Some of the threads on here over the last few months and especially since the wilder/AJ debacle have got me wondering, has boxing always been so polarised on opinion in regards to fighters/promoters etc. Ive always followed football where supporters are notoriously blinkered in terms of their own team and their rivals, since following boxing I can't quite believe how many people are willing to get in full blown arguments and personal insults if anyone dares to offer a counter opinion. I've only really followed boxing for the last decade- the conversion to 'hardcore' only happening in the last few years. Was it like this In the 90's or a modern phenomenon?
Unfortunately it has with a lot of fans nowadays. You only need to look at several of the forum thread titles to see so.
I’ve seen this and it’s almost pretentious, it’s like a fan of music who wants to tell you about the cool indie band they know who are playing clubs and bars but are no longer a fan when they have a number 1 album and sell arenas. They don’t want to be seen as a casual so reject the possibility of household name fighters being talented.
As soon as people realise all promoters are ****s the better. Anthony Joshua - fantastic boxer. He’s an elite heavyweight, the best of a generation. You can say the division is poor but you don’t pick and choose when you’re born. He’s a victim of circumstances. Tony Bellew - Chats a lot of **** about non boxing. Boxing talk he’s on the money and in the ring he’s backed it up. Ryan Burnett, Callum Smith, Dillian Whyte, Josh Kelly. People will half hate them because of Hearn and matchroom though. Dubois and Gorman - two fantastic prospects with Frank Warren, they haven’t done much not to like. You can’t not like them because of their promoter surely. Billy Joe Saunders - UK p4p number 1? Absolute **** but he’s the best. You can’t help but admire his boxing skills. Add on Warrington, Frampton, Liam Smith too. Josh Taylor - the best British prospect out there - if we can still call him that. He’s absolutely superb and with none of the big two. George Groves - surely got to be in with a shout of p4p top 3 in the UK. Again not with the big two.
If we're talking about "hardcores" not being as keen on AJ, I think a lot of people have reason to dislike AJ, as a person. he's pretty openly racist and fake but he's the country's golden boy so most of the media somehow failed to pick up on it. His fans don't make it any easier to like him either. i think in terms of boxing, it's more reactionary dislike. For example, his fans have filled twitter this weekend about Tyson/AJ comparisons, so the "hardcores" are more vociferous in their replies to that sort of thing. Then there is the Sky hype machine, that doesn't help. Sure, i have no problem with them doing their job, but don't do it by trying to completely pull the wool over people's eyes with some of the hyperbole they use about their fighters.