how much do you trust a fighters own word vs what you actually see?

[gilgamesh]

But i mean, if floyd says emmanuel augustus gave him his toughest fight, not jose luis castillo, shouldnt we take floyd's word for it ......even if he did cruise to a shutout stoppage of augustus but got hit and roughed up lots and arguably lost to castillo?

and if a fighter is brutally ko'd by a couple shots in round 1, but says an opponent who couldnt drop him with 1000 shots hits harder, shouldnt we believe him?

cuz they were the ones actually in the ring? dont they know best?

I can't tell if this is an honest question or a piss take. I'd lean toward the latter.

[gilgamesh]

I think the trouble with these fighters opinions is that non fighters try and second guess them, based on what they see from the couch. A fight might look easier from the side of the TV than it is being in there.

Fighters know the score. Boxrec posters, not so much.

Common sense, and proper vision tells you when a guy had a more difficult time with an opponent. Now hardest punch maybe you can't properly judge as you're not feeling the punch, and some guys have deceptive power, but you can tell who is giving somebody the hardest time.

Although in some cases even that can be deceptive if you don't know what you're looking at.

For instance Conor McGregor won several rounds against Mayweather, but it was plainly obvious to me that Floyd was toying with him and holding back all the way until later in the fight when he started really cranking it up. I think he knew perfectly well that Conor posed no real threat to him, and was very confident he'd run him out of gas and stop him.

I get the feeling he took it easy on him in the early going in the hopes that maybe he could generate interest for a big money rematch if it looked close, but to the uneducated fan they might think he legitimately gave him a hard time.

[Controversial]

Fighters lie all the time, they don't want to give their opponent more confidence and they are trying to put bums on seats so will pretend they are in the best shape ever, had the best camp ever blah blah blah, Haye vs Bellew springs to mind. Fighters also don’t want to admit they are past their best fooling themselves they still have it. How fighters get on with each other will dictate their answers as well, they won’t want to give someone credit if they genuinely don’t like the other guy.

The hardest punch might not be what we expect though, just because someone has a better KO record doesn’t mean they will hurt you more. Plenty of examples of big punchers being taken the distance by guys who were stopped by other lighter punchers. I was knocked out many years ago and I don’t recall a thing about it so I can say in all honesty that didn't hurt at all however I was really hurt by my nephew accidentally head butting me when he was a little kid, I bent down to pick him up and he jumped up in the air at the same time and nutted me straight on the nose, that was really painful, much more than being knocked out lol.

[Wee Tommy]

I think the trouble with these fighters opinions is that non fighters try and second guess them, based on what they see from the couch. A fight might look easier from the side of the TV than it is being in there.

Fighters know the score. Boxrec posters, not so much.

Common sense, and proper vision tells you when a guy had a more difficult time with an opponent. Now hardest punch maybe you can't properly judge as you're not feeling the punch, and some guys have deceptive power, but you can tell who is giving somebody the hardest time.

Although in some cases even that can be deceptive if you don't know what you're looking at.

For instance Conor McGregor won several rounds against Mayweather, but it was plainly obvious to me that Floyd was toying with him and holding back all the way until later in the fight when he started really cranking it up. I think he knew perfectly well that Conor posed no real threat to him, and was very confident he'd run him out of gas and stop him.

I get the feeling he took it easy on him in the early going in the hopes that maybe he could generate interest for a big money rematch if it looked close, but to the uneducated fan they might think he legitimately gave him a hard time.

Agree with you there man. Toyed with him.

I think I’d take what Floyd, a notorious bullshitter, says with a big pinch of salt on most subjects.

[gilgamesh]

I think the trouble with these fighters opinions is that non fighters try and second guess them, based on what they see from the couch. A fight might look easier from the side of the TV than it is being in there.

Fighters know the score. Boxrec posters, not so much.

Common sense, and proper vision tells you when a guy had a more difficult time with an opponent. Now hardest punch maybe you can't properly judge as you're not feeling the punch, and some guys have deceptive power, but you can tell who is giving somebody the hardest time.

Although in some cases even that can be deceptive if you don't know what you're looking at.

