Do u americans think that we british fans hype up ...

[Spicoli]

Blame the commentators on the networks for the sparks.No ones exempt and fighter hype has no borders.Lacy brought images and resembled Holyfield...cough.Watched Tua vs Izon the other night and phantom punch Lampley eluded to and drew comparisons to Tyson roughly 10 times.Oh and Izon had a granite chin like Mercer....or maybe Tua was not a puncher like Tyson,eh Lamps?Remember Carlos Gonzalez,a young Barrera,or Miquel A.Gonzalez.....they all were thrown in as 'the next 'JC Chavez' in one way or another.And exactly how many fighters are their named "Sugar"?Hype is rampant.

[Conrad]

The difference is the Americans have a proven track record of being the best at everything..............




Sorry...we are brainwashed to think this way.........

This reminds me of a while back when us UK posters were discussing why the Welsh, Irish and Scotish all hate the English so much...

Superheavyrhun posted 'We don't hate you but it just pisses us off that you're so arrogant and think you're so much better than us at every single sport'

I was half way through typing 'But we are better than you at every sport' when it dawned on me, I could see his point so stopped typing

[eagle]

The reality is that the majority of the British public would say we are shit at sport. The general attitute is far too negative.
A few stats -
The most f1 drivers titles of any nation,
Football team ranked 7th (of 21
Rugby team that has reached last two world cup finals
Numerous boxing world champs
4th in medal table at Olympics.
Cricket team that has won 2 of the last 3 Ashes.
By far the dominant force in track cycling.

Not to mention the world beaters we have in squash, triathlon, darts, snooker, swimming etc etc.

I'm not saying Britian is the most successful sporting nation, but we are far better than the miserable, negative British public would say.
For example, Australia are our main sporting rivals, now if you asked the british public who was the better sporting nation id say 80% would say Australia. Yet we have beat them in last two rugby world cups, beat them in 2 of last 3 Ashes, beat them at 2008 Olympics. (im not mentioning football here as they don't reallt take it seriously). I could list loads of sports that the British beat them at, yet the only sports you could make a case for them are rugby, cricket and swimming. Ive already shown how the first two are debateable, so that leaves swimming. And we can give them that.

As for putting Australia as Britains major sporting rival well it s little weird that u would compare your countrys of 80 million against ours of 20 million. Thats like comparing The UK with the USA.

Yes u have won 2 of the last 3 Ashes, but its also 2 of the last 11 i believe. In those last 3 series the actual test wins are 8-4 Australias way and u cant really say the England cricket team is better til they win in Australia. What happened last time they played there? Add the fact Australia are current World Cup champions and Champions trophy winners it isnt even debateable who the better cricket side is really.
Australias main sport is Aussie Rules so that takes loads of our best athletes. Rugby League is similiar which except for a bad world cup final Australia is dominant. The last time we played england in Football we won 3-1 and also made the second round of the last world cup. Australia on world rankings has 10 of the top 100 golfers, good surfers, and won 2 gold medals at the last Athletics world championships. Netball world champions, better Motorcycle racers and both on and off road. Our mens and womens basketball teams have had far more success than Britains. Cadel Evans just won the world road racing championship in cycling and we have the top 2 ranked womens triathletes.

Britain are no doubt having a good run in sport at the moment due to extra funding coming up to the London olympics. To say the only sport Australia are better at is swimming is just plain fucken stupid. Fuck Britain won one more medal than Australia in the 2008 olympics hardly a big win. Compare them to
Atlanta Australia:41 GB:15
Sydney Australia:58 GB:25
Athens Australia:49 GB:30

Great Britains preoccupation with beating a country a quarter the population borders on pathetic.

And yes our boxers are shite.

[El Kabong]

....I bet you England has better homegrown terrorists than the US does....see you don't suck at everything

[JazMerkin]

Is this unknown Calzaghe bloke the same one currently on primetime TV every Saturday night on strictly come dancing

Yep that's him alongside such household names as Ricky Whittle from Hollyoaks & Rav Wilding who presents Crimewatch

[ryanman]

The reality is that the majority of the British public would say we are shit at sport. The general attitute is far too negative.
A few stats -
The most f1 drivers titles of any nation,
Football team ranked 7th (of 21
Rugby team that has reached last two world cup finals
Numerous boxing world champs
4th in medal table at Olympics.
Cricket team that has won 2 of the last 3 Ashes.
By far the dominant force in track cycling.

