Name a fighter that made you a fan

Juan Manuel Marquez.

For some reason, i can't even remember, i just didn't like him.

But over the years i've come to appreciate his style, and warrior spirit.

 

froch

 

It sounds sadistic but it's the hard-fought losses that win me over usually.

-Trinidad. Became a fan after seeing his fight with Hopkins after a few times and his constant effort won me over. He was outclassed but showed heart. I used to dislike him maybe because of the lowblows/handwraps(he didn't cheat which I later found out) but whatever, he was a warrior and boxing was in good hands with him around.

-Cotto. At first I didn't like him because I thought he was trying to find a way out by using lowblows(Judah fight for instance). Two years ago I was watching Cotto-Margarito on yt and I felt sorry that most likely Marg cheated and I also saw his fight with Mosley and I grew respect for him and will always be a fan.

-Duran. I HATE that he quit against Leonard but the guy showed balls against Barkley and had a good fight with MW king at the time, Hagler so I eventually warmed up to him(Not to mention that he could've quit against Lawlor in the first fight because of an injury but wanted to fight on though the fight got stopped. Many people forget that). About a year ago I was looking at random fights of the Fab 4 and I became a fan of them all and still am one.

 

There have been a few for me, but Froch stands out. He was always calling out Calzaghe while Joe was still active and I thought he was a complete twat, mainly because he hadn't achieved anything to warrant a match-up. This probably made a lot of people overlook his skills tbh. It's only when he beat Pascal that I had to evaluate him as a fighter and not a person (I know I should have been doing that already, but his incessant calling out of Cal was annoying as ****). I like him for the stuff I disliked him before, but only because he's backed it up, and then some.

 

:good

 

Ali when I was a kid, then MAB brought me back into it when I strayed away...

 

Erik Morales

I was always a huge Barrera fan, and that kind of made not too much of a Morales fan when I was younger, but when you keep watching Morales you love him.

Long live Erik Morales, and Marco Antonio Barrera

 

I never understood people just liking one and hating the other. Having one guy you root harder for is one thing, but in all of the recent epic rivalries (Morales-MAB, Vazquez-Marquez, Gatti-Ward, and Chico-JLC although the rubbermatch never did come off) both guys were and remained huge fan favorites, which just makes them all the more interesting. It makes it so that no matter who wins each individual installment of the series, the fans as more or less a whole win (especially where every single one of those 8 fights were nonstop action).

MAB is my guy too, but I never bore a grudge against EM just for being his rival (or even for having personal enmity, which just helped fuel their wars). I've never understood why some fans need to slag the nemeses of their favorites - which you see a lot of between Pac and JMM fans. :conf

 

I am a bit older than many of the posters here and my pick goes a good way back. I was just a young kid when Cacius Clay started boxing pro after winning Olympic Gold. I couldn't stand the guy with his brash talk, arrogant attitude, maniacal antics in pre-fight interviews. Like many boxing fans of that era, he just rubbed me the wrong way and every time he fought I wanted to see someone flat KO him to humble him a bit.

As the years passed and he kept winning, I grew to appreciate his talent in the ring. His hand and foot speed for a heavyweight were a thing of beauty to watch. He punched with the speed of a welterweight and moved with the grace of Fred Astaire.

I won't go into depth over how I felt about his religious beliefs, political beliefs and refusal to serve the military. Suffice it to say, I had/have differing opinions, but that is what makes this country what it is. Each of us have the right to choose what path we want to travel.

His path didn't take away from what I saw in the ring when he fought, and over time, I grew to appreciate him as a fighter. There will not be another Muhammad Ali, only imitators.

 

Timothy Bradley

 

Mab

 

HAMED AND MAYWEATHER.


Never disliked Martinez but didn't think much of him initially He has made me a believer.

 

Roy Jones Jr. made me a hard core boxing fan.

 

I am a bit older than most in here, judging by the fighters that were named in this thread already. But as a Kid growing up in Cincinnati....My Dad and several of his friends packed four vans full people and drove for hours, just so we can all support a kid from our "Hood" and Hometown compete in the National Golden Gloves. And in the Finals...Who knew we would be watching two ATG's...at the time.

And after watching this kid from the SAME ****ING BLOCK, Who played on the Same B-Ball Courts, Went to the same Boys Club (I don't think they have Boys Clubs anymore)....I was filled with Pride knowing that a Kid from "My Hood" was a Golden Gloves Champion and I also found my First Love and Passion...BOXING. And just like all major US cities in the 70's and Early 80's The Growth of Infrastructure ruined our neighborhood. They (The City) tore-down The Boys Club that had a Full Boxing Facility and Equipment, just to build several ramps, bypasses and extentions of the I-75 Freeway. So I went from a Boxer to a Hooper in one summer. But I will never forget the Man WHO SPARKED MY INTEREST IN "THE SWEET SCIENCE".

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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBKlV9Mptyg[/ame]

 

I agree with you now IB, but I was only young at the time, I never hated Morales or anything, I just always wanted some kind of evidence to claim Barrera was better, so if Morales was looking below par for example I'd be like 'see Barrera is better', but it didn't go on for long, by the time they had their second fight I was a full blown Morales fan.