Do people REALLY do this?

[Kev]

You hear it all the time on these boards, people claiming that they turn off the sound when watching fights to avoid hearing the bias.

But do they really? I mean, really?

I can't imagine getting any enjoyment whatsoever out of watching a fight in absolute silence.

And even if you did watch it that way, how do you really think it makes it more accurate to totally switch off one of your main senses?

It's lunacy imo, turn off the sound and you lose 50% of the information available to you, I'm not talking about the commentators, but the sound of the punches, the atmosphere and feelings of the boxers.

If your ears pop you suddenly feel detached from the world, like it's less real. How can watching a fight in silence bring you closer to the purity of the action?

It's fuking ridiculous, and I bet nobody actually does it. Sitting in silence watching a fight in mute, come on really, nobody does that

[killersheep]

The only time I have the sound off is when there's a fight on TV and I'm streaming a second on my computer, I still have the TV volume on though.

[amat]

When I do RBRs I HAVE to tune out the sound or I find myself literally stuck.

[BoxingGorilla]

When I do RBRs I HAVE to tune out the sound or I find myself literally stuck.

That makes sense.

Kinda like trying to read a book with the radio on. One more reason I hate road trips.

[CutMeMick]

I have a handful of fights where they have no sound so I have no choice. Some because they are really old fights and others because of a bad upload but since I haven't found good replacements I still have them.

So sometimes I have no choice but to watch them without sound.

I did the NO sound on several occasions years ago. I don't do it anymore as with time I've learned not to let commentators influence me on the way a fight is going.

Example this past Sat. I didn't think Pavlik won 1 or 2 of those rounds where Emmanuel Steward felt he did and Emmanuel throughout those rounds emphasized on anything Pavlik did as did Lamps.
Still I didn't let that influence my scoring.

Been watching boxing for far to long now to let them dictate to me how the fight is going. I just view commentators now as sound effects to a movie. They are there to build up and add excitement but don't make the movie what it is.

[Dizaster]

Not in a million years would I bother turning down the fight.. Biased or not, good commentating makes a fight a lot more interesting... And if their bias is completely one sided, it's usually really obvious and you can have a bit of a laugh at it....

I download a fight the other day and the commentating was in chinese and it drove me insane, as well as took about 80% of the excitement out of the fight for me... And just writing that line, I realise how much a part of the entertainment of a fight that the commentating is...

HBO is my favorite by far.. If it's not HBO, I feel like i'm missing out on something.. They are really the most tied into the fighters and their stories, and they bring all that into the fight and just make it that much more of an event to watch...

Although, I guess I understand how if people are REALLY big on scoring the fight themselves, they might turn it down so they can 100% analyze it on their own without any outside input to affect their judgement... But i'm personally not fussed with that, and most of the time commentators aren't that bad.. You can often hear them rooting for a certain fighter, but I think they are generally fair with their call/analysis... It's often the f'n judges who stink up scoring and somehow distort a fight one way which clearly went another..

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

If im re-watching a fight... I do it most times to be honest. I actually like peace quiet if im trying to score a fight, or reeeeeaaaaaalllly get a good look at what is going on.

If i'm watching the fight live, then that's different, im all for the atmosphere.

[rjj tszyu]

Not me. I have a mind of my own and if I disagree with what the commentators are saying (Jim Watt is on my mind right now) I just shout at the TV calling them fucking retards and so on. But to me you need the sound to get the full feel of the fight.

[Cerberus]

I only turn the sound off if I am analyzing the fight closely, and this is only cause I am still very green at all of this

[johnmaff36]

If im re-watching a fight... I do it most times to be honest. I actually like peace quiet if im trying to score a fight, or reeeeeaaaaaalllly get a good look at what is going on.

If i'm watching the fight live, then that's different, im all for the atmosphere.

Thats exactly what i do mate. only if im re-watching to score myself

[The Fightfan]

I've done it plenty of times. When Lampley went on his little cocaine moment BANG BANG BANG. I said yeah that's enough of him. Usually I will watch it the night of with the commentating and sometimes the next morning if the commentating is horrible I will watch it without.

[Kel]

No I lose interest. I tried it when I was told Morales won the 1st Barrera fight but made no difference and I got fed up of the silence pretty quick. Wont do it again.

[Spicoli]

I rewatch fights pretty much every night,sort of a background visual.Just grab a random dvd and throw it in.During live fights I do like the commentary,more so to add to the event not so much to 'tell' me whats going on.Only a knob needs Jim limpley to tell him whats truly going on.Hes just fun to listen to while replaying fights...and seeing all of the missed shots he yells at...BANG BANG BANG

On a rewatch I'll put on music and kill the noise.Shite I rewatch some to just watch the fans reaction during a fight.The exterior of the fight,watch the judges also.On a rewatch its interesting to watch the refs the mejority of the time,try to make since of it all...especially during sudden KDs and huge upsets.Some of that shite is hilarious.

[Pugilistic]

I have never done this and never will.

Turning the sound off shouldn't make any difference to your scorecard.

[johnsebastianmiran]

Unfortunately I on occasion have done it when Larry Merchant starts with baseball and football analogies during a fight or Teddy Atlas hops up on a soap box otherwise the sound is on nice and loud because I love that feeling I get when I am ringside at home. By the way, I used to hate it when they got excited ringside and soaked me with beer.