These Panto match ups have to stop!

[Fenster]

It is called prize fighting for a reason. From the very bottom rungs of the sport to the top there has always been and always will be mismatches, bad decisions, robberies and pantomine fights. Thinking otherwise actually demonstrates a lack of insight into how boxing works. At the lower levels in amateur contests it is sometimes hard to match make with a limited pool of fighters willing to come and risk their records at your club/region/association and so mismatches often happen where someone in a different league blows away their opponent and robberies where the house fighter is given the decision over the traveling fighter, either because of ineptitude, random interpretation or outright favoritism happen regularly.

Sanctioning bodies do not co-operate from different countries and your dumb idea that it is the Brits who are guilty of these charades and not the Americans based on one night of boxing smacks of self depreciation or loathing in an effort to appear fair. Seriously huge over compensation.

Despite how Boxing operates the British Domestic scene at the upper end of the amateurs and pros is and always has been ultra competitive. Iaminuit (God rest his blessed soul) often used to comment on it, and he was not alone in tuning in from abroad to watch UK cards stacked with genuine 50/50 fights.

There are numerous protected American prospects who have fought anyone including the local dustman to avoid a meaningful challenge and plenty of Pantomine fights where 'world champions' have yet to fight outside of their comfort zone. Not every fight can be a decider to see who the best in a weight division might be, or two thin out and exclude the best from a pool of excellence.

It is an inexact blend of science, art, sport, will power, show business, sheer bloody mindedness and inspiration that allows us all the privilege to witness the entire gamut from one extreme to the other. It is not just another sport and any move to sanitize and codify it in a manner that will neuter or censor it should be vehemently opposed. It is one of the least sanitized and most organic spectacles one can witness.

And whilst I have not see tonight's latest debacle I can not imagine it to be any worse than many that have gone before or may happen after. It's madness. You can't logically defend it in anyway and that is why we love it. Spectator, supporter, participant , trainer, manager, promoter etc all realise this at a very deep and innate level and so it will go on...despite everything. And thank God for that

Very well said.

Far from a debacle, the so-called "mismatch" produced a HUGE upset and a supposed "lily-livered fake celebrity boxer" showed incredible courage beyond the call of duty.

Your post captured it perfectly. Pure madness.

[powerpuncher]

I think that there is a place for sideshows in this sport. The place though is on free TV. I just can't fathom why anybody would pay money to see haye and bellew fight. It makes absolutely no sense. I understand if it's free. That's fine.

I don't like any PPV, but at least when the best fights the best, it's entertaining. It's very rare that I see two good fighters fight and I don't enjoy the match thoroughly. I just love watching smart boxing with each fighter adjusting.

Maybe I'm just different, but I like boxing for the boxing. Trash talk can definitely help, but that alone doesn't matter. I'm way more into good fights being made. I would never spend money for good trash talk, but I would be willing to spend money on good craft.

[powerpuncher]

It all goes back to paying for circus fights. I have zero problem with them. They are fine and attract certain positive attention to the sport. I just don't get why fans actually pay for this stuff. I mean honestly, some of you are willing to fork out money to watch these circus fights?

I just feel like if we accepted these sideshows for what they are and refused to actually pay extra money for them, then we would get more mainstream fights and the sport would be bigger.

Maybe the UK is different, but where I live in America, boxing isn't big whatsoever. I never run into people who actually watch boxing. Most people are shocked when I say boxing is my favorite sport. Most people's excuse for not watching is that it isn't accessible. That's because it's generally on HBO or Showtime or a PPV fight.

That's how a sport dies out. It becomes inaccessible because us as fans are willing to pay for a bad product. If nobody bought the hate and bellew fight, then they would understand that us fans won't buy into awful products. They keep selling it because we keep buying it.

[ono]

It all goes back to paying for circus fights. I have zero problem with them. They are fine and attract certain positive attention to the sport. I just don't get why fans actually pay for this stuff. I mean honestly, some of you are willing to fork out money to watch these circus fights?

I just feel like if we accepted these sideshows for what they are and refused to actually pay extra money for them, then we would get more mainstream fights and the sport would be bigger.

Maybe the UK is different, but where I live in America, boxing isn't big whatsoever. I never run into people who actually watch boxing. Most people are shocked when I say boxing is my favorite sport. Most people's excuse for not watching is that it isn't accessible. That's because it's generally on HBO or Showtime or a PPV fight.

That's how a sport dies out. It becomes inaccessible because us as fans are willing to pay for a bad product. If nobody bought the hate and bellew fight, then they would understand that us fans won't buy into awful products. They keep selling it because we keep buying it.

People pay for it because they don't mind doing so. It's 20 quid at the end of the day. I think amongst the younger adult generation there's a tendency to group together with friends and all chip in a couple of quid. That's what I've always done with ppv boxing.

At the end of the day, PPV raises the importance of the event to the extent where a group of friends will decide to get together and make a proper night of it, and the money it generates also allows a promoter to usually get a few fairly high profile fighters on the card. PPV cards in Britain are usually fairly ok value content wise.

I'd prefer it was free, but it's not. And I don't think many will have felt short changed by midnight on Saturday.

[Beanz]

It all goes back to paying for circus fights. I have zero problem with them. They are fine and attract certain positive attention to the sport. I just don't get why fans actually pay for this stuff. I mean honestly, some of you are willing to fork out money to watch these circus fights?

I just feel like if we accepted these sideshows for what they are and refused to actually pay extra money for them, then we would get more mainstream fights and the sport would be bigger.

Maybe the UK is different, but where I live in America, boxing isn't big whatsoever. I never run into people who actually watch boxing. Most people are shocked when I say boxing is my favorite sport. Most people's excuse for not watching is that it isn't accessible. That's because it's generally on HBO or Showtime or a PPV fight.

That's how a sport dies out. It becomes inaccessible because us as fans are willing to pay for a bad product. If nobody bought the hate and bellew fight, then they would understand that us fans won't buy into awful products. They keep selling it because we keep buying it.

It is not the hardcore fans that make what people keep calling the 'circus fights' viable. The majority of those buying the fight are what people keep calling 'the casuals' . so if the hardcore fans refused to pay for the PPV 'circus fights' it would make no difference. Those who don't usually watch boxing will outnumber them. It's a bit like manufactured pop acts charting at number one. So people who can appreciate quality will not usually go out and buy those singles, but those not that into music, or young inexperienced buyers who have an initial shorter attention span will pay to download something that does not take any understanding of nuance or musicianship or novelty or irony or subtlety etc and therefore make shite boybands go straight to number one.


So basically Haye and Bellew are like an older and uglier version of a boy band for casual fans.


Boxing is not about to die out. They have been saying that it is about to keel over for years.