Every other sport great defense is fine but in boxing it's a bad thing.

[ruedboy]

Listen to a crowd at a boxing match. The real noise happens when a boxer lands a crisp combination or a solid left hook or right hand. People are on their feet cheering for toe to toe action. Nobody is jumping out of their seat for a slick defensive move.
Boxing is the ultimate mano a mano sport and a clever defensive fighter, even though he's highly skilled, doesn't generate the excitement of a deadly offensive fighter.
Defensive skills in boxing are subtle and not easily appreciated, but the skills of an offensive fighter are right their in your face. lol

[hectari]

Who says great defence is bad? I've never heard a genuine fan or renowned boxing analyst sya such thing. What's bad is if that defence is not backed up by appropriate attack.

I dunno about nfl or near but in almost every major international sport, simply defending is as bad as simply attacking. The best teams and the ones who provide the most entertainment have a balance of the two. The same is said of boxing.

OP is stupid to include Football, people pay to watch the BIG hits by the DEFENSE in football. Defense in Football is nothing like in Boxing, in football the Defense MAKES HARD CONTACT with vicious tackles, while sticking to the receiver like glue not running away, Defense in football invites contact, its nothing like in boxing.

In football its the offensive receiver or running back or QB who must make defensive moves to avoid getting hit tackled and run as fast as possible.

also the reason people watch Baseball is because of the hard hit homer. Just like in boxing you watch to see some knockouts or action fights.

[Mr.Fantastic]

I love a good defense except when they rely on clinching, illegal tactics(nut huggers call it crafty), and run from one end to the other throughout the fight.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Who says great defence is bad? I've never heard a genuine fan or renowned boxing analyst sya such thing. What's bad is if that defence is not backed up by appropriate attack.

I dunno about nfl or near but in almost every major international sport, simply defending is as bad as simply attacking. The best teams and the ones who provide the most entertainment have a balance of the two. The same is said of boxing.

Now you know this isn't true.

Ali/Vargas. Rock-em-sock-em robots with almost no defense. Heralded as some epic boxing match.

Jones/Hopkins. A dull clinchfest of epic proportions heralded as some boxing clinic.

Gatti/Ward Trilogy. Heralded as legendary yet was two B level fighters blocking punches with their face.

Ortiz/Maidana. Heralded as "what boxing should be" yet was just two guys throwing haymakers all night long.

Rumble in the Jungle. A straight up clinchfest called one of the greatest fights of all time.


Crawford/Postol had defense and offense. Yet people called it boring simply because it wasn't Ali/Vargas level of offense.

MayPac had defense and offense. Yet people called it boring simply because they assumed Floyd would do something he's not known to do and expected Manny to show up.

Joshua/Martin had defense and offense. Yet people called it boring simply because Martin took a dive.

Ward's called boring because he's not going for knockouts. Same as Floyd, same as Rigo, same as Broner.

Duran got called boring when he came back and faced Vinny Paz. Duran!

People just want to see punches thrown all over the place. Who cares about jabs? Who cares about the type of punch? Who cares about accuracy? Just throw a bunch of punches.

[hectari]

Now you know this isn't true.

Ali/Vargas. Rock-em-sock-em robots with almost no defense. Heralded as some epic boxing match.

Jones/Hopkins. A dull clinchfest of epic proportions heralded as some boxing clinic.

Gatti/Ward Trilogy. Heralded as legendary yet was two B level fighters blocking punches with their face.

Ortiz/Maidana. Heralded as "what boxing should be" yet was just two guys throwing haymakers all night long.

Rumble in the Jungle. A straight up clinchfest called one of the greatest fights of all time.


Crawford/Postol had defense and offense. Yet people called it boring simply because it wasn't Ali/Vargas level of offense.

MayPac had defense and offense. Yet people called it boring simply because they assumed Floyd would do something he's not known to do and expected Manny to show up.

Joshua/Martin had defense and offense. Yet people called it boring simply because Martin took a dive.

Ward's called boring because he's not going for knockouts. Same as Floyd, same as Rigo, same as Broner.

Duran got called boring when he came back and faced Vinny Paz. Duran!

People just want to see punches thrown all over the place. Who cares about jabs? Who cares about the type of punch? Who cares about accuracy? Just throw a bunch of punches.

LOL I cant believe Soul Survivor actually said Simply Attacking is just as bad, smh

People love simply attacking, how the hell do you think Manny Pacquiao got so popular, dude was the biggest name in boxing at featherweight just from his non stop attacking style. Heck even Mayweather said Pacquiao was the most exiting fighter and number 2 p4p back in 2007, he said Pac was his favorite fighter, and Floyd is a defensive first guy.

[jmrf4435]

Doesn't seem to sell in other sport except football due to lack of entertainment value. I think defense being popular in football is due to the entertainment of the physicality for the viewer. An boxing is expecially odd because you can be cheap with defensive strategy by holdings, headbutting, head locking.

