Flintoff raised his own profile, whilst lowering the sports profile.

[macho_grande]

Firstly, respect to Freddie Flintoff for training hard & getting in shape. But I cant believe people thought this was good for the sport. I get into work today, and all anybody is talking about is Flintoff, and how bad he looked.

David Price, one of the “worlds” top heavyweight prospects fought on the same night, and he didn’t get any exposure.

Flintoff totally stole all the limelight and all the headlines. (not his fault i know)

Freddie didn’t generate any additional exposure for the sport, neither has he brought new fans to Boxing. The only profile he raised was his own.

Id actually say he has done the sport damage. All the casuals and non boxing fans in my office thought it was one big joke. Nobody has said “Freddie was a bit shit but that big lump Price looks good”

Im not shitting on Freddie, because the documentary proved how hard he trained and how dedicated he was to the sport. I think he has tried his upmost to respect the sport from a personal level, but I think it backfired on a public level.

I think its best for all concerned that Freddie doesn’t fight again but if he does. It must be on an undercard, preferably the first fight on the bill.

[iceferg]

Boxing is all about long term dedication, respect, sacrifice. When you think of pro boxers, they care a great deal about the respect they deserve. Flintoff may have trained hard for a few months but he was terrible and didn't really look ready to box amateur other than his fittness.

You'll have these shits who go round starting fights on a friday night out seeing that and thinking boxers are crap n cage fightings better n that you only need a few months to beat a pro.

[Barry Smith]

Flintoff is a media whore and that fight was a set up, the fat American only threw one meaningful punch and that landed and dropped Flintoff. After the punch landed you could see the look on his face, he must have been thinking "oops, better not do that again or they wont pay me the KFC vouchers they promised" so he just went back to casually leaning on the ropes with his hands infront of his face while Flintoff hopelessly slapped away.

[EverLast]

Originally Posted by Barry Smith

Flintoff is a media whore and that fight was a set up, the fat American only threw one meaningful punch and that landed and dropped Flintoff. After the punch landed you could see the look on his face, he must have been thinking "oops, better not do that again or they want pay me the KFC vouchers they promised" so he just went back to casually leaning on the ropes with his hands infront of his face while Flintoff hopelessly slapped away.

[RJJ's Jab]

Originally Posted by Barry Smith

Flintoff is a media whore and that fight was a set up, the fat American only threw one meaningful punch and that landed and dropped Flintoff. After the punch landed you could see the look on his face, he must have been thinking "oops, better not do that again or they want pay me the KFC vouchers they promised" so he just went back to casually leaning on the ropes with his hands infront of his face while Flintoff hopelessly slapped away.

Can't argue with that.

[ukphil]

Flintoff got a licence, trained hard, there was a fight, everyone got paid, the crowd enjoyed it. Oh, and he won.

[DOM5153]

Im not quite sure how he lowered the sports profile, if any new fans had sat down to watch Freddie they would have also seen the other more "technical" fights. It was also on Boxnation which meant very few casual fans would have seen the fight anyway, unless of course they decided to shell out £10 just for the privlage.

[TFFP]

Really don't know what logic you're basing this on. Had Flintoff not fought it would have been like any other weekend. A couple of articles on the skysports website about Price/Fury and maybe Cotto, and the odd article about 6 pages from the back in some newspapers.

How could it possibly lower the profile of boxing even further?

[Betty Swollocks]

I'm not sure if it degraded the sport etc, but what I do know is that Zelenoff is a media whore who isn't a boxing man, is all out for himself and is a ****ing shite boxer.
I just hope he gets banjoed in his next fight as this is a parasite the sport does not want.

[BlackBrenny]

Originally Posted by iceferg

Boxing is all about long term dedication, respect, sacrifice. When you think of pro boxers, they care a great deal about the respect they deserve. Flintoff may have trained hard for a few months but he was terrible and didn't really look ready to box amateur other than his fittness.

You'll have these shits who go round starting fights on a friday night out seeing that and thinking boxers are crap n cage fightings better n that you only need a few months to beat a pro.

I think everyone knew that Dawson was trying his utmost not to hit Flintoff back, the people you're talking about saw Ricky Hatton get put on his knees by a "bum" last week, so the reality of boxing will still be fresh in their minds.

[REEVO]

Originally Posted by Barry Smith

Flintoff is a media whore and that fight was a set up, the fat American only threw one meaningful punch and that landed and dropped Flintoff. After the punch landed you could see the look on his face, he must have been thinking "oops, better not do that again or they wont pay me the KFC vouchers they promised" so he just went back to casually leaning on the ropes with his hands infront of his face while Flintoff hopelessly slapped away.

yep..........

[Brisbox]

Respect to Freddie for losing the weight, getting fit and climbing through the ropes...

but he was gash and looked like a bit of a fix

should have been a charity bout