Joe Calzaghe- I think Boxing Is A Dying Sport

not to mention he would never say something like this before being basically ready for retirement... you would think he would be praising boxing and making some kind of attempt at complementing the sport in order to gain the attention of those who aren't so "in the know" rather than criticizing it for the things that all true boxing fans already know.

 

^^^^^

 

Boxing has been going down for years. If you do not have a few cream of the crop guys like Hagler and Hearns and Leonard and Duran fighting each other, then it will go down. And I do not think Mosley and Oscar and Hopkins and Tito are the same thing . Hagler and Hearns and that era came to fight more and went to war. They had some great fights. The fights of Oscar and Tito and Hopkins are not great fights, but they had interesting results. But not great fights. The guys in the 1980s had great fights.

 

The whole reason he said it was because for years, all he heard about was how the US was the mecca for boxing and he wasn't **** until he fought here. He winds up doing this in the twilight of his career, expecting that most boxing champs here were known and respected like when he was growing up, and mistakenly judging that Lacy and Manfredo had household names that would get his foot in the door, so to speak, when it came to US recognition. What he got was a shock, and that's why he sounds jaded now. Look what winds up happening:

1)He fights Kessler on HBO in one of the best pure boxing fights in an upper weight class in years and a unification fight between 2 unbeaten fighters to extremely weak US ratings.

2) He fights Hopkins for light heavyweight supremacy and the arena has more fans for him than for Hopkins, despite Hopkins being a Hall of Famer himself. The average person doesn't even know of Hopkins, let alone Joe.

3) Jones-Calzaghe falls short of expectations, with Joe's fans again stopping it from being a complete wash.

I hear Chad Dawson's name thrown around as a possible opponent, and Chad has practically no mainstream presence. Which is a shame because Chad Dawson is a talented young champ, and the kind of fighter that deserves to be known. It's not Chad's fault (or Joe's for that matter) that because nobody knows him or Calzaghe, anybody outside of hardcore boxing circles wouldn't even know the fight were happening.

 

+1.

 

More fans were rooting for Seamus McDonagh than Evander Holyfield, FFS. If there's a White guy on a high profile card against a Black guy, when has the Black guy ever had more people cheering for him (in the US)? Never?? Also, the average person DEFINATELY knows who Hopkins is. He gets booed everywhere he goes. They don't know Joe Calzaghe, you're right about that.

 

^^^Are you ****ing serious lol!!! Eyesore?????!!!!!! ****...hopkin's is the mona lisa of boxing...his fight with Calzaghe, he reminded me of van gogh at his peak...an artist at work...come on chaps...get real...

 

Wait... Don't tell me. You're a total non-athlete ******ed looking type who runs like a girl. Right?

 

This is the same guy that thinks boxing is a slapping sport

 

You're letting your hate of Calzaghe **** up your judgment now. Until the last few years, it was extremely rare for a Euro fighter to outdraw at the gates when they fought a great US fighter on US soil. The biggest PPV draws are also all black or latino, although Pacman's might break through as well so while white fighters might get a little more hype at the local level, that rarely happens anymore at the superfight level.

And finally, care to explain why Hopkins-Pavlik did poor numbers then? After all, they were both "well known", had the race angle going on, and it had every reason to sell well, too.

 

Where do the the numbers for Hopkins/Pavlik come in? Do you even know? We're talking about CROWD SUPPORT - and in that fight the audience was loudly booing Hopkins, and loudly cheering Pavlik. Do you even know what subject we're on? Hate for Calzaghe? WTF? Telling it like it is doesn't mean hate, buddy. Straight up - your posts are weak as ****, carry an agenda, and are hard to follow due to your poor reasoning skills. Just like your initial post; you're hedging your arguments on extremely weak concepts, and presenting them equally as weak.

 

The sport made him rich and a star and he's gonna' go around sayin' **** like that? He may (or may not... depends who you ask) be a great fighter, but if he actually said that **** in an interview, he's a ****ing smarmy ****. Even PBF has more class than that...

And no boxing ain't ****in' dyin'. I'd bet that gross adjusted revenue for the sport is comparable today and 20 years ago and 40 years ago within a few percent. It could be smaller relevant to general media exposed public, as there are now more people and more channels on more tv sets and the ****ing internet to boot and a pile of newly popular sports (especially in the US), but

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JEEEZ LOUIIISE!! atsch

 

Calslappy said that??atsch

 

I know how you love the weak ****, so here's another batch cooked up just for you since I know you can't resist responding:

1) Calzaghe having more fans in the Hopkins fight would, by pretty much every measure, mean that he sold more tickets to the event.

2) Calzaghe isn't well known here- you said this yourself and his US drawing power backs it up. That means it's safe to say most of his ticket sales were coming from overseas.

3) So tell me how mainstream that makes Hopkins when he gets outdrawed in his own country at the arena by a guy who's not even the most popular fighter in the UK. Also, for bonus points, why don't you tell me how often a Euro fighter has the crowd advantage in the US outside of the past few years? It rarely, if ever, happened and is proof that boxing is losing cache in the US. No, you'll just try and deflect it by dissing me as a poster because you won't have an answer to the actual questions. Again.

4) The numbers for Hopkins-Pavlik come into it because numbers are how you gauge popularity, and because you mentioned Joe being white as having something to do with his US support. If Joe-Hopkins disappointed numbers wise because of Joe, then Pavlik-Hopkins should've had great numbers because Pavlik was an undefeated white KO fighter from the US with a cult following and Hopkins is still a great fighter and, according to you, is mainstream. The **** busted and sold alot worse than expected, proving that, in those weight classes, the mainstream popularity in the US is absolutely declining.

5) Look ma! A boxing fan with an agenda. Of course I've got them. Who here doesn't?

6) My main point before this unnecessary pissing contest was examining why Calzaghe said what he said. Anyone jumping into the middle of this should just look at my first post on this thread for my thoughts on the matter.

 

You seem like an alright guy. I wish I knew what you're talking about... I'd have to strain my brain to get what you're trying to say. Then translate it. That's alot more work than I'm willing to put in. Let me tell you what's relevant here; this chicken garble concepting of yours. ^ It's very distracting...... In brief; Hopkins is well known. People know his name. That doesn't mean people pay to see him. These are different things, my friend. Calzaghe is not known, but he has the complexion to make the connection in a culture (USA) where being a White guy who kicks ass is a gimmick. Don't you see? It doesn't matter who it is. Also, this is a three dimensional world we live in. Let's not oversimplify our arguments to the point where we're taking for granted all worldly factors and influences and focusing generically on Black and White (pun). And finally... You want to tell us why Calzaghe said what he said? How would you - forget it...