-
Where have the Hero's Gone?
Remember when we were kids and we all looked up to a fighter for one reason or another...when I was a Kid Tommy Hearns, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler were all guys we would imitate when we shadow boxed or when we slap boxed and got the better of someone we would say stuff like..."Yeah I just did Frazier on your ass"...These guys and others of theor day were the reasons why we continued to follow the sport and became such huge fans....
Today fighters don't seem to have that appeal...Yeah we have the Calzaghe's and the De La Hoyas that everyone knows and we have the guys like PBF who is greatly skilled and their skill can not be denied..There are the Hatton's who draw tremendously but still they just don't seem to have that aura like the guys did back then....
Anyone else agree or is it just me
Hold on a second everyone...I may have not made my point exactly clear because everyone keeps mentioning us not being kids anymore lol...I was speaking in the context of the next generation of kids coming up and their being the guys that attract them to the sport like it did to us...my fault
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
I think it's just because we are getting old mate.
When I was a kid Christmas was awesome, the most magical time of year, it snowed every year and we went sledging anf built snow men.
That's how I remember it anyway :-\
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
I was like that with Tyson. When I was growing up it was around the time where Mike was just destroying people. I wouldn't exactly call him a hero, but when people got in school-yard fights and someone got knocked out or beat up, someone would say something around the lines of "he just got Tysoned!"
To tell you the truth, even though I know that many hate on him, Manny Pacquiao is the epitome of a hero to Filipinos. I'm an American, but my nationality is Filipino. It's very rare anyone from the Philippines becomes world famous, let alone a world champion. Filipino adults live-and-die by everything he does in the ring. And my little cousins (numerous kids, ages between 4 through 13) shadow box each other and say Pacquiao's name as they do it.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DaxxKahn
Remember when we were kids and we all looked up to a fighter for one reason or another...when I was a Kid Tommy Hearns, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler were all guys we would imitate when we shadow boxed or when we slap boxed and got the better of someone we would say stuff like..."Yeah I just did Frazier on your ass"...These guys and others of theor day were the reasons why we continued to follow the sport and became such huge fans....
Today fighters don't seem to have that appeal...Yeah we have the Calzaghe's and the De La Hoyas that everyone knows and we have the guys like PBF who is greatly skilled and their skill can not be denied..There are the Hatton's who draw tremendously but still they just don't seem to have that aura like the guys did back then....
Anyone else agree or is it just me
boxing now costs a lot of money to watch these fighters.
Before when you watched the said names you could watch them on tv, everyone knew them, people in the us knew british fighters, people in the uk knew all the americans....
Now people don't know half the names, or young people don't. When you are a kid you idolise and look up to, respect fighters more coz kids are more impressionable. As an adult you have a different kind of respect towards them, kids of young ages don't get to form the kind of relationship we did when we were growing up looking up to these guys.
Another big reason is back then the best were fighting the best. People respect that more.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bilbo
I think it's just because we are getting old mate.
When I was a kid Christmas was awesome, the most magical time of year, it snowed every year and we went sledging anf built snow men.
That's how I remember it anyway :-\
Well Thank You for reminding me:(...TBH I can not remember the last time it snowed on christmas or even within a few days of it...The closest thing we get now a days is rain:-\
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
caleoh12
I was like that with Tyson. When I was growing up it was around the time where Mike was just destroying people. I wouldn't exactly call him a hero, but when people got in school-yard fights and someone got knocked out or beat up, someone would say something around the lines of "he just got Tysoned!"
To tell you the truth, even though I know that many hate on him, Manny Pacquiao is the epitome of a hero to Filipinos. I'm an American, but my nationality is Filipino. It's very rare anyone from the Philippines becomes world famous, let alone a world champion. Filipino adults live-and-die by everything he does in the ring. And my little cousins (numerous kids, ages between 4 through 13) shadow box each other and say Pacquiao's name as they do it.
I don't mean hero in the traditional sense but guys we used to imitate and thought were iron men...We have a few guys that kids follow like Manny who is a national hero at home...same as Hatton Calzaghe etc but back in the day it wasn't one or two it was dozens we followed....
It is what youn said about your little cousins that made come up with this thread (not them in particular but kids)....at the local gyms where the younger guys work out and the after school programs I was amazed on the fact that only like 1 out of 5 even knew half the names outside of DLH and PBF....
