Are you the biggest boxing fan you know?

Internet forums not included ofcourse

You know what I mean though. In your family, amongst your friends and down the pub

Like I will be in my local and everyones harping on about the Premiership usually. Now I like football but as soon as we get onto who is signing who from who and they will be paying this much etc. I start switching off

Most people in the pubs know fighters from the Isles like Khan and Haye and everyone knows of Mayweather and Pacquiao but when it comes to other fighters it people are usually not that clued up

My fathers boxing knowledge from the 1950s to the 1980s is very good and my brother is pretty good from 1970 onwards plus he is a Sky Sports junkie so watches most Friday and Saturday fight nights

My father has little interest is boxing nowadays though (he is 70 I guess) and my brother doesnt watch as much fights that happen over the Atlantic as I do. I have a mate from school who is a big boxing fan but he doesnt have the interest in the old day fighters like Dempsey and Louis so its probably fair to say I am the biggest boxing fan I know

Just wondering if anyone could relate I guess as internet forums aside us hardcore boxing fans seem to be a minority and its fair to say there is no one out of my friends or anyone in the local pubs that I can have an indepth conversation with like on here

Your thoughts as always are welcome


Regards

Steffan

None of my mates are into boxing as much as me but I'm by no means hardcore. I've only got into it all relatively recently really with nobody in my family really watching much. That said, I remember watching all the Eubank, Benn, Watson fights and me and my old man stayed up late to listen to Bruno Tyson 1 on the radio. Also stayed up to watch a lot of the Lewis fights.

Now though, I have manged to get one mate really involved in the domestic stuff and subsequently have met another guy he knew who has travelled the world following UK fighters.

I'm a massive footbal fan so I can do the pub chat to a point but the moment it strays onto transfers, club ownership and that I lose interest. To be honest though I quite enjoy being in the minority. The bloke who knows his stuff. It's like being the first to listen to a cool band!

I'm the only one who will try and watch pretty much every fight on TV, always record the ESPN Fights to watch the next day.

I have one friend who I know through work and he is absolutely obsessed with the sport. He is in his mid-forties (much older than me!) but still spars regularly and knows a few local small hall promoters and fighters, meaning I get to go the York Hall and other small shows for free on a fairly regular basis. He is also very good friends with a guy who fought in one of the Prizefighter shows and I had the fortune of meeting him via my work buddy. Nice chap.

I would say he is the biggest boxing fan I know, but I guess I am second. My interest has slipped slightly over the years, and I don't really bother going to 'big' shows anymore. I grew up in the Benn/Eubank era along with Hamed and Lewis a bit later on, but I find the sport a little frustrating these days and it really doesn't help itself. I have a few other mates who like MMA but I generally try to avoid them at all costs for this very reason.

It is sad but I don't think I have ever had a genuine conversation in a pub with my friends about boxing. It is just not on their agenda and they all still think Tyson is the GOAT. FACT. It is all football, football, football these days and as someone who find footie about as turgid, depressing and souless as humanly possible, I zone out and stare at the pretty barmaids.

Great thread, Steffan. Makes a refreshing change from more Manny/Floyd yawning.

Without a doubt. It's a shame really becuase I always struggle to find someone to talk about boxing with. I like football and UFC but my number 1 sport has always been boxing. A close friend of mine for many years used to be a huge boxing fan, but has since moved onto the UFC. He doesnt stay up for boxing anymore but will happily stay up for the UFC.

I'm the only one that reads about boxing on the net, goes on forums, watches ESPN Friday Night Fights, Fight Night on SkySports and BoxNation. During the season I watch all the boxing I can - around 6 - 7 hours a week. No one else I know does this.

Miss the days when characters like Tyson, Eubank, Benn and Hamed would capture the hearts of people who weren't into boxing and had everyone talking about them.

Any conversation I have now about boxing with my friends (if any) centres around either David Haye or Amir Khan. None of them have heard of Marquez, Donaire, Gamboa etc. Quite sad really.

I would say that I am the biggest Boxing fan I know. My Brother and Cousin are both fans, but I watch more shows, read more on the subject and generally just have a greater interest.

I have a few friends that have an interest, but would only watch the bigger fights. From about Lightweight downwards they would struggle to name any fighter.

My dad used to be a big fan, he knows an awful lot about the 70's and 80's, but since Sky started showing the big fights, his interest has wained somewhat. He's the only person I know who rates the Finnegans amongst his favourite fighters.

