This forum has been confusing as funk to me recently. The things most of y'all talk about have very little to do with actual boxing, and some of you have very in depth knowledge. So when did you start watching? 2k7 for me
Saying when I started watching it would be misleading, I got involved with general martial arts training (not boxing) in the late 80s as a kid and naturally got interested in watching it as sport but hated Karate/TKD points scoring tournaments and you were lucky to even see them televised at that time in New Zealand. It was some time around then I started putting any kind of an interest into watching boxing and would struggle to tell you which the first fight I actually watched, I *think* it was Mike Tyson versus Frank Bruno but not 100% sure on that - a long time ago and I've watched a lot of fights on VCR (/ the internet) in the years since partly again due to how little is necessarily showed live in NZ so it's hard to say what I watched at the time and what I watched after the fact. I've basically followed with varying intensity (including going years without watching any in the 2000s) since then but it's only been maybe since 2010 that I've really got back into following it again, and that was partly as a result of seeing some guys in the pro or likely to turn pro that looked really interesting. I've followed Joseph Parker and Anthony Joshua since before they were pro and tbh it has been very rewarding!
My best friends dad was a huge fan so we would watch the big fights. Think Oscar vs Trinidad. Was a casual up until 2012. Since then I'm pretty informed
Around the early 90's. I'm 38 now. The interest has always been a distance second to my main watched sports of Rugby and Cricket, but I have tended only to have followed individuals in the past. David Tua, and his efforts at the 1992 Games had me following his career throughout the 90s and into the early 2000s. When Tua became a shadow of his former self late in his career, I rarely watched anything. My interest started again as I heard about this young NZ Samoan kid who was doing very good things internationally. So since then I have been watching with interest, every step of the way, to see if he can get a belt and make a good career. Since Parker is inline for a shot at a title at aged 24, after a little over 3 years in the pro ranks....I'd say he's done pretty damn well. What is nice about following Parker, I've got to watch and enjoy the whole boxing scene again. Regardless of who cheers for who, and the crap that gets written on here, I think the HW division will be really exciting over the next 5 years.
Props. This is cool, one of my aces online is cousins with Tua much respect to godbody tuaminator. I will watch all experienced folks posts with a much closer eye.
I watched that fight, then 2 months later I watched the Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan at WrestMania 6!
The first fight I was saw Pacquiao-Marquez IV when I was 16 but I didn't start following it closely until I watched Canelo-Kirkland over a friend's house
1980 hagler vs minter. I was 14 and living in England as an American military brat. I watched it on tv and it was disgraceful how they threw bottles into the ring. Hagler ended up being one of my favorite fighters of all time.