Amat has a point thpugh a lot of it has to do with that it is not like fighters are as accessible as they once were to watch
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DaxxKahn
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bilbo
I think it's just because we are getting old mate.
When I was a kid Christmas was awesome, the most magical time of year, it snowed every year and we went sledging anf built snow men.
That's how I remember it anyway :-\
Well Thank You for reminding me:(...TBH I can not remember the last time it snowed on christmas or even within a few days of it...The closest thing we get now a days is rain:-\
Yeah but you know what I mean, nostalgia makes us look back on everything in our past and think it was ace.
I remember it snowing all the time when I was a kid. I havn't seen snow in my home town in over 20 years now.:eek:
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
I agree with Bilbo. On Christmas eve I couldn't go to sleep until around midnight. I cut my teeth on Tyson and since him there hasn't been another fighter who's had that kind of hold on me. But I've seen better than Tyson.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Good question Khan. Maybe it's like the poster above said, we're older and as that happens we don't have all the time in the world to dream about heroe's{unless you're Bilbo}, or we become more cynical.
There are guys like Marquez/Vasquez I admire greatly, but my days of having heroes is long gone. I tend to be much more critical of all fighters these days if anything.
Also, it does seem it gets all down to the $$$ in this game now; and when I was a kid I just watched the fights and didn't concern myself about the politics of the Sweet Science.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DaxxKahn
Remember when we were kids and we all looked up to a fighter for one reason or another...when I was a Kid Tommy Hearns, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler were all guys we would imitate when we shadow boxed or when we slap boxed and got the better of someone we would say stuff like..."Yeah I just did Frazier on your ass"...These guys and others of theor day were the reasons why we continued to follow the sport and became such huge fans....
Today fighters don't seem to have that appeal...Yeah we have the Calzaghe's and the De La Hoyas that everyone knows and we have the guys like PBF who is greatly skilled and their skill can not be denied..There are the Hatton's who draw tremendously but still they just don't seem to have that aura like the guys did back then....
Anyone else agree or is it just me
This is what you call " OLD AGE Syndrome" ;D;D;D;D;D
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DaxxKahn
Quote:
Originally Posted by
caleoh12
I was like that with Tyson. When I was growing up it was around the time where Mike was just destroying people. I wouldn't exactly call him a hero, but when people got in school-yard fights and someone got knocked out or beat up, someone would say something around the lines of "he just got Tysoned!"
To tell you the truth, even though I know that many hate on him, Manny Pacquiao is the epitome of a hero to Filipinos. I'm an American, but my nationality is Filipino. It's very rare anyone from the Philippines becomes world famous, let alone a world champion. Filipino adults live-and-die by everything he does in the ring. And my little cousins (numerous kids, ages between 4 through 13) shadow box each other and say Pacquiao's name as they do it.
I don't mean hero in the traditional sense but guys we used to imitate and thought were iron men...We have a few guys that kids follow like Manny who is a national hero at home...same as Hatton Calzaghe etc but back in the day it wasn't one or two it was dozens we followed....
It is what youn said about your little cousins that made come up with this thread (not them in particular but kids)....at the local gyms where the younger guys work out and the after school programs I was amazed on the fact that only like 1 out of 5 even knew half the names outside of DLH and PBF....
Amat has a point thpugh a lot of it has to do with that it is not like fighters are as accessible as they once were to watch
who are you calling amat:P?
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
I used to pretend I was 'Maromero' Paez with my cousin and he was Calvin Groove.
It was the 15th round.... Calvin (My cousin) was up by points and he was moving around well. Paez (Me) was desperate and needed a miracle the crowd in Plaza Calafia was going crazy and I came back to knock him down 3 times to win the fight by MD.
Great times spend in Mexico, pretending to be Jorge. :cool:
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
It may be higher expectations causing it, it seems like to qualify nowadays you gotta be a undefeated monster just dominating the division. I don't know it may be the lack of boxing on free t.v. less children are exposed to it? Maybe its all the damn titles and this damn pc everyones a winner crap. I think there were clearer defined leaders back in those days....I'm not sure just spitballing.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CutMeMick
I used to pretend I was 'Maromero' Paez with my cousin and he was Calvin Groove.
