Patriotism and Boxing

[Beanz]

Does a boxer's nationality make a difference to you as a boxing fan? Will you generally support a boxer from your own country if he is fighting a foreigner? Or does it make no difference to you ever? Personally I will nearly always support a British boxer, and in a UK bout an English one, but there are exceptions. I was completely rooting for Cleverley against Bellew because Bellew showed such little class in the run up, and I have always been a Clev fan. I also find myself wishing anyone would just knock Fury out because he gets on my tits. Never a huge fan of Junior Witter either but in 9 fights out of 10 I will get behind the British guy. Where no UK fighters are involved I can relax a little more but investing a stake in one boxer over the other, makes the fight more fun even when neither comes from my country. Your thoughts?

[Mattyhitman]

Not really, If I like the style the boxer has, or the way he comes across in interviews, then ya either have an instant liking or dis-like to him, and from that point you will either support them or not, when they fight.
I always wanted Witter to get smashed cos he's a tit, but other Wincobank fighters I liked, and the style was appealling, just didnt like him.

[Gandalf]

I don't really get behind a fighter because he is British. I'm not much of a patriot in that way. I tend to like fighters based on particular styles or personality. My favourite fighters come from all over the place including a few Brits. I'm only really into my country when it is something like football. I think anthems before fights are a bit meaningless. It's really man against man. England is England. Froch is Froch. Froch isn't England. You'd be better off playing his favourite song rather than an anthem. It's down to the individual and what he is rather than the national whole.

[Fenster]

I don't love or hate any fighter. However, I do always tend to support the British fighter abroad.. unless i've got money on the other bloke, which is often, and shamefully i'm far more patriotic to my pocket.

[Memphis]

I don't really get behind a fighter because he is British. I'm not much of a patriot in that way. I tend to like fighters based on particular styles or personality. My favourite fighters come from all over the place including a few Brits. I'm only really into my country when it is something like football. I think anthems before fights are a bit meaningless. It's really man against man. England is England. Froch is Froch. Froch isn't England. You'd be better off playing his favourite song rather than an anthem. It's down to the individual and what he is rather than the national whole.

I dunno mate, normally I'd agree about anthems but given Froch's desperate struggle in early life he's bound to pick something proper depressing. God save the Queen all the way!

Im with Greenbeanz on this one. 99 percent of the time Im behind a British fighter regardless of who he's fighting, where and for what.

Audley was always an exception, could care less who smashes him up.

[Gandalf]

I don't really get behind a fighter because he is British. I'm not much of a patriot in that way. I tend to like fighters based on particular styles or personality. My favourite fighters come from all over the place including a few Brits. I'm only really into my country when it is something like football. I think anthems before fights are a bit meaningless. It's really man against man. England is England. Froch is Froch. Froch isn't England. You'd be better off playing his favourite song rather than an anthem. It's down to the individual and what he is rather than the national whole.

I dunno mate, normally I'd agree about anthems but given Froch's desperate struggle in early life he's bound to pick something proper depressing. God save the Queen all the way!

Im with Greenbeanz on this one. 99 percent of the time Im behind a British fighter regardless of who he's fighting, where and for what.

Audley was always an exception, could care less who smashes him up.

Maybe sometimes I am drawn to patriotism, but I'm not sure. Martinez/Barker for instance had me drawing more towards Barker. However, I'm not sure if that was patriotism or my automatic inclination towards the underdog. I like Martinez so I shouldn't really have been against him. Just maybe I wanted a long odds fight to be interesting.

[Rantcatrat]

Strange as this may seem, I find myself similar to Miles in that I tend to root for the underdog unless its one of my favorite fighters. As to my favorite fighters, only Tim Bradley is American. A corrollary question and perhaps more interesting, is whether between your nation's fighters, do you root for the fighter whom you share race in common? Also, among your nation, do you support the fighter from the same area you are from?

My gut tells me that most posters on here favor their nation's fighters and, specifically, boxers who share their race. VD - Mexican fighters, PSL - Philipino boxers, Erics - British fighters, Finito-Korean fighters etc.

[Gandalf]

No, it's the same mix for me. I just like who I like. Barrera, Hatton, Calzaghe, Toney, Tyson etc. It doesn't matter what race nor passport colour. Do they excite me as a fan? That's all that matters.

[Dark Lord Al]

I dont cheer a guy just because he is English.

[El Kabong]

I obviously don't cheer based on where a fighter is from there are more than a few American fighters I despise.

Patriotism has very little place in boxing other than Joe Louis vs Max Schmelling II THAT was justified

[ElTerribleMorales]

in my case it all depends, obviously there are Puerto Rican fighters who I'm proud to say are from the island and yea a I get a bit patriotic, namely with Cotto, Calderon, Trinidad, Benitez, Gomez, Rosario, and Ortiz, but my favorite fighter is Mexican, and I'm a big fan of plenty fighters that aren't from Puerto Rico

[outspoken]

Yes, I tend to root for the latino fighters since I'm half mexican half brasilian. It's not always the case of course like when Trinidad fought Hopkins I'm a huge Hopkins fan so I was rooting for him. If the fighter is mexican I tend to root for him over other latino races but not always another example would be Cotto vs Margarito, both fights I was rooting for Cotto simply because I NEVER have liked Margarito. Something always rubbed me the wrong way about him (no homo). And much to the surprise of some fan boys, I'm a Cotto fan the man is pure class unlike some of his other fans.

[Mars_ax]

Does a boxer's nationality make a difference to you as a boxing fan? Will you generally support a boxer from your own country if he is fighting a foreigner? Or does it make no difference to you ever? Personally I will nearly always support a British boxer, and in a UK bout an English one, but there are exceptions. I was completely rooting for Cleverley against Bellew because Bellew showed such little class in the run up, and I have always been a Clev fan. I also find myself wishing anyone would just knock Fury out because he gets on my tits. Never a huge fan of Junior Witter either but in 9 fights out of 10 I will get behind the British guy. Where no UK fighters are involved I can relax a little more but investing a stake in one boxer over the other, makes the fight more fun even when neither comes from my country. Your thoughts?

These days, I'm not "nationalist" when it comes to Pro Boxing, and more than half of my favorite fighters are from other countries. In fact, very few of my favs' are from the U.S. right now.

[Sleepwalker]

I know for a fact that people in the black community didn't rally around Lennox Lewis, mainly because he was from England in addition to his accent.

[VictorCharlie]

Not at all. Honestly since Evander stopped being worth a shit to watch I can't say I've had any attachment to any fighter. I want to see a good fight period.