If Naz Was Fighting Today

[Taansend]

Without casuals boxing would be on its arse more than it is.

I've spoken to so many hard core boxing fans who got into the sport because of Rocky films.

That's Casual

A fan is a fan. People inventing levels are snobs

[Grilling Machine]

I take the view that you're a fan if you're genuinely interested whenever you watch an event, however infrequently. If I went through the next couple of years not watching boxing I'd still consider myself a fan. So long as I still cared when I returned to watch a fight.

Many of Joshua's fans appreciate seeing one of their peers doing well much more than his methods to that end, and there's nowt wrong with that. I'd agree that they're Joshua fans primarily and not too fussed about the sport of boxing itself, but then how many of us were Daley Thompson fans without following the decathlon beforehand? Its throwing events are deceptively complex, and yet few have a problem with fair-weather track and field fans. How about those of us who only watch winter games during their Olympics, and so on...

I'm a huge fan of figure skating but hardly watch any. Ditto motorbike racing and snooker. I'm not a fan of tennis or golf, though, because I can't find it within myself to care about who wins nor how.

[banjo]

Without casuals boxing would be on its arse more than it is.

I've spoken to so many hard core boxing fans who got into the sport because of Rocky films.

That's Casual

A fan is a fan. People inventing levels are snobs

That's it, everyone was a casual at one point. Does my head in and another one that pisses me off is when it kicks off "It's those football fans again"

1. People can follow more than one sport

2. Football is generally trouble free nowadays

3. It's more to do with pissed up Brits who've been on the lash all day.

[jamamb]

Without casuals boxing would be on its arse more than it is.

I've spoken to so many hard core boxing fans who got into the sport because of Rocky films.

That's Casual

A fan is a fan. People inventing levels are snobs

disagree, there are obvious differences btwn someone who folliws boxing as a sport really closely and someone who only comes out for the 1 or 2 biggest fighters/fights a year and cant tell you anything/pay attention to anything beyond that

not bashing 'casuals', but i think its perfcetly valid to use terms to differentiate between types of fans and the scopes of there interests etc

basically, its just breaking things into sub categories, which isnt snobbish itself

[jamamb]

and i dont mind casuals overall, but i do think having an overall limited perspective on the sport makes a lot of them over estimate how much they know. prob get more casuals who are absolutely sure of things then in ratio to hardcore fans

but overall casuals can add great energy and atmosphere that lifts the sport as a whole. seen it with naz and now aj, i love that type of energy and spirit

[J]

Without casuals boxing would be on its arse more than it is.

I've spoken to so many hard core boxing fans who got into the sport because of Rocky films.

That's Casual

A fan is a fan. People inventing levels are snobs

disagree, there are obvious differences btwn someone who folliws boxing as a sport really closely and someone who only comes out for the 1 or 2 biggest fighters/fights a year and cant tell you anything/pay attention to anything beyond that

not bashing 'casuals', but i think its perfcetly valid to use terms to differentiate between types of fans and the scopes of there interests etc

basically, its just breaking things into sub categories, which isnt snobbish itself

ok how about someone who went about 50-80 small hall shows in three years all over the country, travelled to vegas to see fights, wembley to excel arena to MEN, wrote week in week out for 2-3 years for a well known expired website, had two kids, moved abroad still kept up with the scene (thanks box rec) got pissed off with the internal politics of several promoters so dropped out of the writing and now only goes 1-2 a year max but doesn't miss much on tv.

casual fan? Like I care, point being we all have different priorities in life and follow the sport as we wish. This is our privilege not to be judged or framed by other fans. I've followed boxing in various degrees of obsession for over 30 years but it can dwindle due to various factors highlighted so putting people in named boxes really doesn't work.

just my four penneth.

[littlepug]

I've spoken to so many hard core boxing fans who got into the sport because of Rocky films.