It was the 15th round.... Calvin (My cousin) was up by points and he was moving around well. Paez (Me) was desperate and needed a miracle the crowd in Plaza Calafia was going crazy and I came back to knock him down 3 times to win the fight by MD.
Great times spend in Mexico, pretending to be Jorge. :cool:
I used to pretend I was George Foreman and pull my short up above my bellybutton(talking about comeback days), and try the crab defense. I was pretty good in our neighborhood boxing fights ;D(big ass 16 oz gloves on preteens)
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
No Contest
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CutMeMick
I used to pretend I was 'Maromero' Paez with my cousin and he was Calvin Groove.
It was the 15th round.... Calvin (My cousin) was up by points and he was moving around well. Paez (Me) was desperate and needed a miracle the crowd in Plaza Calafia was going crazy and I came back to knock him down 3 times to win the fight by MD.
Great times spend in Mexico, pretending to be Jorge. :cool:
I used to pretend I was George Foreman and pull my short up above my bellybutton(talking about comeback days), and try the crab defense. I was pretty good in our neighborhood boxing fights ;D(big ass 16 oz gloves on preteens)
"and pull my short up above my bellybutton"
:lol:
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
It was a sight to see, a skinny lil white kid pretending to be George Foreman. He was badass when he started his comeback, I thought he was unbeatable the way he was knocking people out brutally. His punches looked like slow motion and the effects were crazy people were crumbling to those shots.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Sadly,those days are long gone. Fighters up till the 80s were fighting 15 rounds. There were only two titles, and the best fought the best. No excuses, no questions left in fans minds who the best fighters were. The champions would clean up a division before moving on to the next. They would chase greatness, not money.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BoomBoom
Sadly,those days are long gone. Fighters up till the 80s were fighting 15 rounds. There were only two titles, and the best fought the best. No excuses, no questions left in fans minds who the best fighters were. The champions would clean up a division before moving on to the next. They would chase greatness, not money.
I wish boxing could be like this again. But knowing how the trends have been going, pretty soon we'll end up with more belts and longer delays for "the best" fighting "the best."
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
I know what you mean. I used to have lots of heroes growing up. I have none to look forward to any more so now I try to be one for my wife. I try to be a great example and dress accordingly:
http://www.mwctoys.com/images/review_muppets8_1d.jpg
Quite often I will wear boxing gloves when we make love and force her to call me Marvelous.
;D
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
We do have some heroes.
I see plenty of little kids, oing the Mayweather shell, even more hooking the bag with a huge grunt and many kids actually refusing to smile (in an attempt to be like Cotto!)
Every person in boxing picks their own hero or idol. In the 80's these feelings may have been heightened as peole had the same favourites (Duran Hagler Hearns and Leonard.)
It just so happens that today the "great" fighters are more dispersed among the weight divisions and don't appear in the same conversations as Leonard Hagler Hearns and Duran would have. So it's not that boxing's heroes have faded, it's just that they're competition may have.
Also ppv contributes.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
I'll tell you where the heros of boxing have gone. They play baseball, football, hockey and so on. Your average boxer does not make as much as your average baseball player. These other sports also have sturdy unions in place to protct the sport and the players. Boxing does not.
They have whay?... J.A.B.? Sure it'd be great if it was more high profile but it isn't. You hardly hear of it.
Most of the great athletes of our time would like to rather make money tossing a ball in a hoop or a net, catching a pass or hitting a ball.
I can't blame them. Look at guys like Gerald McClellan an Billy Collins. What futures did they have?
What smart, athletically gifted young man is going to want to participate in a sport that does not love him back.
I'll tell you where all the heros went... Right where boxing drove them... Away!:eek:
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
I really don't think those days are gone.Maybe the fire in ya is starting to dim.I mean we have plenty of worthy fighters to be excited about.Manny Pacquiao,Marquez(ok a little older),Miguel Cotto,Sam Peter(ouch it did hurt to say that) Michael Katsidis,Maybe even Andre Ward he decides to fight someone worthy already.I just think the big fights that could happen aren't.I mean obviously the biggie is Cotto vs Mayweather,why not another Pac-Marquez fight or even a Marquez Vazquez again.Point being well I just made it.The big fights are not happening.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DaxxKahn
Remember when we were kids and we all looked up to a fighter for one reason or another...when I was a Kid Tommy Hearns, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler were all guys we would imitate when we shadow boxed or when we slap boxed and got the better of someone we would say stuff like..."Yeah I just did Frazier on your ass"...These guys and others of theor day were the reasons why we continued to follow the sport and became such huge fans....
