There are many valid points already discussed on here and pretty much all angles covered.
People obviously want to see their countrymen do well, in whatever sport that is happening but I think boxing is slightly different. At least amongst the real fans who respect that boxers have alot of guts and courage to get in a ring to have someone try punch their head off. There are obviously the tools out there with not many brain cells who want to see someone get battered to near death, and also want a fighter to get their country one up on another they for some reason unknown hate.
However I feel that actual boxing fans, or most of them, although they might not like a specific boxer for any given reason, they still respect the fact they are putting everythin on the line to be in that ring. This can't really be said for any other sport. In football (or soccer) I follow my team with a passion and I hate the clubs rivals team, will call them all sorts of names, but that is only about the club as a whole, i'll still respect the kind of football they play and some of their talented players. Others may not be so kind.
For me with boxing I have some element of routing for the UK fighter, but not always. In most cases i like to route for the underdog. However, whoever i route for does not cloud my judgement on who i think will win.
For example i really wanted Hatton to beat Mayweather, I even jumped on the bandwaggon and had a bet on him. Not because I thought he would win, I always thought Mayweather would, but I had that 'what if' feeling. I think I got caught up with the hype in essence, but this didn't cloud my judgement.
I still don't particularly like some UK fighters though, as i mentioned earlier for different reasons. I am not a huge fan of Carl Froch for instance, just due to his personality, shouting his mouth about being better than Calzaghe despite stepping up to world class level. And I am not a big fan of Amir Khan due to the fact of his calibre of opposition and his claims of becoming the youngest british world champion. I am however a big fan of Hatton and Haye and on the world scene Cotto. But this is due to their fighting styles and attitudes.
This tells me I like fighters with ambition who go after exactly what they want.
But I also like close, decent fights where either fighter has a good chance to win. I also try to stay as unbiased as possible, except maybe with Hatton and Haye
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