Characters in boxing

[Diane]

thats why u gotta love PBF because he was a cocky ass punk who alot of people wanted to see get KTFO but it never happened lol. all the trash talking and pissing his opponent off is wat sold his fights. i miss PBF

As much as I respect PBF in the ring, I really dont have any time for the crap he pulls outside of it. He is really such a stupid individual. He trash talks like a pissed off step child. Its pedantic and embarrassing to see. That Larry Merchant interview after the DelaHoya fight is hilarious. PBF just sounds like a retard!

Mayorga and Toney are much better characters for that kind of thing IMO. Im not dissing PBF as a boxer, because his credentials are great up until 140.

If I hadn't already repped you this morning I would do it again.

I agree with everything you said.


And my opinion on this thread is, if the right matchups are made, you don't need a bunch of characters to force feed us a bunch of crap to sell a fight.

Did we need trash talk to sell us Cotto/Margarito? No, because is was the right matchup.

Do we need trash talk to sell us ODLH/Pac? Yes, because it's not a good matchup, and it's not one the people were asking to see.

[nola]

I think the important thing to keep in mind is that "having character" does not necessarily mean you're a jerk; it could mean that you're a nice guy, much like ODLH or Pacman. PBF doesn't seem to know how to do anything but be obnoxious once he steps outside the ring. While I can't fault his boxing skills, I can say he would be the last one in the boxing world that I would like to share a meal with.

The problem with the ODLH/Pacman match is you've got two very similar characters getting in the ring together - they've both fought their way to the top, have a vision for life after boxing, and believe that they need to help out the less fortunate along the way. There s no reason for these two to fight, other than money. There are plenty of other fights for Pacman, fights that could advance his career, and ODLH doesn't need to fight anymore, his career is nearly over.

I think this quote really does sum it up well -

And my opinion on this thread is, if the right matchups are made, you don't need a bunch of characters to force feed us a bunch of crap to sell a fight.

Did we need trash talk to sell us Cotto/Margarito? No, because is was the right matchup.

I have to agree with this. Sometimes, you just KNOW that a fight is going to be a good one. That the fighters are well matched, or that fighter A has a grudge against fighter B. And if that's there, you don't need to generate the PBF style hype to sell the PPVs.

Fess up - who got the PPV for the too-short Pacman-Morales fight just because there was a grudge to settle? As soon as the fight was scheduled, we decided to get it. The promise of a good fight was there, no hype needed. (Or, at least it was until you saw the fight, right? But by then, your money was in and it was just too late.)

Taylor-Pavlik II? It was a fight we all wanted to see. And both fighters had a lot of character, they both had strong personalities and a desire to win.

Calzaghe-Jones? After Hopkins took Hatton, we all wanted to see if Roy would do the same to Joe, even Joe's fans were biting their nails after Hopkins-Hatton. And all four of these fighters have character, too.

It's sort of like the baseball movie quote - If you build it, they will come.

If they build the better fights, we will come.

Without the hype.
Because they won't need it.

[SaltyBacon]

seems like when we have a charcter he's hated

but my fav. toney/prince naseem/eubanks/casyamor and a couple of more

[HattonTheHammer]

Amongst the hardcore boxing alumni were never going to NEED these type of personalitys amongst us but....

For the sport to survive these types of cocky, flashy stars make the sport what it is


I personally feel we need a tyson esque ticking time bomb back within the scene. The sort of guy who from his entrance to what he does in the ring to whether he kicks off at the post fight conference nobody knows what is gonna happen with him!!


If only Mayorga was a decent boxer

[Majesty]

Amongst the hardcore boxing alumni were never going to NEED these type of personalitys amongst us but....

For the sport to survive these types of cocky, flashy stars make the sport what it is


I personally feel we need a tyson esque ticking time bomb back within the scene. The sort of guy who from his entrance to what he does in the ring to whether he kicks off at the post fight conference nobody knows what is gonna happen with him!!


If only Mayorga was a decent boxer

Yeah thats the point I was getting at, that these characters can draw new people into boxing that don't really follow it.

Because us the "smart mark" boxing fans will know a good matchup when we see it, but the casual fan that doesn't really watch boxing wouldn't know a good matchup. So yes for the sport to survive and draw in new people there needs to be an attraction like that, whether it be to a boxer to hate or to love or a story, it has to be beyond just a good matchup to snag in some new people to the sport of boxing. It's a reason I think the contender was so successful.