Today fighters don't seem to have that appeal...Yeah we have the Calzaghe's and the De La Hoyas that everyone knows and we have the guys like PBF who is greatly skilled and their skill can not be denied..There are the Hatton's who draw tremendously but still they just don't seem to have that aura like the guys did back then....
Anyone else agree or is it just me
Hold on a second everyone...I may have not made my point exactly clear because everyone keeps mentioning us not being kids anymore lol...I was speaking in the context of the next generation of kids coming up and their being the guys that attract them to the sport like it did to us...my fault
It's the same in most sports.
All the money in the sport alienates itself from the average fan.
Nobody can relate to Floyd Mayweather, like nobody can relate to David Beckham or Tiger Woods.
The fighters who remane humble, generally seem to have the biggest fan base and they carry an aura of sort.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DaxxKahn
Remember when we were kids and we all looked up to a fighter for one reason or another...when I was a Kid Tommy Hearns, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler were all guys we would imitate when we shadow boxed or when we slap boxed and got the better of someone we would say stuff like..."Yeah I just did Frazier on your ass"...These guys and others of theor day were the reasons why we continued to follow the sport and became such huge fans....
Today fighters don't seem to have that appeal...Yeah we have the Calzaghe's and the De La Hoyas that everyone knows and we have the guys like PBF who is greatly skilled and their skill can not be denied..There are the Hatton's who draw tremendously but still they just don't seem to have that aura like the guys did back then....
Anyone else agree or is it just me
Hold on a second everyone...I may have not made my point exactly clear because everyone keeps mentioning us not being kids anymore lol...I was speaking in the context of the next generation of kids coming up and their being the guys that attract them to the sport like it did to us...my fault
they fought balls out determination back in those days regardless of what style they employed ..
There are still some out there with the mind set. Pavlik, Taylor, Cotto, Margarito, Cintron , Clottey . the problem is the # 1 P4P guy has a pussy foot mentality which sets the trend ,, same at HW . Klitchko. Ibrogomov that pussy foot mind set does nothing to inspire or capture the imagination of the fight fan
in a few years it will pass and good things will come
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ono
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DaxxKahn
Remember when we were kids and we all looked up to a fighter for one reason or another...when I was a Kid Tommy Hearns, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler were all guys we would imitate when we shadow boxed or when we slap boxed and got the better of someone we would say stuff like..."Yeah I just did Frazier on your ass"...These guys and others of theor day were the reasons why we continued to follow the sport and became such huge fans....
Today fighters don't seem to have that appeal...Yeah we have the Calzaghe's and the De La Hoyas that everyone knows and we have the guys like PBF who is greatly skilled and their skill can not be denied..There are the Hatton's who draw tremendously but still they just don't seem to have that aura like the guys did back then....
Anyone else agree or is it just me
Hold on a second everyone...I may have not made my point exactly clear because everyone keeps mentioning us not being kids anymore lol...I was speaking in the context of the next generation of kids coming up and their being the guys that attract them to the sport like it did to us...my fault
It's the same in most sports.
All the money in the sport alienates itself from the average fan.
Nobody can relate to Floyd Mayweather, like nobody can relate to David Beckham or Tiger Woods.
The fighters who remane humble, generally seem to have the biggest fan base and they carry an aura of sort.
Thats a good point. A lot of top fighters and footballers act like arseholes a lot of the time and seem to have lost touch with the general public.
If you take a look at Englands football team, a fair few of the players in the first team are hated by the general public. I cant ever remember being like this before. It may be that its just something thats happened with the current generation of sportsmen, but the future will show if its a common trait.
-
Re: Where have the Hero's Gone?
Chavez was clearly one of those guys.
There still are some out there maybe not that much in the us but there are
Cotto
Tito (recently Retired)
Hatton
JC
"Popo"
Gatti (recently retired)
etc
