Weirdest Boxing Atmosphere -- Germany?

An interesting sidelight to this, Jason, was the buzz that circulated the hall about a German middleweight named Hanz Shpittelmeyer, or something like that. The pride was palpable. He was gonna be Deutchland's new Max Schmeling.

I couldn't wait to see the kid, they were so lavish with their praise.

When Shpittelmeyer made his way to the ring, he was black, to my surprise, and carried himself like a Prussian officer. Spoke perfect German to his cornermen.

What I learned during his bout was: He was the son of an American G.I. who split and he adopted his mother's name.

That morning was the last I heard of him. It goes without saying, he never fulfilled the promise of those revelers.

 

you are so bias to everything britain.

 

Yes, because it's Tokyo, not America. It's mostly gonna be hardcore fans who bother going there for a fight. No way in hell would the atmosphere be the same had the fight been in Las Vegas.


P.S. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a load of fans from other countries at that fight as Tyson was hugely popular.

 

The Germans may be a lotta things, but "civilized beer drinkers" around Octoberfest ain't one of them.

 

i think he means they were totally mute.

the tokyo crowd back then did not understand what was going on and if they did they kept quiet about it.

it was sort of like honeyghan v curry in america that was fought in front of an after dinner audience suited and booted ,for some reason and the crowd reaction beared no relation to what was happening in the ring when the p4p 1 ranked boxer was taking a pasting.

it could have been 2 novices fighting a 4 rounder for all the passion that was shown.

 

Ok......maybe Tyson wasn't as popular as I thought

Goes to show you how phenomenal it is that Hatton can bring across 10,000 fans just to watch him for a fight.

 

Yeah yeah! I remember that one :rofl

 

Oh, as for the Tokyo crowd...

It's a cultural thing. Over in Japan, polite silence is a tremendous form of respect as it signifies people paying attention. Some kick-ass boxing, K1, pro wrestling etc bouts have been received in stony silence, not because the crowd isn't into it but because they show their appreciation in a totally different way to a Western audience.

Biggest compliment you can get from a Japanese audience is to make them break that and let out a gasp or cheer, or best yet a round of applause.

 

The biggest difference between US and German fights is the way the fighters enter the ring, I guess. While boxers in America just walk out and the commentators keeps talking, German fighters normally make their entrance in a specially orchestrated way. The reason is probably the different target groups. American fights are shown on pay tv and are mostly watched by boxing fans, but big fights in Germany are shown on free tv, so they try to make it some kind of spectacle, to lure a wider audience and people who are just looking for entertainment on a late Saturday evening.

 

They should make them bang a big gong or something on the way to the ring.
Juggle, pull a rabbit out of a hat, stuff like that. Jump through a flaming hoop?
Might as well go the whole mile...

 

it's almost frightening watching the tyson-douglas fight. here is the biggest upset in hw champ boxing history and all u can hear are the corners yelling like there in any empty arena. to be fair, wasn't the fight at like 9-10am in the morning though?

 

yeah your pretty much right. i didn't know what the **** was going on as i never seen the fight. don't know a thing about japanese culture so i wouldn't have a clue that being quiet is their way of being excited

i just jumped to the wrong conclusion with the post. no anti american agenda from me. couldn't give a **** where someones from.

have a good day:good