Keep in mind that when Pat Riley's Mounring led heat were winning games and then a championship holding opponents under 80 points every game David stern gave Pat Riley a call and told him to tone his defense down!!!!!Not good for business etc

[cork]

In basketball or football all you hear is defense wins championships but in boxing you have fighters like Rigo or Floyd and they get **** on by boxing fans.

Rigo can beat a top p4p guy and get hate from his own promoter. Floyd beats champ after champ, has high ppv sells time after time and gets called boring while the Broncos offense sucks all year no one says they're boring they just say that's football it happens.A football team could win a game 10-7 or 13-3 and people wouldn't say the game was boring, they would talk about how great the defense is.

Even a team like the Spurs who some people call boring get respect league wide and from the fans and get called a model franchise by everyone.

Do other sports fans just accept the way they're sport is and boxing fans can't? Is it because it's easier to criticize a individual than a whole team? It could be but even mma fans don't really call guys boring if they're great at bjj or wrestling.


Why is that?


Real question this isn't to start a race debate.

Defense in basketball isn't good or football. You get respect but you won't get fans and that's why every league is changing the rules to make it a more offense friendly game. M surprise soccer haven't remove offsides yet.

I can tell you people appreciate defense in boxing but you won't bring fans in by out pointing your opponent by throwing 8 punch a round and land 6 of them. Especially in boxing where you rely on the fans to watch to determine the boxers worth and not how good the boxer is.

[MDPopescu]

Great defence skills are highly appreciated in Boxing...

... Pep, Floyd, Whitaker, SRR, Ali, B-Hop, Tunney, Armstrong, Louis, Toney (not in this order) were all highly appreciated...

WTF?

[Adonis Creed]

QUOTE=revelated;16929588]Flip the script.

When Vince McMahon started XFL, it was originally the MMA of football. The rules were light as hell, you had backstage promos and all sorts of nonsense going on. Problem is, XFL couldn't hunt the good players. No good players, no good league.




But if you compare what XFL did to what NFL will allow, it isn't even close. XFL was pushing boundaries of acceptability. All NFL is, is a game. And that's fine, for those who just want a game.


With boxing, you have people who consider boxing a fight (which it is), and others who consider boxing an art form (which it should be). You will never get the fight crowd on board. Ever. And nor should you try.

The real thing hurting boxing is the loss of REAL drama, characters, seedy promoters, mafia influence and the East Coast. Now, everything is buddy-buddy with people, false and manufactured feuds, smiling and handshakes between guys who should literally hate each other, etc.

The thrill is gone. That's the problem.[/QUOTE]

I agree and we have people who could draw interest tbh they just have to step up. Imagine if Garcia-Thurman were made, you know Angel could draw attention to the fight with his trash talk.. Imagine if Broner was p4p and fighting top comp,he could get people to tune in.

Defense is it's own reward. A boxer with a great defense doesn't get hit much. This helps him land more punches than his opponent and win fights. That has nothing to do with his popularity. Boxing fans like who they like and dislike who they dislike. You can't make them like certain boxers just because you like them. I like Rigo but many fans don't like him much because his fights can be dull and lack action. As a rule action fighters who take risks and go for the knock out and get hit some doing it are more popular than safety first boxing masters. It's been that way forever and will continue to be that way. A Jack Dempsey will almost always be more popular than a Gene Tunney.

Only in boxing in other sports they appreciate more than one style. In every other sport they like the best. Steph Curry,Steve Nash are more popular than Aaron Gordon because they're better players. Tim Duncan is more popular than Shaun Kemp.

OP is stupid to include Football, people pay to watch the BIG hits by the DEFENSE in football. Defense in Football is nothing like in Boxing, in football the Defense MAKES HARD CONTACT with vicious tackles, while sticking to the receiver like glue not running away, Defense in football invites contact, its nothing like in boxing.

In football its the offensive receiver or running back or QB who must make defensive moves to avoid getting hit tackled and run as fast as possible.

also the reason people watch Baseball is because of the hard hit homer. Just like in boxing you watch to see some knockouts or action fights.

You ever heard of counter punching? If you haven't look at Pac-Marquez and May-Pac if you don't know what they are. That's all defense, some of the best kos in history come from perfectly timed counters.

People don't say Nolan Ryan's boring or Randy Johnson or Kershaw is boring. Even if people watch for homeruns baseball fans don't cry if the pitcher has a great game.

[Adonis Creed]

OP is stupid to include Football, people pay to watch the BIG hits by the DEFENSE in football. Defense in Football is nothing like in Boxing, in football the Defense MAKES HARD CONTACT with vicious tackles, while sticking to the receiver like glue not running away, Defense in football invites contact, its nothing like in boxing.

In football its the offensive receiver or running back or QB who must make defensive moves to avoid getting hit tackled and run as fast as possible.

also the reason people watch Baseball is because of the hard hit homer. Just like in boxing you watch to see some knockouts or action fights.

Also you can't even really hit guys hard in football anymore but still as the big hits go down the popularity still rises.