Psychological defense mechanisms... Hypejobs and their defenders

1) hype is excitement and in short supply these days. I would be lenient on the emotional side. Rationally I tend to agree.

2) Most of the fighters you mentioned deserved a 'reasonable hype'. I mean one or two wins showed us that we really need to put them on the map. When people start talking about fighters it doesn't always mean they totally overrate them. I don't think they put a lot of money on them, be it itauma or whoever.

Reasonable hype:
- bakole looked pretty menacing and then seemed to do a ruiz. He certainly showed talent, power and speed.
- ruiz self defeated. And I don't think people saw him as the number 1 after the win against joshua, but rather among the top dogs, which seems justified as the old parker match showed. Only after that he showed that he lacked the hunger (...)
- kambosos was a nice surprise from australia, but i don't think many expected him to win against boxers like haney or loma?
- joyce was a force and showed that by totally destroying parker and taking everything from him without blinking. He had as good a chin as hrgovic, probably better, since he almost didn't react to punches at all, but way more activity. He could have been a real problem for the best guys just based on activity. And it took me a long time to accept that, because he is so slow und unelegant. Zhang destroyed him and the hype before was justified, where again - i don't think anyone saw him as the best heavy at rhe time
- fury showed with the klitschko fight (peds?) that he could potentially outbox anyone. Of course bad style matchups like lewis might not work out, but that's the same with any other legendary Boxer, too. So in the H2H sense it is understandable, that such discussions came up. Also like only few of the greats did, he had two careers (foreman, ali). And the wilder wins where the most high profile heavyweight fights for a long time together with the klitschko fight.

Again - i agree to a point, some people tend to get carried away, but I think it is kind of a good thing for the sport, since it means excitement and brings new life in the discussions. And many don't exaggerate the hype that much. They are just reasonably excited and fantasize about the Potential. And often that is all we can do, when we don't get the fights we want

 

Some good points, but I think the Hrgovic thing is not really hype or overhype, but more just a rebounding to where he have been seen outside of the annointing of the heir apparent Itauma.

Hrgo was criminally underrated & written off by most folks before that fight.

The other consideration here is with Usyk - to all practical intents and purposes - out of the picture, the playing field is fairly level and what constitues a 'legit contender' is a relative thing

IMO Hrgovic was a 'legit contender' before the Itauma fight and remains one after - and also happens to be IBF champion to boot.

Dubois | Kabayel | Hrgovic
Itauma | Wardley | Parker
Huni | Bakole | Sanchez | Ajagba

The levels between the heavyweights right now is hard to guage, but I'd suggest there really isn't a huge amount of difference between the lot of em

 

People definitely cling to hype jobs and can't let go of the promise that a fighter showed at one point in time.

Consider the case of Anthony Joshua: he hasn't had a solid win over top 10 competition since what, 2018? People still talked about him (before the Pringles debacle) like he could go collect a belt no problem and rebuild his career, but the jig was up the moment Ruiz landed that counter. The rest is just remnant hype; folks still unable to comprehend that this guy isn't what he was supposed to be.

Joshua's best win since 2018 is a 285 pound, untrained Andy Ruiz. This is what I'd call an elite hypejob. He doesn't have ONE win in his 30's he can point to and say 'that's a good win'. Genuinely. It's either obese, untrained Ruiz or OTTO WALLIN (LOL) for a fighter's entire 30's.

Folks defend his boxing ability, his will and strength as a fighter etc. to this day, despite the results of matches begging to differ.

 

You are really digging in on the whole 'Hrgovic is barely a gatekeeper" thing.

 

I agree. i have no emotional investment in hrgovic or itauma and the fight didn't really change my opinion of either one. itauma looked as good as i figured he was, before the wheels fell off, and hrgovic looked as ordinary as i figured he was before itauma fell apart. i dont like or dislike one over the other, but am mostly indifferent to both. i just look at what they appear to be able to do and not be able to do. for more than 6 rds what I was seeing happen in the ring reinforced what I already believed about both.

 

AJ's a bum

 

He has a reasonable point though.

I think gatekeeper is a bit harsh, but some people are acting like he's the the next best thing after beating Itauma, who they're all totally convinced is all hype and would have lost the moment he faced someone who wasn't shot. The math ain't mathin', and people can't have it both ways.

 

This thread was started by a casual boxing fan who watched a few highlights and drew conclusions based on them; he phrases things beautifully but completely nonsensically—not to mention his 100% incorrect predictions, like claiming Joshua would easily beat Dubois, Ruiz would beat Knyba, and Itauma would beat Hrgovic. Just log off the forum; this isn't the place for you.

 

Gate keeper is completely wrong

Guys a contender that took an opportunity to grab a belt that he would have struggled to do against many other champions

 

Tbf although I don't agree with Bubbles terminology for certain fighters, if everyone logged off that made those predictions it would be very quiet here

 

If the starter of this thread is the poster I think it is, it's a rabid Joshua fan boy, which is hilarious and ironic given he started a thread about they psychology of defending hype jobs, while spending hours defending Joshua in the mid 2020's.

 

I'd put him in more of the contender category too, and hoping he continues to achieve more as a belt holder. I can understand where Bubbles is coming from though, and he's probably one of the more neutral observers in this forum (at least in my view).