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Ok, there are at least 3 types of boxing fans that I can think of, or at least that really matter at all.
First, there's the casual "fight" fan...the type of guy that might watch a fight if he sees it (provided there's not a ballgame on...anywhere), but only if there's something happening in it, but would probably spend $60 on a big-name PPV even because it's the "guy" thing to do, and he wants his buddies to be impressed that he can blow $60 on something that he really doesn't have a farking clue about without his wife/girlfriend/mother/bitchthatheliveswith screaming at him for an hour....at least while they're there. He knows maybe four "names" in boxing, and most likely three of those names no longer fight...probably Ali, Tyson, Leonard, and Roy Jones Junior. He also knows what a hook, a jab and an uppercut are, but gets confused when he hears terms like "Lead right", "Right Cross", or "Hook off the jab" are used. This guy probably prefers UFC because there are fewer rounds and more likely to be blood freely flowing, and because there are fewer names to keep track of (like maybe 4?). He can pick a winner because he has that beginner's luck thing going on.
Second, we have the avid boxing fan, who follows the sport closely (probably because his father did, or because he's from Philly, or some other boxing town, or he's lucky enough to hang around a group of guys that follow the sport). He's fairly knowledgable, knows a little boxing history (but gets confused when he hears a name like "Jack Sharkey" or "Max Baer"), and keeps up with pretty much everything above lightweight. He's ****ty at picking winners at elite levels of competition because he's not quite at the level where he can look at what a boxer can do, compare it to what another boxer can do, and have any degree of accuracy better than a coin toss. He's a big fan of probably one or two fighters and is constantly disappointed, and therefore constantly changes his "favorites". He thinks UFC is ok, but prefers to watch boxing.
Finally, we have the hardened veteran boxing fan, a true guru who knows the sport inside out, constantly wants to learn more, holds the sport dear to his heart and would probably spend $500 on a PPV that he wanted to see, but prays nightly that promoters never, ever figure that out. You can ask him pretty much anything about the sport and he'll be able to answer it, but not without first making you listen to 10 minutes of boxing history, recounts of fights long, long ago, and giving you several different reasons why the answer is what it is, and how it could've been so much different if not for "one little thing" that went wrong/right/injured/whatever. This guy farking despises UFC, and has broken two TV's by spontaneously throwing hard objects through the screen before he could stop himself when he accidentally switched the channel where it was showing. He now keeps nothing harder than a boxing glove near his favorite chair. He can accurately predict nearly any fight because he knows how to analyze a matchup, and has probably made a significant amount of money on fights at one time or another, but doesn't bet much anymore because he's now knowledgable enough to know that, even at elite levels, anything can happen if the stars align just right. He actually enjoys being wrong, because everybody loves a surprise. He's a fan of dozens of fighters, and sometimes gets his heart broken no matter who wins a fight, simply because he loves watching both and hates to see either lose. The day boxing dies, so does he.
There are different types of boxing fans that fit into, or in between those levels, but I elected not to go into detail on them.
A few are:
Nuthugger fans
Bandwagon fans
French boxer fans (there are 2 on planet earth, I think, and one of these guys might be a Canadian, not sure yet)
Heavyweight fans
De LaHoya fans
Female boxing fan
Feel free to add to this list, and to add your description of any the above. This ought to be great ammunition for some of you guys.
Here's a simulated conversation between two casual fans:
Guy 1: "Hey, is that UFC?"
Guy 2: "No, I think it's boxing, but those guys are beating hell outta each other"
Guy 1: "Do you know who's fighting?"
Guy 2: "Nope....don't that one guy look like Tyson? I think it's Tyson"
Guy 1: "Naw, he's too big to be Tyson...wasn't he a heavy-middleweight or something?"
Guy 2: "Yeah, yeah, I think you're right....maybe it's that Packerwow dude, he's a heavyweight, right?"
Guy 1: "Oh, ****, he really knocked the **** outta that dude, the ref stopped it...Ok, here come the names...yeah, ok, Sugar Roy Leonard and Tommy Hearns, I knew that. I wonder when they're fighting again...tomorrow you think?"
