Quote Originally Posted by sanj16
Is anyone out there having as much difficulty finding another true boxing fan to talk with. Always get my hopes up when some claims to be a boxing fan, then within 20 seconds find out they are just a band-wagon jumper!
"Tyson is the greatest of all time", after when we were kings came out "Rumble in the jungle was the greatest fight of all time". I said "personally I think that the thriller in Manila was better, and they give me a blank look.
Just a few examples of comments.
The best being by someone who claimed to be a total boxing fan, "who's Sugar Ray Robinson? and did he ever fight Ali?"
Mike Tyson had 15 fights in less than a year, a 9 month span to be exact.
That alone was a great accomplishment for a fighter of his generation. He had another 13
fights the year that followed. He did it the real old fashion way. To say he was the greatest
of all time, is just your oponion. To me there is no greatest of all time. There are just
great fighters of a generation or era. Mike Tyson left a lot to be desired and I think his
fall came just as quick as his rise to fame. Too many circumstances which I am sure you are
very aware of.

Boxing fans today come in all ages and we have to take that into consideration.
The older boxing fans have the advantage but only if they stuck with it and to be honest it is
very hard to keep up. The younger the fan, the more he or she has to dig into the past and that
takes time, so they got their work cut out for them. In the old days (mainstream media free title
fights and all) people we exposed more to boxing than they are today.

I am too young to be a boxing historian and I fell off the face of the earth during the late 80's
and 90's. This does not mean I was oblivious to who Mike Tyson was. I don't think there is a person alive today who does not know who Mike Tyson is or was. But if you ask me about RJJr. lol
But if you ask me about Duran, Leonard, Hearns, Hagler etc.. Those are my fondest memories of this sport and damn good ones too.

If you are looking for a boxing purist, I don't think there is such a thing, for the mere fact that so
many changes have taken place in the past 30 years. A so called purist that allows his or her sport to be altered or changed in anyway, fashion or form, and still stick around and claim they are purist,
arent purist at all.

Good luck in finding that ideal boxing fan
I guess one is a boxing fan if he or she says they are a boxing fan. Right Wacko
lol

A lot of youngsters on here say they come to learn, maybe you can be that teacher they are searching for