Short clip from between the 14th and 15th rounds. The fans were apparently highly underwhelmed by the tactical battle between these two ATGs. https://streamable.com/8wcez
Neither were seen as ATG's in their own time and I wouldn't call either of them great heavyweights myself. Both were perceived as colourless average champions. Charles is of course a p4p ATG. I remember Charles complaining in an interview that he was under appreciated and saying " Stephen Foster wrote beautiful music , but he had to die before it was appreciated!"
I feel like boxing fans in arenas used to boo more for a lot less. Was watching a Liston fight where they were trading blows, and the crowd boo’d seemingly because the blows weren’t knocking anyone out.
Watching both Uk and US TV fights,it seems to me US fans are a lot less forgiving when not much is happening. Uk audiences seem to accept with equanimity lots of rounds in which there is very little action.
Agreed. UK boxing fans seem to have a lot of class based on my general observations, and seem to be overall more appreciative. The way they are supporting Joshua and the UK boxing scene right now is amazing.
George Foreman once said in reference to Ezzard Charles "Boxing is like jazz, the better it is the less it is appreciated"
Personally I prefer the US crowds ,I like guys who come to fight! Loved it at the Barclays Center, really wonderful atmosphere. I'd like to be there for Wilder v Ortiz fight ,but will be in Palermo.
The UK has a long tradition of being much more accepting of defensive fights and styles than the USA. Fighters who went there complained on occasion that British judges awarded 2 pts for every blocked or slipped punch but only one pt for every landed punch. They felt this unfairly disadvantaged them on the cards over there. Now whether judges actually scored that way I dont know but this belief on the part of American fighters at least in part reflects the greater emphasis on action in USA in which it was a regular occurrence for boxers to get tossed out of the ring, banned, and have their purses held if it was felt they werent giving the fans a fight. I actually tend to agree with this and wish we still did it. I think far more than supposed bad decisions and the rise of UFC that boring fights are to blame for boxings dramatic fall in popularity. The more you hear boxers talk about being businessmen and sweet scientists the less fans have tuned in.
