How much do you REALLY know about boxing???

[DaxxKahn]

I am just wondering how some people get their information on boxing....

I mean how long have you been watching the sport, how many fights have you really seen be it in person or video, have you ever really been in a gym other then a few times hitting the bag...Do you actually know any fighters and that does not mean third hand because you know a guy who knows a guy.....Can you actually get into a debate on a fighters career without having to look at boxrec to see if they won or lost a fight?....

Seriously though I am wondering because it seems so many people these days actually know little about boxing itself other then what they get off the internet yet they will try to debate things as if they know it first hand...

EG- When someone says Fighter A wants X amount of dollars to face Fighter B and a ring size of 16X16...But Fighter B states they wont fight in a ring less then 20X20..

Where do you get your info from?...Website, ESPN, chatroom, Reliable news source like a newspaper or do you get it from Forums and gossip columns

It what you are saying based on REAL boxing knowledge or all second hand info

[Zilla]

It's a combo for me because I don't know everything. I'm not deeply ensconced in boxing, but what I know I know from personal experience, watching on TV, places like Saddo's.

I don't discount secondhand info unless I find out the person writing/saying it is full of it. Because there's a wealth of people who know more than me and I'm always ready to learn something new. I can say who beat who based on what I actually know for about a handful of fighters, maybe 20-30 or so, but I'm no encyclopedia. I'm more recently getting into the lighter weights.

I've met a bunch of fighters in person. Tommy & Ronald Hearns, Bernard Hopkins, Mary Jo Sanders, and other minor local fighters. But I'm in a place where I'm comfortably standing on my own opinion based on what I've taken in from where ever I've gotten it and I can hold my own in most conversations/debates. But I'll always acknowledge when someone knows more than me.

[DaxxKahn]

It's a combo for me because I don't know everything. I'm not deeply ensconced in boxing, but what I know I know from personal experience, watching on TV, places like Saddo's.

I don't discount secondhand info unless I find out the person writing/saying it is full of it. Because there's a wealth of people who know more than me and I'm always ready to learn something new. I can say who beat who based on what I actually know for about a handful of fighters, maybe 20-30 or so, but I'm no encyclopedia. I'm more recently getting into the lighter weights.

I've met a bunch of fighters in person. Tommy & Ronald Hearns, Bernard Hopkins, Mary Jo Sanders, and other minor local fighters. But I'm in a place where I'm comfortably standing on my own opinion based on what I've taken in from where ever I've gotten it and I can hold my own in most conversations/debates. But I'll always acknowledge when someone knows more than me.

Thanks for the honest reply...Like I said I am not trying to call anyone out or make anyone look foolish, just curious is all..

I mean speaking for myself and probably the older posters here like Scrap Andre etc...We started as fans in this sport before the internet...Either you knew someone in the or around the sport, you have been to the fights, watched then Closed circuit (Anyone from the East Coast in the US remember the Felt Forum) got news from ABC wide world of sports or Read Ring Magazine when it actually was the Bible of Boxing...

[ryanman]

Well, on the criteria of the opening post i know next to nothing.

I don't know any fighters personally (a couple are friends of friends). I've been in a gym once.
But in terms of using Boxrec etc to check facts I don't usually need to. I have a pretty crazy memory and can recall a lot of fighters records perfectly. Stats and records etc I know plenty.

Pretty much everything I know is self taught, and until I got into this place properly last year I never really had the chance to talk boxing with people.

Non-boxing fans would probably consider me a boxing expert but compared to a lot of people i'm a mere amateur.

I've been into boxing since I was about 7 (1992) but until the last couple of years aside from watching the fights I could and buying Boxing Monthly I didn't really seek it out much.

[Scrap]

I watched my 1st Fight 60 years ago, Trained 38 champs. Know most people in the Game. Unfortunatly still know Fuck All.

[Youngblood]

I wasn't even born when yet when the internet was invented. So obviously I know knowing.

[DaxxKahn]

I wasn't even born when yet when the internet was invented. So obviously I know knowing.

Not true..Like I said this isn't something that I am trying to insinuate...I am not saying that if you get your info from the internet you know nothing,,,Just wondering how people learn their info....

I mean if you learn things from the posters here it is a big difference then learning stuff from lets say ESB or Hennessey

[ryanman]

Hmm, my first post kind of made it look like I barely even like the sport

Just to be clear - I love the sport. Watching boxing is my favourite thing in the world to do and I spend a lot of my spare time doing it.

In terms of fights i've watched I have no idea, but its in the thousands.

[DaxxKahn]

I watched my 1st Fight 60 years ago, Trained 38 champs. Know most people in the Game. Unfortunatly still know Fuck All.

Ah hell Scrap these days even when we think we know something they go and change it all up before Dinner anyhow ....

Any day I am expecting Susan Lucci to enter the sport and ESPN to flash something on a ticker about a purse bid to be revealed on the afternoons episode of All My Children

[Youngblood]

The truth is I really don't know much. I know my way around a ring, and I know my way around a gym, but as far as the professional side of things go, when I showed up here at Saddos I didn't even know who Pac was, barely who Mayweather was, and certainly less about near everyone else in the sport.

But I could fight, and I loved it.