That's Casual

A fan is a fan. People inventing levels are snobs

disagree, there are obvious differences btwn someone who folliws boxing as a sport really closely and someone who only comes out for the 1 or 2 biggest fighters/fights a year and cant tell you anything/pay attention to anything beyond that

not bashing 'casuals', but i think its perfcetly valid to use terms to differentiate between types of fans and the scopes of there interests etc

basically, its just breaking things into sub categories, which isnt snobbish itself

ok how about someone who went about 50-80 small hall shows in three years all over the country, travelled to vegas to see fights, wembley to excel arena to MEN, wrote week in week out for 2-3 years for a well known expired website, had two kids, moved abroad still kept up with the scene (thanks box rec) got pissed off with the internal politics of several promoters so dropped out of the writing and now only goes 1-2 a year max but doesn't miss much on tv.

casual fan? Like I care, point being we all have different priorities in life and follow the sport as we wish. This is our privilege not to be judged or framed by other fans. I've followed boxing in various degrees of obsession for over 30 years but it can dwindle due to various factors highlighted so putting people in named boxes really doesn't work.

just my four penneth.

You obviously wouldnt qualify as a casual fan, he is talking about folk that show up to big fights with no clue about the sport

[jamamb]

clearly youd qualify as a hardcore fan, and you do seem to care btw

basically, its just using terminology to convey very real and significant differences btwn sets of fans. is anyone denying that these groups, while perhaps both fans, can still be described quite differently and have different characteristics ?

pretty much any broad category of things in life can be broken down into sub categories , its not really snobish at all to do this in boxing when it comes to using terms like hardcore and casual. saying there are casuals doesnt equate to bashing them

[Boxerbeetle]

I've spoken to so many hard core boxing fans who got into the sport because of Rocky films.

That's Casual

A fan is a fan. People inventing levels are snobs

disagree, there are obvious differences btwn someone who folliws boxing as a sport really closely and someone who only comes out for the 1 or 2 biggest fighters/fights a year and cant tell you anything/pay attention to anything beyond that

not bashing 'casuals', but i think its perfcetly valid to use terms to differentiate between types of fans and the scopes of there interests etc

basically, its just breaking things into sub categories, which isnt snobbish itself

ok how about someone who went about 50-80 small hall shows in three years all over the country, travelled to vegas to see fights, wembley to excel arena to MEN, wrote week in week out for 2-3 years for a well known expired website, had two kids, moved abroad still kept up with the scene (thanks box rec) got pissed off with the internal politics of several promoters so dropped out of the writing and now only goes 1-2 a year max but doesn't miss much on tv.

casual fan? Like I care, point being we all have different priorities in life and follow the sport as we wish. This is our privilege not to be judged or framed by other fans. I've followed boxing in various degrees of obsession for over 30 years but it can dwindle due to various factors highlighted so putting people in named boxes really doesn't work.

just my four penneth.

That example is nothing like being a casual fan though.

As I often say on here - none of my mates like boxing, and I actually go to most shows on my own. But then they all love Joshua and come with me when he’s fighting in Cardiff. They don’t know anyone else on the bill, and usually don’t even know who Joshua is fighting and they don’t care, they just love AJ and want to see him.

Nothing intrinsically wrong with being a casual, their money is as good as anyone’s. But there’s no point pretending that they’re boxing fans, because they just aren’t. As I said earlier, it’s like someone who follows Man Utd but refuses to watch any other team - they aren’t fans of the sport, they just want to attach themselves to a small but successful part of it, that’s all.

[J]

thanks mate but by other definition I hardly go to fights anymore ergo am a casual fan.

not that simple is the point..shades of grey and all that.

[littlepug]

thanks mate but by other definition I hardly go to fights anymore ergo am a casual fan.

not that simple is the point..shades of grey and all that.

I dont go to any, i consider myself a hardcore fan.

[J]

yup we are in agreement.

[jamamb]

thanks mate but by other definition I hardly go to fights anymore ergo am a casual fan.

not that simple is the point..shades of grey and all that.

you mean going by the definition that also says the person cant tell you anything about boxing beyond 1 fighter or fight? are you that type?

the ppl who dont think there are different types of fans are the ones not able to see the 'shades', terms like 'casual' and 'hardcore' exist precisely to distinguish the shades

[Wa1nuts]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

Yeah - Joshua Klitschko, Froch Groves, Brook Spence, Bellew Makubu. These are joke fights that make me long for the glory days when you got honest, proper, entertaining fights like Naz against Billy Hardy.

