This pejorative boxing term is often used (almost ad nauseum) to describe a subpar opponent, usually by critics of the favorite against the opponent. How did the term originate? Was there one particular instance of a part-time boxer who was known to actually operate a taxi, that a major contender or champion fought at a period in time when they were expected to be matched better? Second question - why exactly should this be an insult? Most boxers, in the grand scheme, have come from relatively impoverished backgrounds and most never reach the point where they can live full-time off their fistic earnings. There can very easily be - and have been - many world champions who held menial jobs to pay the bills. It's a silly term, if you ask me - and seems to be employed almost exclusively by haters in an attempt to defame someone's resume. It's been used specifically to refer to some of the lesser foes of Chavez and Duran - but were any of them actually hackneys by day?
Its not an insult, more a way of saying 'he's not really a pro boxer, he's someone they pulled off the street to let a pro boxer pad his record with and he has no business in the ring'. As for the history, I'm not sure, they certainly used it a load for Chavez though
Most of the people who have been targeted with it are pro boxers, typically journeymen. By your definition it would mean people making their debut. I think it pretty clearly is insulting.
In Britain a promoter, cant remember who, took over 3 or 4 mexican opponents for his fighters and they were shite, and it turned out they were cab drivers or road sweepers and the name stuck from their I think
Its more to do with insulting the level of the contender/champs competition than anything, same with 'tomato can', the fact someone's an easy mark to knock over. I don't think anyone remembers who the journeyman is anyway. As for it being 'insulting', as you said yourself 'there's nothing wrong with being a cab driver', except when the ****ers overcharge
I get that part, and that it's intended to be an indirect assault on the favorite, but that is precisely what makes it disrespectful to the "cab drivers" themselves - implying they don't even belong in the ring by identifying them as something other than pro boxers. Why not just call them journeymen? It's accurate and at least acknowledges that they are competitors, even if they're not up to the level of the favorite. On that second tip, when don't the ****ers overcharge? :yep
I don't know, but if he did, then he didn't come away from it much better than Haugen did. And on the main topic, yeah, Haugen really popularized the term by referring to the opponents of Chavez as this.
Was this before Haugen-Chavez? For those who think Haugen coined it, was there a specific opponent of Chavez's who was known to actually drive a cab in Tijuana or was it just trash talk that he completely made up?
Young Stribling reportedly padded his record by fightinh his driver under assumed names several times around the states.