How much does a person's age influence their boxing interests?

Your situation is a bit rare (see the General Forum for countless references).

I have to admit a bit of fault of my own in this regard. I am an 80's kid, and speak here mostly of fighters from my own era. Can't help it; that's just what I was raised on; Sanchez, Gomez, Hagler, Holmes, Leonard, Hearns, Spinks, etc.

I do try to branch out a bit, and my new pet project is the southern California scene in the late 60's-early 70's. My heart is still with the 80's though, because that's when it all seemed so new. I think everyone is susceptible to this.

 

I'm intereseted in fighters from all eras, from bareknuckles to today. A lot of my favorite fighters come from past times too.

 

I am a fan of all fighters, but you cant blame people for liking the fighters of their own era, b/c thats wat they are brought up on. I for one most of my favorite fighters are from 2days era, or the 90's b/c thats what I was growing up watching.
Roy Jones who is my favorite fighter of all time
Floyd MAyweather
2 name 2 of my favorite. But I box also and I also respect the older fighters as well b/c they paved the way for the newer generation. And there was some very skilled fighters back then as well.

 

I'm 18 and haven't been that interested in the fight game for a good while, it wasn't until I saw Juan Manuel Marquez vs Pac Man that I became really interested in the sport. Before that, I hadn't had much opportunity to see the best bouts 'cus they always happen early in the morning over here.

Having said that, I tend to have a bias towards Ali, it started off because my dad was a huge fan and he'd tell me about him. Then I'd go out and watch all his fights, and I became more impressed every time, and that with all of the political work he did, he's my favourite fighter ever no doubt.

I tend not to bring up top 10 lists and such because I'm not that well informed to give my own list yet. After watching really old fighters like Willie Pep and Sugar Ray robinson fight on video, I happen to think that some of the older fighters were more myths than anything.

 

I think you naturally lean towards your own era,in the 20,s and 30,s Dempsey was reted highly inthe ATG heavies list,in the 40,s and 50,s Louis took over and Dempsey faded a bit ,then came Ali and Dempsey slipped a bit more as his fans died. I m probably as biased as anyone I tend to think fighters of my own era and past time are superior to the present crop.

 

i think a memorable era for many loyal fans was when the heavyweight division saw a young saviour arise in the form of Mike Tyson, it gave hope that Ali was not the last chance for people to see a real mega champ...

I was around 14 when Mike raced through the division, he made my hair stand on end the way he demolished grown man much larger and older than him at just a mere young mans age.. (18 years)

 

Psychological research has shown that a person makes up most of his personal interests - favorite music type/bands, movies and yes, also favorite fighters, between the age of 13 and 26.


People that grew up in the 70's will usually recognise the 70's as the golden era, people that grew up in the 80's will usually admit that it wasn't the greatest time for heavyweights, but will still be most interested in fights from that period and always have either Leonard, Duran, Hearns or Hagler as one of their favorite fighters, people that grew up in the 90's will claim that period to be the greatest period of boxing, etc etc.


Of course this just statistical measure, but it applies pretty well. Which fighter is your favorite has all to do with emotion. The rational as to why is only made up after that. Some people will go extemely far and it is rather amusing to see sometimes, see RedRooster for instance.

 

I agree with Chris Pontius. Most of my 'loves': music, films, fighters, etc, came from the ages of 13-20ish. As much as I liked, say OK Computer, when I first heard it, it just couldn't compare with the excitement I had when I first heard Led Zep II- in 1987 or Revolver a year or so before. My favourite boxers are the same now as they were 15 years ago (although I don't like Ali as much possibly, he's still Top 3 no matter). Fave films: Cuckoo's Nest, Life of Brian, Taxi Driver. Same as they were in 1990. The 1970s are my favourite decade for boxing (the one I was born in) although the 1980s I spent most of my teenage years in. Prefer the 1970s becuase the nationalities of the champs was so diverse. The Eighties saw US fighters receive home advantage in virtually every fight- yawn. No wonder they were so successful.

 

I like the older eras best, But I was a kid during the Holyfiled, Bowe, Tyson, Chavez, Tapia, Jones Jr, DLH, Mosely, Vargas, Fan man era lol.

Oh yeah and Butterbean lol.

 

For me, a little reading can create something of a time warp. I enjoy hanging out at a large nearby second hand bookstore. It's always been very easy for me to confuse people into thinking I'm a much older person. Tastes change, but the knowledge previously accrued is retained. I've had numerous contemporary interests long since discarded. When I has a kid, I was a very hardcore Doors fan, but I've long since outgrown them completely. Once upon a time, pro wrestling was a consuming interest, but now I couldn't care less. I expect to continue evolving a passion for various subjects I'm utterly indifferent to at the moment, just as I vividly remember a time before I had any care or thought about boxing, an attitude similar to what I hold about contemporary boxing.

 

I am 28 years old and grew up in the Tyson era yet my interests are mainly in fighters who died before I was born.

Not everything in black and white makes sense.