And who could forget those wonderful nights when we all made sure we were recording the likes of Calzaghe v Thornberry, or Starie, or Mkrtchyan, or Salem, or Pudwill, or McIntyre, or Sobot, or Manfredo, or Ashira, or Jiminez. They really were world title fights you wanted to watch time and time and time again. I personally remember exactly where I was when FW announced the Veit rematch. I suspect a lot of us do.

It's not like FW would ever try and con his audience by suggesting past their best fighters were relevant. Nobody could ever deny that it was a prime Barrera who came over to face Khan, appropriately on PPV. And speaking of Khan, I am utterly pig sick of being asked to pay pay per view fees for such unmitigated rubbish as Cleverly v Bellew and Whyte v Parker. I remember stumping up my money for Amir in his pick 'em thriller against Dimitri Salita, and I don't care who says it was over too quickly - the fight against Prescott was worth fifteen quid and if I could I would have paid more. How could you not with white-hot undercard action featuring Paul Smith against Danny Thornton, Matthew Hall against Taz Jones, and big Audley against Arias? Puts Mitchell Linares, Selby Gradovic and Joshua Johnson firmly in the shade.

Mentioning Bellew Makubu has thrown your argument out in the 1st paragraph. An youve just cherry picked some bad nights from FW who has how many years of experience as a promoter? If thats all of the examples youve got then its not too bad compared to the time frame hes been promoting. My argument is that Matchroom have manipulated the general public into believing fighters are better than what they are because of their blatant over hyping.

You seem to not accept any critiscm of anything MR related yet critisice FW any chance you get.

[J]

thanks mate but by other definition I hardly go to fights anymore ergo am a casual fan.

not that simple is the point..shades of grey and all that.

you mean going by the definition that also says the person cant tell you anything about boxing beyond 1 fighter or fight? are you that type?

the ppl who dont think there are different types of fans are the ones not able to see the 'shades', terms like 'casual' and 'hardcore' exist precisely to distinguish the shades

lol I hope that was a rhetorical question.

[maverick23]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

Yeah - Joshua Klitschko, Froch Groves, Brook Spence, Bellew Makubu. These are joke fights that make me long for the glory days when you got honest, proper, entertaining fights like Naz against Billy Hardy.

And who could forget those wonderful nights when we all made sure we were recording the likes of Calzaghe v Thornberry, or Starie, or Mkrtchyan, or Salem, or Pudwill, or McIntyre, or Sobot, or Manfredo, or Ashira, or Jiminez. They really were world title fights you wanted to watch time and time and time again. I personally remember exactly where I was when FW announced the Veit rematch. I suspect a lot of us do.

It's not like FW would ever try and con his audience by suggesting past their best fighters were relevant. Nobody could ever deny that it was a prime Barrera who came over to face Khan, appropriately on PPV. And speaking of Khan, I am utterly pig sick of being asked to pay pay per view fees for such unmitigated rubbish as Cleverly v Bellew and Whyte v Parker. I remember stumping up my money for Amir in his pick 'em thriller against Dimitri Salita, and I don't care who says it was over too quickly - the fight against Prescott was worth fifteen quid and if I could I would have paid more. How could you not with white-hot undercard action featuring Paul Smith against Danny Thornton, Matthew Hall against Taz Jones, and big Audley against Arias? Puts Mitchell Linares, Selby Gradovic and Joshua Johnson firmly in the shade.

Mentioning Bellew Makubu has thrown your argument out in the 1st paragraph. An youve just cherry picked some bad nights from FW who has how many years of experience as a promoter? If thats all of the examples youve got then its not too bad compared to the time frame hes been promoting. My argument is that Matchroom have manipulated the general public into believing fighters are better than what they are because of their blatant over hyping.

You seem to not accept any critiscm of anything MR related yet critisice FW any chance you get.

Blatant over hyping?! They’re promoters! That’s their job isn’t it? That’s why Sky are with them and fighters want to join them. They promote their fights/fighters and promote them well.

This Khan fight coming up in September is really poor but I wouldn’t be surprised if they sell out the show and have strong viewership on Sky.

[mickey1975]

Of course it will! Look at AJ-Martin. Horrendous mismatch, packaged well.

[Tuan_Jim]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

Yeah - Joshua Klitschko, Froch Groves, Brook Spence, Bellew Makubu. These are joke fights that make me long for the glory days when you got honest, proper, entertaining fights like Naz against Billy Hardy.

