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

[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.

[brocktonblockbust]

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]

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.