Personally, I've only heavily been into boxing a few years. I try not to buy into hype that gets pushed and make my own assessments. I don't know much about boxing, but I know a lot more then a lot of people I know. Mates ask me for tips for bets which I rarely provide due to lack of confidence. But some people on here will have forgotten more than I know. Does that make hard-core boxing fans hate people like me? If so why?
I don't dislike casuals. They tend to respect your opinion if you let them know how long you've been a fan. They usually are not know it alls with large chips on their shoulders, unlike some hardcore fans.
Because people like to feel superior in life and have carved out this little niche that they think will make them impressive. It's pretty sad really. The business NEEDS casuals and will always chase them. Hardcores probably were casuals at one stage too so its dumb to complain about people newer to the sport or on the fringes!
I've noticed a lot of people are starting to get into boxing. People who I thought never had any interest celebrating a boxer winning. I think it's a good thing. If the sport dies out and only hardcore fans watch it wouldn't be as good. I love watching the boxing with a great atmosphere around the arena.
I guess it's their tendency to repeat the absolute nonsense pushed by the big broadcasters. When someone tells you Conor Benn is a potential p4p talent it's hard not to laugh.
I don't mind fans having limited knowledge and casual interest except when they start to tell me stuff that just isn't right at all. I know **** all about football and defer to people who know the ins and outs, and wouldn't try bluffing my way through a football conversation with a load of tripe. Unfortunately a lot of boxing's casual fans often don't acknowledge that there's a hard core of knowledgeable fans who might know a bit more than them. They watched AJ's last ten fights on SKY and stayed up all night for Mayweather-McGregor so they think they've got this sport sussed.
The issue with casuals is how they gobble up and spread all the rubbish promoters and broadcasters feed them, which insults the integrity of the sport and intelligence of more educated boxing fans. Nothing against anyone who enjoys boxing. However, I understand why some, (not all) casuals can be irritating.
The same can be true of 'hardcore' fans who seem to push obviously ridiculous agendas and make comments which sound like they've come straight out of the mouth of an incredibly casual casual. Not wanting to name names, but if you were the sort of person to say Tyson Fury, in his fight against Deontay Wilder which he didn't even win, demonstrated the skill of Floyd Mayweather and transcended the sport like Muhammad Ali, then I think you're just as laughable if not more so than the kid who's seen five fights asking if Crolla will beat Lomachenko.
This. Same in all sports, all aspects of life really. We erect hierarchies and seek to position ourselves within them. Looking down on casuals implicitly asserts that you are not one, that you are above them.
The word spread very quick amongst the uneducated public that the Exhibition Fight between Fraud and Conman McGregor was a 50/50 fight when we knew it was really a 100/0 fight. Some people believe every word from the likes of Adam Smith and they are very trusting and gullible. They get mugged PPV money time and again without realising they have been mugged
I don't think anyone said that Fury was the heavyweight Mayweather. I don't think anyone claimed he'd transcended the sport like Ali either.
Exactly this a mate of mine who watches the odd Saturday night fight night saw Conor Benn smash someone in two rounds in about his third fight and was adamant he was going to take over boxing and be the next Big star of the sport. Not understanding his opponent was a journeyman part time fighter who has lost 90 percent of his fights and is in there to give Benn exposure/experience . But he was not having it and wasn't taking on board anything I said. He was now a boxing expert after watching the odd fight every few weeks on sky sports one!!