Does trash talk and brawls really sell tickets?

Nuclear physicists - some of the worst trash talkers out there.

 

The only match-up that could use realistic trash talking now would be Wilder vs Joshua.

 

Not to me its crass.

 

I don't care for it but I can see why it might appeal to a certain segment of the fanbase.

Personally I think fighters sell themselves in the ring, and to me lipping off outside of it means little. A guy like (for instance) Floyd Mayweather saying he's going to destroy somebody is vaguely comical because we all know how he fights whatever he may have said beforehand. On the other hand you know a Golovkin or Lemieux fight is going to be exciting no matter how staid the lead up is.

Also, a guy that talks a big fight outside the ring and then plods around doing nothing after the build up completely turns me off and it would have been better if he'd just kept quiet.

 

Yes, the press conference brawls and crazy talk sell tickets.
Not necessarily because the common fan believes in the "beef" or is excited by the bad behaviour, but more because it gives the cameras and microphones some spectacle and soundbites to use as snippets in the media, so the actual fact of the upcoming fight gets played to a wider audience.

It's all crass and obvious.
But so are the use of the Corona girls to sell beer.
Let's face it, they sure sell some beer.

 

Adrian Broner is an embarrassment to the sport of boxing.

 

Yes, unfortunately.

 

Of course trash talk sells tickets.

All the biggest, highest earning fights in boxing history involved a degree of smack talk.

Some fights, like Mayweather-Pac, involved smack talk FOR YEARS.

I find it comical when people say they don't like it.

You're watching A FIGHT. They are literally punching each other in the head. They are trying to inflict pain on each other. People die. Why do you want them to be super polite beforehand? To make you feel better about watching them try to cave their heads in?

It's a FIGHT?

You want them to have a beef. FIGHT IT OUT. And when it's resolved in the ring to shake hands and move on.

If they can't shake hands because nothing was resolved, and they still have a beef, they can fight again. And again.

That's the whole point.

Frankly, I can't think of any fights worth watching A SECOND TIME where both guys smiled and congratulated each other after every round. In fact, most former fighters and trainers calling fights or working the corners HATE IT when boxers are overly friendly during bouts ... because IT'S A FIGHT.

You don't "play" boxing.

 

Oh please. Sugar Ray Robinson was an incredible jerk to people before he fought them. He was even a jerk to people he thought might be a threat later. Carmen Basilio hated Ray Robinson before he fought him and still hated him after they fought because of the way Robinson treated him years before they fought.

 

Nah, there's just something appealing about a COLD PROFESSIONAL who literally feels no malice or emotion one way or the other, and has no personal feelings whatsoever about his opponent, an expends no emotion energy and very little physical energy towards his foe until the actual time of the fight.

With a true professional, it's business, never personal.

If I want to see "A FIGHT" with all the emotion baggage and hate, I can see that for free in the street or just spy on my neighbours, get all the screaming and crying and nasty language too.

But boxing, I wanna see ICE COLD PROFESSIONALS, ****ing trained killers, who try to outwit and destroy whatever is in front of them, regardless of who that person is.
If I'm watching guys who seem to be emotional or need to "hate", it's a bit amateurish.

 

I guess not every fighter can motivate themselves with that precise mentality. Take Marvin Hagler as an example. There was never any question about his utter dedication and his singular "professional" focus but he was also driven by a sense of injustice and needed this to get the best out of himself and put the hurt on his opponents.

I remember reading that Bob Foster would turn into this incredibly mean, utterly unapproachable person before a fight. Some boxers have to become that to be the best they can be.

So it's hardly surprising that the carefully nurtured hate that they have built up in the lead up to a fight spills out into the promotion of it sometimes.

The flip side of that is that there are still plenty of fighters who can switch off the emotions and be professional but they are still encouraged in promotions to hype the fight with a bogus grudge, particularly if public interest is low. But I'd say there's more than one way to hype a fight and it would be good if promoters got a bit more creative than a hackneyed pushing and shoving match at each weigh in.

 

Those are words people who don't fight like to use because it makes what they are watching more palpable.

There has never been a single fighter I've ever seen or heard or read about who NEVER took fighting personally.

Any life or death pursuit is personal. Whether you're paid or not.

The fighters may/and do react differently. But boxing is incredibly personal. Everything about it is personal. It's one-on-one combat.

 

The most tedious thing to me is not so much that it's uncivil but that it's just bad theater. Most this stuff is not "Lay on, Macduff, and damned be he who first cries hold, enough!".

 

Two men who let their fists do the talking.