First, there's the casual "fight" fan...the type of guy that might watch a fight if he sees it (provided there's not a ballgame on...anywhere), but only if there's something happening in it, but would probably spend $60 on a big-name PPV even because it's the "guy" thing to do, and he wants his buddies to be impressed that he can blow $60 on something that he really doesn't have a farking clue about without his wife/girlfriend/mother/bitchthatheliveswith screaming at him for an hour....at least while they're there. He knows maybe four "names" in boxing, and most likely three of those names no longer fight...probably Ali, Tyson, Leonard, and Roy Jones Junior. He also knows what a hook, a jab and an uppercut are, but gets confused when he hears terms like "Lead right", "Right Cross", or "Hook off the jab" are used. This guy probably prefers UFC because there are fewer rounds and more likely to be blood freely flowing, and because there are fewer names to keep track of (like maybe 4?). He can pick a winner because he has that beginner's luck thing going on.
Second, we have the avid boxing fan, who follows the sport closely (probably because his father did, or because he's from Philly, or some other boxing town, or he's lucky enough to hang around a group of guys that follow the sport). He's fairly knowledgable, knows a little boxing history (but gets confused when he hears a name like "Jack Sharkey" or "Max Baer"), and keeps up with pretty much everything above lightweight. He's ****ty at picking winners at elite levels of competition because he's not quite at the level where he can look at what a boxer can do, compare it to what another boxer can do, and have any degree of accuracy better than a coin toss. He's a big fan of probably one or two fighters and is constantly disappointed, and therefore constantly changes his "favorites". He thinks UFC is ok, but prefers to watch boxing.
Finally, we have the hardened veteran boxing fan, a true guru who knows the sport inside out, constantly wants to learn more, holds the sport dear to his heart and would probably spend $500 on a PPV that he wanted to see, but prays nightly that promoters never, ever figure that out. You can ask him pretty much anything about the sport and he'll be able to answer it, but not without first making you listen to 10 minutes of boxing history, recounts of fights long, long ago, and giving you several different reasons why the answer is what it is, and how it could've been so much different if not for "one little thing" that went wrong/right/injured/whatever. This guy farking despises UFC, and has broken two TV's by spontaneously throwing hard objects through the screen before he could stop himself when he accidentally switched the channel where it was showing. He now keeps nothing harder than a boxing glove near his favorite chair. He can accurately predict nearly any fight because he knows how to analyze a matchup, and has probably made a significant amount of money on fights at one time or another, but doesn't bet much anymore because he's now knowledgable enough to know that, even at elite levels, anything can happen if the stars align just right. He actually enjoys being wrong, because everybody loves a surprise. He's a fan of dozens of fighters, and sometimes gets his heart broken no matter who wins a fight, simply because he loves watching both and hates to see either lose. The day boxing dies, so does he.
There are different types of boxing fans that fit into, or in between those levels, but I elected not to go into detail on them.
A few are:
Nuthugger fans
Bandwagon fans
French boxer fans (there are 2 on planet earth, I think, and one of these guys might be a Canadian, not sure yet)
Heavyweight fans
De LaHoya fans
Female boxing fan
Feel free to add to this list, and to add your description of any the above. This ought to be great ammunition for some of you guys.
Here's a simulated conversation between two casual fans:
Guy 1: "Hey, is that UFC?"
Guy 2: "No, I think it's boxing, but those guys are beating hell outta each other"
Guy 1: "Do you know who's fighting?"
Guy 2: "Nope....don't that one guy look like Tyson? I think it's Tyson"
Guy 1: "Naw, he's too big to be Tyson...wasn't he a heavy-middleweight or something?"
Guy 2: "Yeah, yeah, I think you're right....maybe it's that Packerwow dude, he's a heavyweight, right?"
Guy 1: "Oh, ****, he really knocked the **** outta that dude, the ref stopped it...Ok, here come the names...yeah, ok, Sugar Roy Leonard and Tommy Hearns, I knew that. I wonder when they're fighting again...tomorrow you think?"
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