Pre-fight hype: When it's warranted and when it's not

[Master]

I thought the Oscar/Pac fight was also going to be a mid-match, but I wasn't sure how Oscar would look after roughly 6 years away from welter.

I thought Floyd/Oscar would be an easy win for Floyd, but he struggled early until Oscar abandoned his jab.

Floyd/Pac when it happened was a mid-match for me, 5 years earlier aping 2010 would have been even going in for me.

Fights like
Ali/Frazier (the fight of the century)
Louis/Schmeling 2

Carried great well deserved hype.

Tyson/Holyfield (both fights)
Lewis/Tyson

Had great hype, but were arguably foregone conclusions heading in if we be honest with ourselves.

I admit I picked Tyson in all 3,mainly on heart than head.

You honestly telling me you thought Floyd would beat Oscar? I thought it was a gimmick. Credit to Floyd for winning when he had most of the cards stacked against him.

[Alpha]

I thought the Oscar/Pac fight was also going to be a mid-match, but I wasn't sure how Oscar would look after roughly 6 years away from welter.

I thought Floyd/Oscar would be an easy win for Floyd, but he struggled early until Oscar abandoned his jab.

Floyd/Pac when it happened was a mid-match for me, 5 years earlier aping 2010 would have been even going in for me.

Fights like
Ali/Frazier (the fight of the century)
Louis/Schmeling 2

Carried great well deserved hype.

Tyson/Holyfield (both fights)
Lewis/Tyson

Had great hype, but were arguably foregone conclusions heading in if we be honest with ourselves.

I admit I picked Tyson in all 3,mainly on heart than head.

You honestly telling me you thought Floyd would beat Oscar? I thought it was a gimmick. Credit to Floyd for winning when he had most of the cards stacked against him.

Yea I honestly did, his last great performance for me was the 2nd Mosley fight, almost 4 years prior to the Floyd fight. I thought he lost to Sturm, then Hopkins stopped him, Mayorga was a tune up, even tho they had the bogus WBC title in the line. I'm pretty sure Oscar wasn't on any P4P lists at the time and he wasn't the top guy at 154. He was also getting on at 34.

[Master]

I thought the Oscar/Pac fight was also going to be a mid-match, but I wasn't sure how Oscar would look after roughly 6 years away from welter.

I thought Floyd/Oscar would be an easy win for Floyd, but he struggled early until Oscar abandoned his jab.

Floyd/Pac when it happened was a mid-match for me, 5 years earlier aping 2010 would have been even going in for me.

Fights like
Ali/Frazier (the fight of the century)
Louis/Schmeling 2

Carried great well deserved hype.

Tyson/Holyfield (both fights)
Lewis/Tyson

Had great hype, but were arguably foregone conclusions heading in if we be honest with ourselves.

I admit I picked Tyson in all 3,mainly on heart than head.

You honestly telling me you thought Floyd would beat Oscar? I thought it was a gimmick. Credit to Floyd for winning when he had most of the cards stacked against him.

Yea I honestly did, his last great performance for me was the 2nd Mosley fight, almost 4 years prior to the Floyd fight. I thought he lost to Sturm, then Hopkins stopped him, Mayorga was a tune up, even tho they had the bogus WBC title in the line. I'm pretty sure Oscar wasn't on any P4P lists at the time and he wasn't the top guy at 154. He was also getting on at 34.

Fair enough but Floyd was going up a weight and I thought he was taking the cash.

[Alpha]

I thought the Oscar/Pac fight was also going to be a mid-match, but I wasn't sure how Oscar would look after roughly 6 years away from welter.

I thought Floyd/Oscar would be an easy win for Floyd, but he struggled early until Oscar abandoned his jab.

Floyd/Pac when it happened was a mid-match for me, 5 years earlier aping 2010 would have been even going in for me.

Fights like
Ali/Frazier (the fight of the century)
Louis/Schmeling 2

Carried great well deserved hype.

Tyson/Holyfield (both fights)
Lewis/Tyson

Had great hype, but were arguably foregone conclusions heading in if we be honest with ourselves.

I admit I picked Tyson in all 3,mainly on heart than head.

You honestly telling me you thought Floyd would beat Oscar? I thought it was a gimmick. Credit to Floyd for winning when he had most of the cards stacked against him.

Yea I honestly did, his last great performance for me was the 2nd Mosley fight, almost 4 years prior to the Floyd fight. I thought he lost to Sturm, then Hopkins stopped him, Mayorga was a tune up, even tho they had the bogus WBC title in the line. I'm pretty sure Oscar wasn't on any P4P lists at the time and he wasn't the top guy at 154. He was also getting on at 34.

Fair enough but Floyd was going up a weight and I thought he was taking the cash.