Football would be the preferred topic amongst my mates, but that doesn't bother me, love my football. Most friends would support Premiership teams, so as a Celtic fan, I'm forever defending them and the quality of the football.

Pretty much all my family has at least a passing interest in boxing (khan/Naz/Eubank/Benn/Bruno). Most of my uncles can give you a brilliant analysis on a fighter after just watching 6 rounds but they only follow where they can - big fans of price/cleverly and my now long dead great aunt is remembered fondly for calling Tyson-Douglas and winning her husband 300 pounds off his mates (which he was quite indiscreet about) then slapping the Poopie out of him for gambling can still rememer his popcorn debris filled hair and beard and the shellsock on his face - priceless. Grandad ignited the interest in all of us - he used to have a punch bag which when he hit made a deafening sound - when I asked im why didn't he fight professionally - he called his son over who'd been in boxing for 2-3 years and e demonstrated te difference between a big puncher and a professional puncher on the bag.

I suppose I am the biggest fan I know but only because I don't have so muc obligations - I imagine if they had the time they would be bigger fans.

Yeah I would definitely be the biggest fan I know. I've one mate who would be interested in all of the big fights and we could talk about that sort of thing. However he watches any documentaries involving Tyson and Ali and as a result its a bit repetitive listening to the same thing being said over and over again, as he's convinced they're without a doubt the 2 best heavyweights of all time. No point even trying to tal about any of the lower divisions outside of Mayweather and Pacquiao.

Yeah, I have a few mates with a passing interest in the sport, but none as in to it as I am. As Tino says, it is a shame, as in the pub our conversation can only ever go as far as Khan, Haye, Mayweather or Pacquiao.

My Dad, Granda, Brother and a couple of my uncles are big boxing fans and have all boxed. My Grandad boxed for the Army. I have a few mates with a passing interest in the sport. I'm a big fan of the lower weights most people on the forums don't even care about them.

On a plus side I have a few more people asking me about Tyson Fury since he has been on Sky. Regardless of what you think of Fury he's on terrestrial TV and that can only be good for the sport.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:My Dad, Granda, Brother and a couple of my uncles are big boxing fans and have all boxed. My Grandad boxed for the Army. I have a few mates with a passing interest in the sport. I'm a big fan of the lower weights most people on the forums don't even care about them.

On a plus side I have a few more people asking me about Tyson Fury since he has been on Sky. Regardless of what you think of Fury he's on terrestrial TV and that can only be good for the sport.

Totally agree - it's first hand evidence how terrestrial tv can bring boxing back to the masses.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:My Dad, Granda, Brother and a couple of my uncles are big boxing fans and have all boxed. My Grandad boxed for the Army. I have a few mates with a passing interest in the sport. I'm a big fan of the lower weights most people on the forums don't even care about them.

On a plus side I have a few more people asking me about Tyson Fury since he has been on Sky. Regardless of what you think of Fury he's on terrestrial TV and that can only be good for the sport.

My Grandfather fought for the Navy. He was supposedly a very good amateur, he won a lot of international armed forces tournament. He died when I was only a toddler though. Would have liked to hear from the horse's mouth exactly what it was like.

I'm the biggest fan by a long way with my mates. Some of my mates train in boxing but are less interested in the big fights than me.

Compared to my friends and anyone I know my knowledge is about 100% more but this doesn't compare to some of the guys here!

I'm definitely the biggest boxing fan out of my friends, I have only been watching it for 5 years though. A lot of them didn't even know how to score a fight until I explained it.

BoxingFan88 wrote:IA lot of them didn't even know how to score a fight until I explained it.

Perhaps you could also explain it to Ian John-Lewis.

i have one mate who i would consider a boxing fan and thats about it, the rest will probably come round for the big fights. its at least one person i can talk boxing in the pub with though, although id back my knowledge over his

I have never seen Donaire box. I've seen perhaps half of a Gamboa fight.

It is harder to see fights here in China. There is very little TV coverage, time differences can be a pain even if you want to stream them and youtube isn't available without a proxy.

But I'm not going to hide behind any of those excuses. I could make a lot more effort to see more than I actually do, but I just don't. I enjoy reading about the game on here but never really join in the debate, basically because I'd be talking about things I haven't seen.