For instance Conor McGregor won several rounds against Mayweather, but it was plainly obvious to me that Floyd was toying with him and holding back all the way until later in the fight when he started really cranking it up. I think he knew perfectly well that Conor posed no real threat to him, and was very confident he'd run him out of gas and stop him.

I get the feeling he took it easy on him in the early going in the hopes that maybe he could generate interest for a big money rematch if it looked close, but to the uneducated fan they might think he legitimately gave him a hard time.

Agree with you there man. Toyed with him.

I think I’d take what Floyd, a notorious bullshitter, says with a big pinch of salt on most subjects.

You can usually tell when a guy is being honest or not. Not just in Boxing, but in life in general. I can tell a bullshitter and a liar when I see one.

[ElJefe]

Reminded me of this "Best I Faced" from James Toney - https://www.ringtv.com/121861-james-ton ... t-i-faced/

"Quickest hands: Roy Jones — He was fast. I’ll give him that, but that’s all I’ll give him. I would have knocked him out if I wasn’t drained from losing 44 pounds in six weeks. I went in (that fight) like a fool and wasn’t properly prepared."

It pains some fighters to give others credit. Toney clearly doesn't like giving Roy any credit for that win. Very complimentary of Mike McCallum though. Not that The Body Snatcher wasn't a great fighter in his own right - but would Toney praise him so much had he lost those fights? I doubt it.

Think Hagler was similar in this interview, only giving Sugar Ray Leonard back handed compliments about his movement etc.

To answer the question, I think the higher up in levels you go, the egos increase. And with that I'd take a lot of what they say with a pinch of salt as a lot of it becomes self serving propaganda/BS. At the least it's important to understand the context. Lower level fighters, journeymen etc who, by their own admission, are not the best fighters around are much more likely to give you an honest assessment imo.

[margaret thatcher]

Reminded me of this "Best I Faced" from James Toney - https://www.ringtv.com/121861-james-ton ... t-i-faced/

"Quickest hands: Roy Jones — He was fast. I’ll give him that, but that’s all I’ll give him. I would have knocked him out if I wasn’t drained from losing 44 pounds in six weeks. I went in (that fight) like a fool and wasn’t properly prepared."

It pains some fighters to give others credit. Toney clearly doesn't like giving Roy any credit for that win. Very complimentary of Mike McCallum though. Not that The Body Snatcher wasn't a great fighter in his own right - but would Toney praise him so much had he lost those fights? I doubt it.

Think Hagler was similar in this interview, only giving Sugar Ray Leonard back handed compliments about his movement etc.

To answer the question, I think the higher up in levels you go, the egos increase. And with that I'd take a lot of what they say with a pinch of salt as a lot of it becomes self serving propaganda/BS. At the least it's important to understand the context. Lower level fighters, journeymen etc who, by their own admission, are not the best fighters around are much more likely to give you an honest assessment imo.

[gilgamesh]

Yeah Toney's excuse of "If I hadn't lost 44 pounds in 6 weeks" doesn't scan because if you were as disciplined a fighter as Roy you wouldn't have been so drastically overweight in the first place. So therefore he's better than you in preparation and in the ring.

I Love James Toney, he's one of my all time favorite fighters, but using your own lack of discipline as an excuse is no excuse.

[knockout]

Yeah top boxers are often slightly delusion and I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. It’s No surprise given the job they do ! It takes a special kind of self belief to step inside those ropes and be a champion. ( and come back from a loss)

Lennox Lewis is a prime example ... really one of the nicest, warmest guys you could meet. Humble and no ego whatsoever in normal situations.

However if you hear some of his interviews discussing his two losses, he clearly sees things quite differently to the majority of fight fans.

People like Lennox , MJ, Kobe , Brady .. they are just wired differently.

[THEBUTCH]

Richie Woodhall can be trusted above most.

How many boxers would have been prepared to admit he didn't think he won after his fight with Glen Catley ?

[brilo33]

its fighting you can never tell the truth, iam still bluffing brothers mates , work people , yea i am just squatting 120kg making sure everyone hears ,so they know i can squat them if it turns sour,only now when you hear fighters talk its good its more honest like the froch podcast, he is tough man so dont matter