No doubt it was a huge money earner, they just seemed on different trajectories at that point for me. I was more surprise with how much he struggled.

[Master]

Oscar was old and that is why he could not sustain the jab for 12 rounds. Roach used that inside knowledge for his own fighter later on.

[Spicoli]

As much as I dislike the red headed beef eater cheater I didn't think it was a total forgone conclusion in the early hype stage and talk about it. It wasn't until the Trout finish that it became clear he didn't have a proper approach. He thought he was a pick your spots boxer instead of jumping Trout late. Became clear as day Floyd was going to clown him but in the back of my mind I hoped Canelo would land a brick.

Hype and build has gone from promotion centered and main media sources to massive and constant self promotion by the fighters themselves via every form of social media available. Point, click talk smack and the fans start carrying and discussing potentials. Networks do solid promotion but I miss the old hbo or showtime face offs with satellite live feeds and two guys just going on . Tyson and Ruddock comes to mind right off. Hbo doesn't even do full 24-7s now which were pretty good. I'll give it to PBC they really keep the ball rolling with potential and future matches in house. They rotate on air announce with active fighters and always have others on hand, in the crowd and grabbing a mic. Today hype is almost to easy compared to guys way back in the day doing the complete talk show circuits and radio programs.

Random one for whatever reasons..Moorer v Holyfield was a rough build. Frankly both have the 'pop' and demeanors of distracted Wal Mart greeters at times. I remember Moorer dressing up like G.I Joe complete with black beret and that surly attitude talking about going to war etc. He stood at some obvious set piece decked out in full camo and 'pounded' his fist until the little podium collapsed and acted surprised . It was total 'wraslin 101. Press people start laughing and Holyfield nearly falls out of his chair rolling.."Well I'm glad I'm not a podium".

[Master]

Spicoli, that reminds me of Roy Jones v Trinidad hype which was bad and they used the military for that too.

A fight way past its sell by date.

[Alpha]

Spicoli, that reminds me of Roy Jones v Trinidad hype which was bad and they used the military for that too.

A fight way past its sell by date.

Now that you mention Trinidad, you jogged my memory.

Remember the Tito/ Hopkins presser in PR, when Hopkins threw the flag on the ground. That sh-t was intense. Real hype for that one.

[TitoFan]

Spicoli, that reminds me of Roy Jones v Trinidad hype which was bad and they used the military for that too.

A fight way past its sell by date.

Now that you mention Trinidad, you jogged my memory.

Remember the Tito/ Hopkins presser in PR, when Hopkins threw the flag on the ground. That sh-t was intense. Real hype for that one.

It certainly got MY blood boiling back then.

Fans with an emotional type of backing of a fighter can get sucked in by promotional stuff like that.

[TitoFan]

Good discussion and examples.

Just want to add though..... in the past we've had threads on super-hyped fights that disappointed, or met/exceeded expectations....... and fights not very much hyped which turned out to be super fights.

But this thread actually adds another variant..... the fights whose pre-fight hype was unwarranted because everyone should've known it wasn't going to be competitive, be it due to huge size difference, or huge difference in skill set.

A warranted super-hyped fight that ends up disappointing is not the fans or the matchmaker's fault. The hype was warranted because it was competitive on paper.

Whereas an unwarranted super-hyped fight that hardcore fans know won't be competitive has a little more blame to go around.

[Spicoli]

Spicoli, that reminds me of Roy Jones v Trinidad hype which was bad and they used the military for that too.

A fight way past its sell by date.

Yeh that was bad. Not sure how that fight even made it to the store shelf. Not as bad as Roy in that massive wig with the pirate costume though . Roy was definitely on top of self promotion.

[Alpha]

Can I just add one thing I just thought about:

Selling tickets to weigh ins, and huge crowds turning out to them, or press conferences is definitely a sign of huge hype for a fight.

[TitoFan]

Hbo doesn't even do full 24-7s now which were pretty good.

They seem to have made an exception for Ginger.

[Alpha]

Although it wasn't boxing the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki event was hyped around the world at the time.

Jack Johnson vs James J. Jeffries was hugest the time. With Jeffries being out for nearly 6 years it was pure hype for a great white hope.

[TitoFan]

Jack Johnson vs James J. Jeffries was hugest the time. With Jeffries being out for nearly 6 years it was pure hype for a great white hope.

There was a fair share of that throughout the history of heavyweight boxing, which could probably fill a thread of its own. That's a good example, as is the Holmes-Cooney fight. I think the U.S. always craved a white heavyweight champion, and was quick to jump the bandwagon of anyone coming remotely close to filling that void. Ironically, the time a white man dominated the heavyweight scene for a while in recent times, it was a Ukrainian behemoth.