Why do American Fans Refuse to Accept A European Fighter can be great?

[p4pkingfloyd]

Why do American fans refuse to accept a European can be great? i always hear them say things like "Euro bum", they just refuse to accept it,

why are they so bitter when it comes to European fighters?

[abadger]

I have been wondering this myself. I think at the end of the day it just comes down to the fact that in sports, we do tend to support (rather than simply appreciate) along nationalistic lines. Everyone does it, its unavoidable IMO.

For Americans the case is compounded by the fact that they have good reason to believe that American boxers are better; they have a long history of producing the largest volume of top-class boxers. Look at HBO and Showtime, there will often be numerous title bouts involving American or American based boxers in any given week at a good time, so Americans have a constant diet of high-level boxing. Compare this with Europeans, throughout the weight divisions we have less alphabet champs and of course Europe is not like America in that a similar landmass is split into many countries, and our nationalistic support means that in general we mostly like only those from our own country. This means to make money european boxers have to concentrate on their 'home' market, which means less exposure than top Americans typically get. Americans constantly see Americans fighting for titles, Europeans not so much. That's really the long and the short of it.

All that said though, i think in general that real boxing fans are always aware of who is good and who is bad, its just that on a forum like this you get a lot of new fans whose only real knoweldge is watching big fights on American TV. They assume Americans are best because its all they know, which is understandable, but I do think that many could do with realising that just because they don't know about something, it doesn't make it inferior. You see this sort of thing time and again with boxers like Calzaghe and Kessler being dismissed as bums, but almost always by people who in all probability have rarely or never seen them fight. How many newish US boxing fans do you think take the time to go back and look over these guys older fights? I'm sure some do, but not many. If I could give one piece of advice to anyone new to the sport of boxing it would be to refrain from commenting on how good a fighter is until you have seen at least a few of his fights!

[Left Hook Tua]

I have been wondering this myself. I think at the end of the day it just comes down to the fact that in sports, we do tend to support (rather than simply appreciate) along nationalistic lines. Everyone does it, its unavoidable IMO.

For Americans the case is compounded by the fact that they have good reason to believe that American boxers are better; they have a long history of producing the largest volume of top-class boxers. Look at HBO and Showtime, there will often be numerous title bouts involving American or American based boxers in any given week at a good time, so Americans have a constant diet of high-level boxing. Compare this with Europeans, throughout the weight divisions we have less alphabet champs and of course Europe is not like America in that a similar landmass is split into many countries, and our nationalistic support means that in general we mostly like only those from our own country. This means to make money european boxers have to concentrate on their 'home' market, which means less exposure than top Americans typically get. Americans constantly see Americans fighting for titles, Europeans not so much. That's really the long and the short of it.

All that said though, i think in general that real boxing fans are always aware of who is good and who is bad, its just that on a forum like this you get a lot of new fans whose only real knoweldge is watching big fights on American TV. They assume Americans are best because its all they know, which is understandable, but I do think that many could do with realising that just because they don't know about something, it doesn't make it inferior. You see this sort of thing time and again with boxers like Calzaghe and Kessler being dismissed as bums, but almost always by people who in all probability have rarely or never seen them fight. How many newish US boxing fans do you think take the time to go back and look over these guys older fights? I'm sure some do, but not many. If I could give one piece of advice to anyone new to the sport of boxing it would be to refrain from commenting on how good a fighter is until you have seen at least a few of his fights!

great post.

i'm gonna change my mind about sven ottke.

i'll consider sven the greatest 168 pounder of all time from now on.

[abadger]

great post.

i'm gonna change my mind about sven ottke.

i'll consider sven the greatest 168 pounder of all time from now on.

Haha. I've never seen Ottke, so for all I know he might be awesome. Bat tells me that he has a ridiculously boring defensive style, so I picture him as being a cross between welterweight Mayweather and late-years Hopkins. I think this alone should be enough to proclaim him a legend.

[Left Hook Tua]

Haha. I've never seen Ottke, so for all I know he might be awesome. Bat tells me that he has a ridiculously boring defensive style, so I picture him as being a cross between welterweight Mayweather and late-years Hopkins. I think this alone should be enough to proclaim him a legend.

he was a super middleweight pernell whitaker.

[Live Dog]

Why do American fans refuse to accept a European can be great? i always hear them say things like "Euro bum", they just refuse to accept it,

why are they so bitter when it comes to European fighters?

I'm not bitter, they all just suck.

[garryd]

Haha. I've never seen Ottke, so for all I know he might be awesome. Bat tells me that he has a ridiculously boring defensive style, so I picture him as being a cross between welterweight Mayweather and late-years Hopkins. I think this alone should be enough to proclaim him a legend.

he was a super middleweight pernell whitaker.

Ottke was one of the most luckyest fighters i have ever watched lol
How the judges in some of his fights ever had the gawl to show their faces again after is behond me !
So many times he had clearly lost and they gave him the disision !

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Yanks are very insulated people in general and unwilling to accept something different. It amazed me that Calzaghe vs Kessler got some of the lowest ratings of the year on HBO. The two best super middleweights unifying the division and the Yanks dont give a **** simply cos its two Europeans fighting in Wales.

Shame really. You can probably place some blame with HBO for refusing to build new stars

[boxasmash]

to be fair i dont give a **** about half the american fighters.

[The Gully Gad]

to be fair i dont give a **** about half the american fighters.

To be fair i dont care where the **** a fighter comes from
I rate who i rate and thats it..
Where the man comes from dosent come into play