Examples of when "casuals" are smarter than "hardcore" fans...

[b00g13man]

LOL, who the hell come out with that about Charles Martin

Exactly. OP needs to GTFO with that bull****.

[LockardTheGOAT]

Most examples of this type of thing are less about casual fans being "smarter" and more about hardcores overthinking something and outsmarting themselves.

One big example is how the aura of a dominant, undefeated fighter is "gone" once they've lost and how their PPV numbers will now begin to drop drastically. Of course, this never really happens. Ronda Rousey is a great example. People said after she was beat that her aura is dead, that the only worth she had to casuals was being this unstoppable, unbeatable fighter and now that that was gone, most would no longer care about her. They literally thought they understood the casual mindset to that level.

And the numbers for her next fight? The same exact buyrate as her previous one - 1.1 million. The largest buyrate she ever did. Derp derp.

[_Rexy_]

Man so many alts joining the site this month. Wut the f#ck is up wit dat?!?!?

and who the **** thought Charles Martin would win anything?


That being said though, Casuals don't analyze like die hards do. My mother only bets on football. The reason for that is she doesn't follow Football. If she bet on Hockey or Baseball she overanalyzes and ends up losing.

[Citizen Koba]

The problem with the "hardcores know better than casuals" argument is that while "hardcore" fans collect a lot more information about boxing, a lot of it is complete BS. In the recent past this has often skewed people's perceptions so they've made really dumb predictions.

Some famous examples in recent years:

Joshua vs Martin:

Uneducated "casual" fan's opinion - "Who the **** is this guy Martin? He's never fought anyone I've heard of, he's in terrible shape and won his title against a guy that fell over. Meanwhile, AJ's a gold medallist who is in perfect physical condition and is knocking everyone out. AJ is going to KO Martin."

Educated "hardcore" fan's opinion - "Martin is slick southpaw with great fundamentals, he's a throwback to the 90s era heavyweights. On the other hand, while AJ is a gold medallist, anyone who knows boxing knows that he lost most of his fights in the Olympics and he's been fighting bums ever since. Martin's going to KO that hypejob AJ."

Result - Joshua KOs Martin in 2.

Garcia vs Matthysse:

Uneducated "casual" fan's opinion - "Garcia is the unbeaten unified champion. He's beaten guys I've heard of like Khan, Morales and Zab Judah. I don't know many of Matthysse's opponents but he has two loses on his record so I'm gonna go with Garcia."

Educated "hardcore" fan's opinion - "Garcia only has one punch, he can't actually box and he's been extremely lucky in his fights so far. Matthysse isn't known to a lot of people yet but clearly the new Pacquiao because he KO'd Lamont Peterson. He's gonna knockout that bum Garcia too."

Result - Garcia decisions Matthysse.



What are examples where limited boxing knowledge is proven correct against the perceived wisdom of fans "who know boxing"? Or, what are your predictions for the future that go against the grain of what the "hardcore" fans think?

Dunno about smarter, but us hardcore dudes are far more likely to be subject to confirmation bias and various forms of cognitive dissonance. Essentially the more you root for a fighter and invest yourself emotionally in arguing a point of view, the less rational you become... the haters and the fanboys of any boxer are basically caught in a vicious death spiral plummeting towards ultimate ******.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

"Sore back" lmao
Im a casual and i knew degale was a bum.
Well tbh i dont even think i qualify as a casual cause i dont even watch boxing

I think your personal philosophy goes something like this...

[john l]

LOL, who the hell come out with that about Charles Martin

Nice. That post might be one of the dumbest things ive seen on here.

[john l]

Dunno about smarter, but us hardcore dudes are far more likely to be subject to confirmation bias and various forms of cognitive dissonance. Essentially the more you root for a fighter and invest yourself emotionally in arguing a point of view, the less rational you become... the haters and the fanboys of any boxer are basically caught in a vicious death spiral plummeting towards ultimate ******.

Agree but would not count fanboys or haters as hardcore fans.They are really the casuals because outside there couple hero's they could care less about the sport.

[Citizen Koba]

Agree but would not count fanboys or haters as hardcore fans.They are really the casuals because outside there couple hero's they could care less about the sport.

Yeah, fair point. I was talking about the dudes on here that spend their entire time basically squabbling with each other using boxers as proxies... in no way should they actually be considered fans of the sport.

[Teetotaler]

I think your personal philosophy goes something like this...

Thank you. All i wanted was for someone to acknowledge my ignorance

[john l]

Yeah, fair point. I was talking about the dudes on here that spend their entire time basically squabbling with each other using boxers as proxies... in no way should they actually be considered fans of the sport.

Could not agree more.Been a huge boxing fan my whole life but never did the message board thing until later last year.And being from a place where boxing is all but dead never got to meet many fans even when I was boxing I was a kid and a lot of them were not fans just young kids whose father got em started.So seeing all these fanboys/haters was a REAL surprise to me.