And who could forget those wonderful nights when we all made sure we were recording the likes of Calzaghe v Thornberry, or Starie, or Mkrtchyan, or Salem, or Pudwill, or McIntyre, or Sobot, or Manfredo, or Ashira, or Jiminez. They really were world title fights you wanted to watch time and time and time again. I personally remember exactly where I was when FW announced the Veit rematch. I suspect a lot of us do.

It's not like FW would ever try and con his audience by suggesting past their best fighters were relevant. Nobody could ever deny that it was a prime Barrera who came over to face Khan, appropriately on PPV. And speaking of Khan, I am utterly pig sick of being asked to pay pay per view fees for such unmitigated rubbish as Cleverly v Bellew and Whyte v Parker. I remember stumping up my money for Amir in his pick 'em thriller against Dimitri Salita, and I don't care who says it was over too quickly - the fight against Prescott was worth fifteen quid and if I could I would have paid more. How could you not with white-hot undercard action featuring Paul Smith against Danny Thornton, Matthew Hall against Taz Jones, and big Audley against Arias? Puts Mitchell Linares, Selby Gradovic and Joshua Johnson firmly in the shade.

Mentioning Bellew Makubu has thrown your argument out in the 1st paragraph. An youve just cherry picked some bad nights from FW who has how many years of experience as a promoter? If thats all of the examples youve got then its not too bad compared to the time frame hes been promoting. My argument is that Matchroom have manipulated the general public into believing fighters are better than what they are because of their blatant over hyping.

You seem to not accept any critiscm of anything MR related yet critisice FW any chance you get.

I think the health of British boxing declined with the inception of Sky. Frank Bruno boxing on BBC with 15m viewers, Lennox Lewis boxing on Sky with 100K viewers on a good day. I think by 1995 they had all transferred to subscription TV. More money, far less exposure. The Tyson/Bruno II PPV circus making a mint probably put the final nail in the coffin. Eddie Hearns' current PT Barnum version of the sport was inevitable.

[Autobarn]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

Yeah - Joshua Klitschko, Froch Groves, Brook Spence, Bellew Makubu. These are joke fights that make me long for the glory days when you got honest, proper, entertaining fights like Naz against Billy Hardy.

And who could forget those wonderful nights when we all made sure we were recording the likes of Calzaghe v Thornberry, or Starie, or Mkrtchyan, or Salem, or Pudwill, or McIntyre, or Sobot, or Manfredo, or Ashira, or Jiminez. They really were world title fights you wanted to watch time and time and time again. I personally remember exactly where I was when FW announced the Veit rematch. I suspect a lot of us do.

It's not like FW would ever try and con his audience by suggesting past their best fighters were relevant. Nobody could ever deny that it was a prime Barrera who came over to face Khan, appropriately on PPV. And speaking of Khan, I am utterly pig sick of being asked to pay pay per view fees for such unmitigated rubbish as Cleverly v Bellew and Whyte v Parker. I remember stumping up my money for Amir in his pick 'em thriller against Dimitri Salita, and I don't care who says it was over too quickly - the fight against Prescott was worth fifteen quid and if I could I would have paid more. How could you not with white-hot undercard action featuring Paul Smith against Danny Thornton, Matthew Hall against Taz Jones, and big Audley against Arias? Puts Mitchell Linares, Selby Gradovic and Joshua Johnson firmly in the shade.

Mentioning Bellew Makubu has thrown your argument out in the 1st paragraph. An youve just cherry picked some bad nights from FW who has how many years of experience as a promoter? If thats all of the examples youve got then its not too bad compared to the time frame hes been promoting. My argument is that Matchroom have manipulated the general public into believing fighters are better than what they are because of their blatant over hyping.

You seem to not accept any critiscm of anything MR related yet critisice FW any chance you get.

bellew-Makubu was exciting, up there with the better Bellew nights (such as the exciting first one with McKenzie & Brudov, in which he produced a KO following a considerable scare)

[maverick23]

Of course it will! Look at AJ-Martin. Horrendous mismatch, packaged well.

I don’t think, on paper at least, AJ v Martin was too bad a fight, at least in comparison to the upcoming Khan fight.

There were quite a few people on here tipping Martin to win. Of course that all changed when we saw the shape he was in!