Did boxing exist before Amir Khan?

How can you describe boxing as elitist? Anybody can go to a gym and start training, and anybody can go and watch a boxing match. It's not even that expensive, and is most certainly not elitist in any way at all.
I don't particularly want boxing to be more mainstream, it's fine as it is. Having boxing free on the ITV is ok, but all we get to see are the over hyped fighters. We had it with Audley with the BBC and now Amir on ITV. It's interesting in it's own right, and keeps the armchair fans happy, but it's value is only skin deep.

 

Think Khan lets himself down at times.

Two recent incidents that spring to mind are the contempt he displayed against Earl before their fight and his talk of not giving the likes of Thaxton a big payday.

I find his comments about not giving older more experienced pro's paydays particularly distasteful given the wealth and pampered existence he enjoys as a 21 year old.

Good luck to him but its a shame that, coupled with the fame and adulation, has gone to his head sadly.

 

Earl and Thaxton were being wankers to him, why would Khan bend over backwards for them?

Even after he destroyed Earl, Earl still couldn't give him credit.

 

edit

 

You don't need to bend over backwards to fulfil your mandatory position. Instead Khan withdrew.

In my view Earl was already destroyed before the Khan fight.

 

thats true!!

graham earl used to say hes gonna expose amir, and hes all hype and ****.. hes been calling amir out since day 1

 

edit

 

No, why would I? There are enough ways to enjoy boxing as it is. We've got the ocassional ITV show, Sky still do boxing, including big PPV fights, and Setanta provide the bulk of the good stuff. Internet streams provide other sources of boxing and if that's not enough for us, we can actually go to a live event.
If boxing goes too mainstream, all we will end up with is overpriced hype.

 

Im from Bolton and i hate Khan and the Fwank Warren bull**** that surrounds him.

 

edit

 

That could be a plus point of boxing going more mainstream, but I don't believe it would be enough to encourage kids to take up boxing (or any sport). Schools get paranoid about having egg and spoon races in case a kid gets hurt, and parents are happy for them to play boxing on the Wii, so I'm a bit skeptical as to whether kids would get down the gyms.
I wonder what made Amir take up boxing?

 

It's not Khan's fault that he was naive enough to be tempted by Warren at such a young age. Ever since he signed though, I have predicted that he will leave Warren at a far earlier stage in his career than Hatton did, once the big fights are not forthcoming

 

That's because Haye isn't black. Not even Johnny N. Front knows how to pull off hating a British born mixed-race Cyprus-loving playboy.

I admire Khan. I like to watch his fights, which are entertaining even when there is laughable gap in ability. He is one of the cleanest British prospects around both in and out of the ring. He conducts himself properly and provides a good example to the young.

I'm still going to be dancing in the streets the next time he even gets nicked in the ring, though.

 

:think

Interesting...I agree...his family might push him in that direction too, enouraging his hedonistic dreams of greatness...

 

Also, one should remember that if Khan had done the sensible thing and waited for the next Olympics rather than try to beat Hamed's Real Life Carmageddon score, then slowly worked his way up the ranks through hard graft and the unpredictable world of Frank Maloney's promoting, he wouldn't be making waves in the US until 2010. Boxing would be much more dull as a result.

Plus we'd be safe to walk the streets again, free in the knowledge that neither Khan, nor Frankenstein, nor Matilda the Hun is contemplating our exact value in points.