Coming to Saddos and other online forums has been my education in learning the sport. I learn the most from the fans. The people who have favorite fighters, who know it's history, or are maybe just weekend fans like so myself too and many are. I learn from sports writers, historians, officials, coaches trainers online, but overall, the most I learn regarding boxing I learn from the fans. The ones with both little and lots of knowledge. I learn not just knowledge, but what makes them tick. That I believe is important to know, especially for anyone who might be considering it for a living long term.

So all in all, in learning to train and fight...I learn most of that in the gym. But learning the sport, how it works, the fighters, the history, divisions, who's who and what's what, and to hear it's heart beat...that I get from places just like Saddos here, and the fans who are on the boards sharing and often wearing their hearts on their sleeves..

[bcollins]

I watched my 1st Fight 60 years ago, Trained 38 champs. Know most people in the Game. Unfortunatly still know Fuck All.

Ah hell Scrap these days even when we think we know something they go and change it all up before Dinner anyhow ....

Any day I am expecting Susan Lucci to enter the sport and ESPN to flash something on a ticker about a purse bid to be revealed on the afternoons episode of All My Children

I'll buy that PPV.

[Fenster]

Everyone in boxing uses the internet these days - boxers, trainers, managers, promoters the lot.

As for fans knowledge - it has nothing to do with being in a gym, knowing fighters or being involved with people in the trade.

You don't have to experience being punched in the face to form an opinion. Some fighters/trainers are terrible fight pickers.

Anyone can research and become an expert on the history of boxing. No different to taking an interest in anything.

[ICB]

I am just wondering how some people get their information on boxing....

I mean how long have you been watching the sport, how many fights have you really seen be it in person or video, have you ever really been in a gym other then a few times hitting the bag...Do you actually know any fighters and that does not mean third hand because you know a guy who knows a guy.....Can you actually get into a debate on a fighters career without having to look at boxrec to see if they won or lost a fight?....

Seriously though I am wondering because it seems so many people these days actually know little about boxing itself other then what they get off the internet yet they will try to debate things as if they know it first hand...

EG- When someone says Fighter A wants X amount of dollars to face Fighter B and a ring size of 16X16...But Fighter B states they wont fight in a ring less then 20X20..

Where do you get your info from?...Website, ESPN, chatroom, Reliable news source like a newspaper or do you get it from Forums and gossip columns

It what you are saying based on REAL boxing knowledge or all second hand info

I've been watching boxing for atleast a decade, i haven't been to any fights yet although im planning too. I got my info from my Grandfather mostly, because he was a boxer and his brother was also a talented boxer, his brother beat an Olympic gold medalist Terry Spinks. And also the internet helps obviously.

I've had a few Amateur fights and i enjoyed it, but i quit because i have a family now. I'd like to think i know quite a bit about boxing, i know mostly about the well known fighters.

But for the last year and a half, i've really been brushing up on some of the underrated fighters. Like Orlando Canizales, and i've also now seen alot of closet classic fights like Kelvin Seabrooks vs Orlando Canizales, Caveman Lee vs John LoCiero, ETC.

Lately i've been busy which is why i haven't been coming on here as much, so im behind on current boxing. But i still find time to watch some closet classic fights i haven't seen, mostly thanks to great contributers on youtube.

[CFH]

I am just wondering how some people get their information on boxing....

I mean how long have you been watching the sport, how many fights have you really seen be it in person or video, have you ever really been in a gym other then a few times hitting the bag...Do you actually know any fighters and that does not mean third hand because you know a guy who knows a guy.....Can you actually get into a debate on a fighters career without having to look at boxrec to see if they won or lost a fight?....

Seriously though I am wondering because it seems so many people these days actually know little about boxing itself other then what they get off the internet yet they will try to debate things as if they know it first hand...

EG- When someone says Fighter A wants X amount of dollars to face Fighter B and a ring size of 16X16...But Fighter B states they wont fight in a ring less then 20X20..

Where do you get your info from?...Website, ESPN, chatroom, Reliable news source like a newspaper or do you get it from Forums and gossip columns

It what you are saying based on REAL boxing knowledge or all second hand info

I haven't been watching boxing very long (since about 2005 I think), but I feel my opinions are legitimate. I've been in a boxing gym, I've sparred, but that is as far as I've gone in regards to competing. I don't know any professional fighters, but I do know an amateur Canadian National Champion . Kinda.

As for the news I get regarding the sport, the only other site I regularly look at aside from Saddo's is Fightnews. I occasionally peruse Boxingtalk for the interviews, but they're so ridiculously biased that almost everything on that site is useless.

I don't think the legitimacy of someone's argument or the depth of their understanding of the sport is predicated on experience or the result of years of study and I certainly do not buy the elitist view that someone needs to be involved "in the buis" (sorry, couldn't resist) to have a deep understanding of the game or to formulate solid opinions.

[OumaFan]

I haven't looked at boxingtalk in ages. There was actually a period of about a year (that coincided with my joining here) where I was obsessed with the sport and learning as much as possible about it as I could so I think I do know a fair bit but the last few years I've just been coasting on that previous knowledge.

CFH, are you insinuating that you know as much as TM?

How many of you people know as much as I do about Niccolino Loche? Who was James Toney's first trainer? Which fighter did TM want an apology from in blood?