Not to mention the world beaters we have in squash, triathlon, darts, snooker, swimming etc etc.

I'm not saying Britian is the most successful sporting nation, but we are far better than the miserable, negative British public would say.
For example, Australia are our main sporting rivals, now if you asked the british public who was the better sporting nation id say 80% would say Australia. Yet we have beat them in last two rugby world cups, beat them in 2 of last 3 Ashes, beat them at 2008 Olympics. (im not mentioning football here as they don't reallt take it seriously). I could list loads of sports that the British beat them at, yet the only sports you could make a case for them are rugby, cricket and swimming. Ive already shown how the first two are debateable, so that leaves swimming. And we can give them that.

As for putting Australia as Britains major sporting rival well it s little weird that u would compare your countrys of 80 million against ours of 20 million. Thats like comparing The UK with the USA.

Yes u have won 2 of the last 3 Ashes, but its also 2 of the last 11 i believe. In those last 3 series the actual test wins are 8-4 Australias way and u cant really say the England cricket team is better til they win in Australia. What happened last time they played there? Add the fact Australia are current World Cup champions and Champions trophy winners it isnt even debateable who the better cricket side is really.
Australias main sport is Aussie Rules so that takes loads of our best athletes. Rugby League is similiar which except for a bad world cup final Australia is dominant. The last time we played england in Football we won 3-1 and also made the second round of the last world cup. Australia on world rankings has 10 of the top 100 golfers, good surfers, and won 2 gold medals at the last Athletics world championships. Netball world champions, better Motorcycle racers and both on and off road. Our mens and womens basketball teams have had far more success than Britains. Cadel Evans just won the world road racing championship in cycling and we have the top 2 ranked womens triathletes.

Britain are no doubt having a good run in sport at the moment due to extra funding coming up to the London olympics. To say the only sport Australia are better at is swimming is just plain fucken stupid. Fuck Britain won one more medal than Australia in the 2008 olympics hardly a big win. Compare them to
Atlanta Australia:41 GB:15
Sydney Australia:58 GB:25
Athens Australia:49 GB:30

Great Britains preoccupation with beating a country a quarter the population borders on pathetic.

And yes our boxers are shite.

Ok, that was a good reply. I do actually think Australia are a great sporting nation. And you had out-performed Britain for quite a while, but i think the tables have turned in recent years. I think people got fed up with throwing insane money at sports and seeing little returns, its now far more structured and peformance related. I understand we have a far bigger population and so by rights we SHOULD be better. The point i was making was that the majority of the British public wouldnt think we are better - we have a largely negative attitude.
Also, your point about the 3-1 victory in football is as stupid as my comment that you are only better at swimming, but im sure you already know that.

[Dadi Astthorsson]

Carl Froch is to Joe Calzaghe what Sam Peter is to Ike Ibeabuchi.

[Andre]

lol... lyle, if the UK went overboard with Ricky Hatton then the US put on concrete shoes and wrapped chains around itself before diving into the atlantic over Jeff lacy...

Of course I exagerated, but Jeff Lacy was an OK fighter, I think he could have done very well had he not gotten injured.....what's Ricky's excuse?

He got pie eyed.

[Jody Lane]

I can't really say that Brits overhype their guys. I think we build guys up so far over in the USA to the point of retardism. I mean after Tyson was completely outclassed by Douglas and Holyfield I remember at other boxing boards people saying if Tyson was only 50 percent of what he was he would knock out Lennox Lewis. Either Tyson didn't have 50 percent any more or 50 percent wasn't enough. Just an example how stupid we are to the hype.

[Kev]

Of course we don't, sadly our British boxers don't get anything like to attention they deserve in the UK Press and media.

Aside from Calzaghe, Hatton and Khan I doubt the average Brit could name more than a couple of other British fighters.

It's barely on terrestial tv at all, and in fact up until ITV put it back on it wasn't on telly at all. Even world champions like Carl Froch don't seem to interest the tv companies here.

It's hard to a break out star in boxing in the UK.

Instead our British media hypes cricketers and rugby players above anything else. If we win the Ashes (which is just an annual event against the Aussies) you can be sure there will be cricketers nominated for Sports Personality of the Year, they will get pages of spread in the newspapers etc.

