More people could name Bernard Dunne, a guy now doing GAA shows on The Den, than Brian Magee. Bute was only really popular to people who followed boxing because he faught nobodies in Canada at the time. Froch was just given an "opponent" for his fight, and Magee was not even that for Kessler. The population of people who know Magee is equal to the amount of people who dont know Katie Taylor. I bet Magee's fight wasnt even on in the pub the other night.
If you follow boxing you should know who Brian ****ing Magee is considering the men he has fought, I'm not talking about the general dude on the street, you don't join a boxing a forum, and make a post about a well known (if not that well regarded) boxer and say he is a bum and a nobody because you've never heard of him. Magee wasn't just an "opponent" for Froch either, they were very similarly rated at the time and it was a close fight until the KO, one of Magees other losses was a job to Tsypko. So Brian Magees only real losses are to Carl Froch, Robin Reid, Lucian Bute, and Mikkell Kessler and two of those were recent title fights, if you've never heard of him, does that make him a bum or that does that you someone who should do a bit more research?
But he IS a bum and a nobody...? I mean it's a great achievement to make it to that level, but that doesnt make you a boxing legend or anything. When I only had Irish TV I didnt have a clue who he was, but could have told you everything about John Duddy, Andy Lee and Bernard Dunne. If not even the Irish crowd care that much about him...
I mean they dont talk about him on TV, on the internet, he isnt memorable in any of his fights and has only had 2 meaningful fights in ages. I mean, he's a very easy guy to not know and that other dude's boxing IQ shouldnt be judged on knowing who he is.
So by not televising any of his fights during Ireland's short boxing boom, the Irish were supporting him? As I said, the **** wasnt even on in the pub at the weekend, while they havent missed an Amir Khan fight. Just a fact that it's easy to not have a clue who he is. I'm sure theres plenty of Irish boxing fans who just found out who he was last night considering that he's never on Sky, Boxnation or RTE...or even in the newspaper. Plenty of irish fighters do get a great following, even down to Patrick Hyland and Willie Casey, but Magee isnt really one of them despite always being ranked higher.
Magee is no world beater by any means. He has a couple of solid wins and he has been in with 3 top 5 SMW fighters.. If you dont know who he is, you dont follow the SMW division...