People can say the crowd has no bearings for a fight, but I think it does. If your fighting the hometown guy, your essentially fighting the whole arena. I think the atmosphere definately affects the fighters. Few people could've gone through what Floyd did, in not letting that type of crowd affect you. Jeff Lacy didn't, I think he was intimidated a lot in the Calzaghe fight because of the arena. How much does the crowd have a bearing on a fight and the fighters?
Floyd lapped it up i mean 20000 brits over there singing songs including me and having a good time it did get a bit loud and raucous. Koysta and Lacy couldn't deal with the manchester crowd though.
Depends on the fighter and fight. Some guys better off on the road because they get distracted at home.
I think if I was a fighter, if I was fighting the hometown guy, it would not affect me at all. But if I was the hometown guy, it really would spur me on, and give me that extra strength.
It really depends on the fighter. Some boxers thrive on being disliked. Some just dont care either way it seems. Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn spring to mind. It seemed like the more the crowd got behind the other guy the harder Chris fought. Nigel Benn obviously wasnt listening to the "Barkley, Barkley" chants while he was battering the blade. I remember Hagler taking Minter apart in front of the most hostile crowd I've ever seen. I doubt fighting in the other guy's house woulda phased him.
If you are fighting in Barranquilla, Colombia than you are fighting the whole crowd.... ....see Kendall Holt-Torres fight.
That was awesome watching all those Brits just be silenced and stand there with no motion when the figth was called.
Exactly. Most football teams or players, never let a hostile atmosphere get to them. I think to suceed in life you, must have that mentality, in all walks of life.
yeah out of respect and then we started to sing again after the result and the strip was also buzzing afterwards it was like being in blackpool.
Yea. But it was awesome. Just silence. But I loved how they cheered him on after it was over. True fans.
Actually It could be more of a nightmare than anything for the hometown boxer. Sometimes the boxer wants to made the crowd happy by doing things they wouldn't do normally and start making mistakes. You need to really be focus on the fight nothing else.