BoxRec

Bennie just posted , a few questions , about boxers, I did'nt have a clue off the answers , and it got me too thinking about how many fighters, who when they have finished and even when they are fighting , both ameteur and pro , just never ever bother about the sport and whats going on in it.

I know my own sons, would'nt even know who Pacman was if i did'nt tell them and all of them boxed , They all knew who Hatton was obviously, but my middle lad who boxed pro at lightweight asked me is this Pacman, any good, and wheres he from , myself when i was boxing would'nt of been able to tell you who was around that i was gonna fight , in fact did'nt even care, trainer said be there and i was there , Not all are like that, but when i think about it i would say an awful lot are.

Don't know what it is, but it is a sport that when a lot walk away, they do it with no looking back , and like i said even when boxing, a lot would'nt know who's who.

Don't know why this is, perhaps its because its such a individual sport that it attracts individual people who are likely to be self centred , Like i said when fighting i knew the real big names ,the rest i did'nt have a clue, and whats more did'nt care , was too busy training I only started taking interest when i started trainng lads.

Whats your thoughts and reasons.

And don't come back with , cos your a self centred cant.

I understand what your saying and some pro's i get talking to are a bit in the dark about guys right up their backside in their own division, let alone the sport in general.

I think the big names either disappear off the face of the earth, or are ringside for every fight they can possibly get too.

There does not seem to be any middle ground.

Some divisions really catch people's imagination and others don't.

Apart from Haye and the Klitschko sisters, many wouldn't know a Chageav from a Valuev if questioned about the heavies.

I blame TV personally, as most of the talent is tucked away on setanta or sky and not out there on the Beeb or ITV for the masses.

I dunno, boxing is an all or nothing sport, i've got friends who are stil complete anoraks and then others who don't follow it at all anymore, saying that the latter group didn't have a great interest even when they were boxing.
There doesn't seem to be much inbetween though!

Depends on the individual - I have known pros who couldn't care less about the wider sport and know nothing of it and then again there are others - Matty Macklin for example - who are emersed in the sport and know the current scene and the sports history to an encyclopedic level.

I would say the majority of pros started off as fans themselves so they follow the sport and watch the fights.

Look at the lads who regularly come on here - Bomber, Moorsey, Swifty etc they all know their onions

Moorsey had a wide knowledge when interviewed too. Mark Thompson on the other hand didnt, although I stand here ready to be corrected on Mark...

There is a difference between partaking in the sport and being an observer or fan of the sport. I can understand why ex pro's would'nt want to be involved in the sport once they pack in.......

I can remember John Lennon, when asked about the Beatles splitting said " It's not the end of the world. We wrote some decent tunes, they are all there, you can go out and buy them anytime you like, it's no big deal...."

That's because he was " a beatle " and knew the realities of being in that position, so could'nt understand why people got so obsessed with the music and lyrics, which he frequently said where just made up nonsense. The guy with a guitar in his hand at the the local dog and duck, playing in a band with his mates, wants to be john Lennon and would know doubt be able to spew out an encyclopedic knowledge of the beatles and the whole music scene, becauase essentailly he is an observer of something that he loves deeply and wants to be a part of, in some small way. That's what it is with boxing or most sports and leisure activities, people look up to their individual idols and so want to know about them, to get an idea of their world, because in real life they are a million miles away from it.....

However, your John Lennon's did it all and wanted something new and was'nt interested in ant kind of retrospection, just as was the case when listening to Nigel Benn, when he was interviewed on the recent boxing radio show on 5 live with Barry McGuigan. He hated what boxing did to him and was glad to be out of it, his titles and fame mean't very little to him. Yet, James DeGale has stated that it was the Benn - Eubank fights that got him into boxing, so again, it's the observer in us that wants a small piece of the action in some way. DeGale turned pro, we all come on this boxing site, others will open up gyms and train local fighters, others do some amateur boxing, some get involved with the bbb of c at fight events.

The main difference is the partakers (at a top level) and the observers......

The partakers have seen it, done it, got the t-shirt and so have got it out of their system, they don't need to be involved in the sport or have it as a major hobby or part of their life. We, on the other hand, the die hard boxing fans, are in the main the observers. We have'nt seen the heights, some have'nt even been in the ring (myself), so we want a piece of the action, to get as close to the sport as our individual personalities allow us. That's how i see things anyway.....

Carl Froch openly admits he's not a fan. You could see that when he was on a question of sport and struggled to get Waldimir Kiltschko's name out.

I guess you can equate it to someone and their job, they may be good at it, but don't necessarily have much interest in it.

Qiuxall,you could be right on the money

dbf wrote:Carl Froch openly admits he's not a fan. You could see that when he was on a question of sport and struggled to get Waldimir Kiltschko's name out.

I guess you can equate it to someone and their job, they may be good at it, but don't necessarily have much interest in it.

I remember him saying he wasn't a fan on the Bunce boxing hour a month or so ago.

Tyson has a fantastic appreciation of the sports history - as a young pro he had access to the most extensive fight video vault in the world.

I know after talking to David Haye that he is more of a UFC fan than Boxing to watch.

Boxing, sadly, is now a minority sport, on a par with sailing or hockey. The man in the street does not even know who the heavyweight champion of the world is, which hurts the sport. The heavyweight title has to be unified and stay unified.

Quixall . I think you may have nailed it ,

Quixall wrote:There is a difference between partaking in the sport and being an observer or fan of the sport. I can understand why ex pro's would'nt want to be involved in the sport once they pack in.......

I can remember John Lennon, when asked about the Beatles splitting said " It's not the end of the world. We wrote some decent tunes, they are all there, you can go out and buy them anytime you like, it's no big deal...."

That's because he was " a beatle " and knew the realities of being in that position, so could'nt understand why people got so obsessed with the music and lyrics, which he frequently said where just made up nonsense. The guy with a guitar in his hand at the the local dog and duck, playing in a band with his mates, wants to be john Lennon and would know doubt be able to spew out an encyclopedic knowledge of the beatles and the whole music scene, becauase essentailly he is an observer of something that he loves deeply and wants to be a part of, in some small way. That's what it is with boxing or most sports and leisure activities, people look up to their individual idols and so want to know about them, to get an idea of their world, because in real life they are a million miles away from it.....

However, your John Lennon's did it all and wanted something new and was'nt interested in ant kind of retrospection, just as was the case when listening to Nigel Benn, when he was interviewed on the recent boxing radio show on 5 live with Barry McGuigan. He hated what boxing did to him and was glad to be out of it, his titles and fame mean't very little to him. Yet, James DeGale has stated that it was the Benn - Eubank fights that got him into boxing, so again, it's the observer in us that wants a small piece of the action in some way. DeGale turned pro, we all come on this boxing site, others will open up gyms and train local fighters, others do some amateur boxing, some get involved with the bbb of c at fight events.

The main difference is the partakers (at a top level) and the observers......

The partakers have seen it, done it, got the t-shirt and so have got it out of their system, they don't need to be involved in the sport or have it as a major hobby or part of their life. We, on the other hand, the die hard boxing fans, are in the main the observers. We have'nt seen the heights, some have'nt even been in the ring (myself), so we want a piece of the action, to get as close to the sport as our individual personalities allow us. That's how i see things anyway.....

Bang on. Great post.

coneye wrote:Quixall . I think you may have nailed it ,

My dad always says there are two types of people, "talkers" and "do-er's"

One set try's to achive their dreams and the other set are happy to just live on their dreams.