Too many fans want to be right.

[Cuban Linx]

Good points, and I'll expand on that a little...

Us as fans, we always demand the best fight the best. We demand that certain fighters take challenges for our entertainment and for the "betterment of the sport". But the reaction we have to fighters losing fights, I feel is a huge problem in the sport.

Bashing a fighter for losing a big fight destroys the willingness of fighters to give their all to you, the fans, in fear of this humiliation, IMO. Especially in the social media age.

A great example of this I think is with Nonito Donaire. We all wanted Donaire to step up and fight Rigo, well I did anyway, and as soon as he does he goes out there gets beat up and ever since then look at the way the fans have treated him... Calling him hype job, overrated. He did bring some of it onto himself saying that he was injured or w/e, but those are excuses fighters commonly make. The guys reputation took a huge hit for fighting the best guy in his weight class, a guy a lot of fighters don't seem to want to fight. He steps up and loses to best guy at 126 and he's made of some more. Isn't that what we wanted?

When fighters see this, a fighter getting bashed by everyone for losing a big fight and getting labelled as a hype job, It kinda makes sense why they may not want to step up and fight the big names in fear of humiliation.

It's like if you're going to ridicule fighters for stepping up and losing big fights, then maybe as a fan you don't deserve to see big fights....

[-Kev-]

Good points, and I'll expand on that a little...

Us as fans, we always demand the best fight the best. We demand that certain fighters take challenges for our entertainment and for the "betterment of the sport". But the reaction we have to fighters losing fights, I feel is a huge problem in the sport.

Bashing a fighter for losing a big fight destroys the willingness of fighters to give their all to you, the fans, in fear of this humiliation, IMO. Especially in the social media age.

A great example of this I think is with Nonito Donaire. We all wanted Donaire to step up and fight Rigo, well I did anyway, and as soon as he does he goes out there gets beat up and ever since then look at the way the fans have treated him... Calling him hype job, overrated. He did bring some of it onto himself saying that he was injured or w/e, but those are excuses fighters commonly make. The guys reputation took a huge hit for fighting the best guy in his weight class, a guy a lot of fighters don't seem to want to fight. He steps up and loses to best guy at 126 and he's made of some more. Isn't that what we wanted?

When fighters see this, a fighter getting bashed by everyone for losing a big fight and getting labelled as a hype job, It kinda makes sense why they may not want to step up and fight the big names in fear of humiliation.

It's like if you're going to ridicule fighters for stepping up and losing big fights, then maybe as a fan you don't deserve to see big fights....

I don't think Donaire is a good exmaple, because Donaire blatantly took on very weak opposition and got a lot of praise for it.

The best can't fight the worst possible big name opponents they can get and then expect to be embraced when they finally step up and lose. Wlad on the other hand, fought absolutely everybody possible. So for him to lose now and get bashed, that is pretty bad. He fought threats like Pulev, Povetkin, man I really thought Pulev had a good shot, honestly. Another fighter who I will laugh at when he decides to step up and loses to a guy of his same physical attributes or better physical attributes, is GGG. There is just fighters I admit I will not give them a pass when they step up to fight the best best and lose. Especially those who do it after years and years of holding off on doing it. If you are someone who is like Mayweather, Pacquiao, Canelo, Cotto, Ward, Hopkns, Marquez, Wlad I really don't care if you lose cause you already showed me you got it in the past. I would not care.

[Zaroku]

Postol got me good. Lost money. Fury was a win. But imam was a shocker to me! Lost on that one!

[Cuban Linx]

I give Donaire credit because he did fight the best guys in the weight classes he was in. When he was weight class jumping he did fight Darchinyan, Sidorenko, Montiel, Narvaez, Nishioka and Rigondeaux. I mean the fact that he remains the biggest name of Rigondeaux's resume kinda says a lot. Then He went up and fought Vetyeka and Walters. I give him a lot of credit for doing that.

Klitschko is a good example as well...

I mean he gave the fans the fights they wanted to see, as boring as they might have been. He fought Haye, Povetkin, Pulev, Jennings and Fury. He loses one fight in 9.5 years and he's "the biggest fraud of all time".

If I'm a fighter and I see that, I'll have second thoughts about signing a contract to fight a big name just because "the fans demand it".

Maybe the fans don't deserve to see that fight...

[davidandrei]

i started writing a thread about this topic once but it got too damn long. That one statement that fans always wanting to be right is like a domino effect. its a biased way of thinking permeates all of boxing.

[Slip Stream]

Part of what's cool about being right is that you get to gloat and harass people for a little bit, but then you move on to the next fight. It should all be in good fun unless you bet a mint, then of course it's understandably a little different....

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Some of my greatest recent moments have come from being completely wrong about fights including last night.

I wanted so badly to be wrong and I was.

I pick with my head not my heart and don't care about being wrong.

[-Kev-]

I don't think that beating Haye, Povetkin, Pulev, Chagaev and Thompson should be brushed off because he now loses at 39. The Haye fight was very hyped up and a lot of fans believed Haye had a shot.

[Psylence83]

Woah. Someone actually came into the thread, and did exactly what the thread starter was talking about.

The truth is in the bets. Not everyone bets on here but it's pretty busy when there is a big fight. You can count how many people bet on fury by counting fingers.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

I bet and won real money on Fury even though I didn't think he'd actually win.

I pick with my head but bet with my heart