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

**Alpha** · 08-31-2018 08:45 PM

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** · 08-31-2018 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by Alpha

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.

**brocktonblockbust** · 08-31-2018 10:35 PM

oh yeah Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney man you talk about height that was big time hike that was high tension that almost ledt the race riots in some cities

**Fenster** · 08-31-2018 11:52 PM

I think Oscar-Pac more than lived up to the hype. Oscar was the favourite, when the fight was first bandied about the general feeling was a mismatch, I was amongst the majority who thought Pac was simply too small, but it was the sheer electric performance Pac produced which was amazing, flawless and vicious, he reduced an all-time great to a whimpering soul who needed resucing.

Also fights like Leonard-Hearns II, sneered at by all the "expert" fossils at the time because they were "old" men, and tainted by a "robbery" decision, turned out a great fight. I dare anyone to watch that fight today and tell me those two guys couldn't more than hold their own with today's middleweights.

Benn-Eubank 1 hype was more than warranted, the 2nd meeting not so.

Gman-Benn surpassed the hype.

In recent years Wlad-AJ surpassed the hype too, although no harsh words between the two the hype was huge in Britain, the weigh-in had more people than most fighters get at actual fights, and no-one expected an up-and-down epic.