, but I think Mayweather can take this one

[Loynesy]

If someone who doesn't really know much about boxing predicts a McGregor victory, they are just getting lucky. I prefer to see really intelligent boxing writers/fans offering a real insight into why a fight might be different to the norm. A respected posted did it brilliantly on here for the last Chocalito fight, offering insightful and reasoned views as to why this was a close fight.

To take the 2 fights mentioned at the top of this thread.

1. Haye - Bellow - I was 100% wrong on this one as I thought even the shell of David Haye would knock Bellow out comfortably and early. Instead, the shell of David Haye took a bit of punishment, but would, in my opinion, have easily won had he not injured himself. Those who predicted a Bellow win can't really claim foresight for a mobility injury, unless they were posting "David's injury prone, if Tony can hang around to the mid-round, he's in with a chance due to Haye's frailty". Anyone who posted that, did a much better job of predicting the fight than me.

2. Horn - Pac - Assumed a faded Pac would easily dispose of a relative novice. Watched the fight live on TV, thought Pac won by a close but clear margin, but we saw a guy step up a level. It wasn't an outrage (the Bradley was), but I do think Manny won, so no remorse on that one.

[boxingknockout]

Right - so is anyone predicting a McGregor upset victory when he and May fight?

That'll sort the men from the boys

Call me crazy, but I think Mayweather can take this one

You need the stay away from drugs pal, you're not thinking straight!

[Ricky_]

If you found 100 fights were there was a 99% concensus on the winner, i think 99 times out of 100 the favourite would win, so we're breaking even


Pacquaio didn't lose to Horn. Sometimes an underdog only has 1 route to victory; and injured opponent. That was the case for Haye-Bellew and is the case for McGregor-Floyd.

[asdfjkl]

Right - so is anyone predicting a McGregor upset victory when he and May fight?

That'll sort the men from the boys

Call me crazy, but I think Mayweather can take this one

You need the stay away from drugs pal, you're not thinking straight!

I must say one thing, it might be a moneywise decision to let the young Irish lad who never had a pro boxing match on his name win instead of the milion year old retired guy from America, who never takes any risks.

[Wales]

If someone who doesn't really know much about boxing predicts a McGregor victory, they are just getting lucky. I prefer to see really intelligent boxing writers/fans offering a real insight into why a fight might be different to the norm..

Not one educated boxing , or even MMA fan, would pick McGregor if it was a life or death pick.

As for educated writers - did you read that fella on boxing news website giving 12 reasons Why Floyd could lose? Reason 9 or 10 out of 12 was "he needs to stop shaking hands with people as it carriers greater risk of illness: he should adopt the Vitali fist bump instead"

That's scraping the barrel that is!