Calzaghe was barely on tv his entire career. Unless your Amir Khan you reallly have to reach superstardom before oue country appreciates you. 8/10 Brits will have NO IDEA who call Carl Froch is......

[hfahrenheit]

our boxers too much ? just curious as british boxers tend to get a lot of hate on this forum. i'm not trying to turn this into a britain vs usa thread as i think our countries should stick together. just wondering as Hatton, Froch, Haye, Calzaghe, Khan, eubank and benn get torn to shreds on here.

Yes. Especially The Sun, and especially Amir Khan and David Haye. This site isn't too bad, because you have obvious fan boys, (which is fine, I'm a Jermain Taylor and Mikkel Kessler fan, and will always pull for them), who think Carl Froch could have beaten Calzaghe and Tyson in the same night; but, it's all presented as op-ed, not like The Sun and others who attempt to write facts into existence.

The rivalry between UK and US is nothing more than a siblings' quarrel.

You do over-hype your boxers, but, it's great for the sport. Boxing needs it. And I really wish we had the amateur and regional system that you guys have, and that boxing enjoyed the same popularity here in the US.

On the subject of over-hyping...

nothing could be worse than Freddie Roach putting Khan #10 on his pound-for-pound list....and he's an AMERICAN!!! We even over-hype your boxers!!!

[hfahrenheit]

Of course we don't, sadly our British boxers don't get anything like to attention they deserve in the UK Press and media.

Aside from Calzaghe, Hatton and Khan I doubt the average Brit could name more than a couple of other British fighters.

It's barely on terrestial tv at all, and in fact up until ITV put it back on it wasn't on telly at all. Even world champions like Carl Froch don't seem to interest the tv companies here.

It's hard to a break out star in boxing in the UK.

Instead our British media hypes cricketers and rugby players above anything else. If we win the Ashes (which is just an annual event against the Aussies) you can be sure there will be cricketers nominated for Sports Personality of the Year, they will get pages of spread in the newspapers etc.

Calzaghe was barely on tv his entire career. Unless your Amir Khan you reallly have to reach superstardom before oue country appreciates you. 8/10 Brits will have NO IDEA who call Carl Froch is......

Wow, I had no idea. But seriously, it's 10x's worse in America. The average person in America only knows Ali and Tyson. Your average sports fan would only know a few names beyond that...probably Mayweather, De La Hoya, and possibly Foreman because of the cooking appliances.

[hfahrenheit]

I can't really say that Brits overhype their guys. I think we build guys up so far over in the USA to the point of retardism. I mean after Tyson was completely outclassed by Douglas and Holyfield I remember at other boxing boards people saying if Tyson was only 50 percent of what he was he would knock out Lennox Lewis. Either Tyson didn't have 50 percent any more or 50 percent wasn't enough. Just an example how stupid we are to the hype.

Tyson wasn't over-hyped, he just developed a drug and alcohol habit after Cuss died. One of those "who knows what would have happened" stories.

[JonesJrMayweather]

Of course I exagerated, but Jeff Lacy was an OK fighter, I think he could have done very well had he not gotten injured.....what's Ricky's excuse?

Too many beers.

comparing hatton to lacy

Hatton got beat by the 2 best fighters of the last 15 years. Lacy got beat by jermain taylor



Love the man or hate him ricky still deserves to be remembered as a great fighter and he`ll go down in boxing folklore for years to come not just for his succeses in the ring but the fanbase and acceptance no other fighter has ever received outside the ring.

Is their a single other fighter in boxing history that has managed to cross continents with an army of 35 thousand fans at his side willing to roar him on to victory??

That's ironic..considering the topic..

you must tell yourself that hatton lost to the best two fighters of the last 15 years in order justify over hyping him in the first place.

PBF and PAC are good but unfortunately for them the last 15 years would include prime fighters such as Mosley, RJJ, OSCAR, TIto, a still very good Sweet PEA, James Toney etc...

And second part of that is funny, Lacy lost to JC the man that only beat everybody he's faced, then to Jermain taylor who ended the longest MW defense streak by beating hopkins TWICE.

Hatton got knocked out could in his prime, at his best weight by a blown up featherweight.

[Andre]

Not that is matters at all, but I was wondering how many of the 35,000 of Rickys fans were Man City fans that jumped on the band wagon and how many were just fellow countrymen from other places?