Couldn't agree more. For me, he is the most depressing boxer of all-time. Dancing around throwing slaps and getting away with it because he's in with yet another tomato can, a dismal state of affairs for any true boxing fan. Take the Kessler fight out of the equation, and his entire career is manure (and even then, when Ward whipped the **** out of robo-Kessler I began to have creeping doubts about the merits of that one a bit too). I know that you aren't as vehement in your criticism of him, but I agree with your main point here - his punching technique is awful and makes me never want to see it ever again.
Many of the better British fighters of recent years(at least 10-15) have had really awkward, polarising styles.Calzaghe, Haye, Lewis, Froch, Hatton, Eastman, the whole ingle camp etc.. I think it's become a bit of a trademark of the boxing scene unfortunately.
I'm notoriously unpatriotic to the point of wanting to see England lose to Germany at the World Cup finals. I can only get behind Carl Froch and David Haye currently, but I can't say I'm really "a fan" of any British fighter, past or present.
A relief to hear. I thought that I was the only bloke vaguely interested in sport who at that point in time was laid out on the settee laughing my bollocks off when the Jerries did what they did exactly how I thought they would. It was a lovely little earner on the side. Not a fan of any British fighter past or present? I'd have thought that some of the best aesthetically pleasing practitioners might have been right up your street.
He is. I don't mind his fights with Kessler, Eubank, or Lacy but I just find it so hard to see anything else. His style is so frustrating to look at.
No. I refuse to recognize nationality as an issue ever. I am not remotely patriotic, not because of any antipathy towards my own country, but because I think nationalism and patriotism are pointless, 19th century modes of thinking which are only detrimental to the world. And by selecting my favourite fighters on the basis of how they fight and how they conduct their careers, no, none of my favourite fighters are British. I respect Froch's mentality very much, I think David Haye is likeable and articulate in interviews, and I appreciate how Amir Khan's movement is improving him as a fighter, but none of them really float my boat as such. Khan probably comes closest, because I think his movement is going to make him very successful in his weight class, but none of my favourite fighters happen to be from the UK.
I liked and rated Lennox Lewis, but I think the only British fighter I've ever been enamoured with was the middleweight Chris Eubank. For me, he was streets ahead of Hamed, Calzaghe, Hatton, or any of them.
I just don't understand it. Why would you support a fighter only because they hailed from the same country as you? :think
My sentiments exactly mate. That question will mystify me to my dying day. I am expected to throw my own likes and dislikes, my own boxing preferences, my own beliefs in boxing values, out of the window to pledge blind patronage to a guy I don't know who was born a couple of hundred miles from where I was, even if I don't enjoy watching him fight and/or don't rate his fighting style. **** that dated nonsensical shite.
I agree. Patriotism is overrated in sports. I couldn't care less what nationality a fighter is. To be honest, I couldn't care less about the fighter's person, either. I judge my favorites based on what I see in the ring.
My hometown of Caxap was named after Caxap (sugar) Nikolay Valuev. If you don't cheer for Valuev, or accept his greatness into your heart, it's not well hidden that you get carted away in a straight jacket and/or sometimes burned as a witch.