I used to watch Naz and Lewis back in the day. I've been to see a Froch fight. I'm no novice but I am so far from having my finger on the pulse with today's lads, and even more so with the legends of yesteryear, that some people may question why I spend so much time reading a boxing forum.

And yet, all things considered, I probably am the biggest boxing fan I know.

I think that says something about the sport these days.

I said earlier about Donaire and Gamboa but I'm not sure anyone I know here (Western friends) has even heard of them, never mind seen them.

Some of my friends here are into kung fu and we've had conversations comparing that with boxing. They said they don't like boxing because you can only use your hands.

I said that's why I like it. The fact that two blokes have mastered a fighting style that does impose such restrictions.

Football would be rubbish if you could pick the ball up and run with it. That's not a slight on rugby. Rugby would be rubbish if you could throw it forward whenever you wanted. Restrictions make sports what they are, making the participants hone certain, sometimes unnatural, skills.

I'm sure Lionel Messi could hit a target with a football from 30 feet away with more accuracy than I could by throwing a tennis ball at it. That's unnatural. Telling two blokes that they can only use their hands to win a fight is, for me, a similar thing.

Another thing that my kung fu friends say is that boxing is often boring. They like knock outs. Whilst boxing can be dull, I disagree with them about fights going the distance being boring. I'd rather watch an exciting 0-0 football game (they do happen!) than a 100-60 NBA game. But they don't seem to get this.

Back on topic, my Grandad was a massive fight fan, Ali especially. But he died about 15 years ago so I guess he can't usurp me now.

To echo Tino, good thread Steffan.

No friends that are boxing fans, All into Football and Rugby, Most have heard of Khan and Haye, but really wouldn't know much about them. One knows who Manny and Floyd are, and that was a shock to me, have 2 mates that are into UFC, and I'd have a better knowledge of UFC than they would have of boxing.

Its a shame, have never had a real conversation with someone that had more knowledge than me, unless via a forum.

The biggest shame, I know that my mates being sport nuts would be addicted if it was on terrestrail TV and on the back pages, The excitement of Saturday night in a pub, watching a fight with your mates, where you feel you have a communal vested interest in the outcome is way way way to rare.

Haye was prob the last, and look how that turned out.

jimdig wrote:
Its a shame, have never had a real conversation with someone that had more knowledge than me

I find that happens to me in all walks of life, jim. It's just a cross I have to bear.

I am by far, my mates are all "big fight" fans in England. I have a couple very knowledgable friends here in Canada, but they don't "love" the sport like i do. Truth be told, i get the most info and good boxing chat from this forum, helps when you have Windy of course, he has been following the sport since 1896

No would definitely say my brother,he has an unbelievable collection of boxing tapes,some he sent away for and paid a lot for them, as well as thousands of boxing news,ring and boxing illustrated magazines, never misses a fight on tele and has been to a hell of a lot including Barrera,Morales in Vegas.

He has a massive knowledge of the sport very hard to catch out on any era hold his own with anyone.

Wouldn't know half as much as I do now since visiting this site, it is rare to find anyone who knows anyone other than names mentioned earlier, not one of my friends has shown an interest past Khan, Haye etc. It's not through the lack of trying either, just too hard to follow unless you have a real passion about it otherwise there are far more accessible sports for a lot less money to get involved with.

Yes I am, am also the most knowledgable, certainly since Hank Kaplan passed away.

I would say Truss is the biggest. 23 stone of wobbling Bostonian blubber is going to be hard to beat - even Union can't compete!

Yeah sadly i am one of my best mates who did love boxing has sadly moved on to mma.

However a few of the youngsters at work have been asking me about mayweather and pacman and who i think is better. I point them towards videos on youtube of them both but the only one they seem impressed by is the floyd skipping routine video.

Kills me it really does

However if one of the youngsters gets intrigued by the sport and ends up watching Salvador Sanchez highlights and taking notes to talk to me about.......then my work is done

I don't know anyone at work or personally who follow the sport. It amazes me,if I am being honest. Every now and then however I run into someone who responds to my boxing talk and for a moment I get excited....but alas it never lasts long.

The conversation tends to go as follows...

ME: Yeah I follow boxing, I am a big fan.

WIND UP: Yeah me too.

ME: Oh yeah, great, which fighters do you like.

WIND UP: Oh that Tyson fella, what a fighter aye?

ME: Goodbye.