How Times Have Changed

[GForce]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hy2VD5WlmEU

Can you imagine an exchange like this nowadays?

GH

[mh2365]

Times have changed, now after losing one fight to a great champion he'd have no fans left and everyone would think he was a bum (Jeff Lacy). But then again everyone would hate Sugar Ray Robinson now too because if they are popular and talented (Floyd Mayweather) then people hate them.

[GForce]

Originally Posted by mh2365

Times have changed, now after losing one fight to a great champion he'd have no fans left and everyone would think he was a bum (Jeff Lacy). But then again everyone would hate Sugar Ray Robinson now too because if they are popular and talented (Floyd Mayweather) then people hate them.

Well, I think hate for Floyd has more to do with his being a jackass.

GH

[mh2365]

Originally Posted by GForce

Well, I think hate for Floyd has more to do with his being a jackass.

GH

Yeah Floyd has his personality problems. But a good example right now would be Klitschko. He is obviously the best HW out there plus he is a great guy out of the ring. Yet people hate him with a fury. It's not just in boxing, these days it's popular to hate what is popular.

But mostly my point was that back in the day boxers lost all the time and it didn't kill their career. Now people lose once and they are bums. Look at Joel Julio for another example. Everyone was excited about the skills he showed, then he lost to Carlos Quintana who a solid veteran fighter that Julio probably shouldn't have been in with so soon. All of a sudden Julio is off TV, off PPV bouts, off everyone's radar. He still has all the same skills, he was just too young. Litzau will suffer the same fate now.

Back in the day it would've been seen as a learning experience. Plus the bandwagon gets empty real quick. Be hard to find one of Lacy's fans now (other than me) yet there was some extreme nuthugging going on with him prior to the Calzaghe fight. Just the times now.

Thanks for the video though that was great!

[Claybor]

...

[GForce]

Originally Posted by mh2365

Yeah Floyd has his personality problems. But a good example right now would be Klitschko. He is obviously the best HW out there plus he is a great guy out of the ring. Yet people hate him with a fury. It's not just in boxing, these days it's popular to hate what is popular.

But mostly my point was that back in the day boxers lost all the time and it didn't kill their career. Now people lose once and they are bums. Look at Joel Julio for another example. Everyone was excited about the skills he showed, then he lost to Carlos Quintana who a solid veteran fighter that Julio probably shouldn't have been in with so soon. All of a sudden Julio is off TV, off PPV bouts, off everyone's radar. He still has all the same skills, he was just too young. Litzau will suffer the same fate now.

Back in the day it would've been seen as a learning experience. Plus the bandwagon gets empty real quick. Be hard to find one of Lacy's fans now (other than me) yet there was some extreme nuthugging going on with him prior to the Calzaghe fight. Just the times now.

Thanks for the video though that was great!

Point taken. The Klitschko example is a much better one, but I agree completely. Anything successful now has to be torn down...and people wonder why so many set their sights below their abilities.

GH

[a87star]

Originally Posted by mh2365

Yeah Floyd has his personality problems. But a good example right now would be Klitschko. He is obviously the best HW out there plus he is a great guy out of the ring. Yet people hate him with a fury. It's not just in boxing, these days it's popular to hate what is popular.

But mostly my point was that back in the day boxers lost all the time and it didn't kill their career. Now people lose once and they are bums. Look at Joel Julio for another example. Everyone was excited about the skills he showed, then he lost to Carlos Quintana who a solid veteran fighter that Julio probably shouldn't have been in with so soon. All of a sudden Julio is off TV, off PPV bouts, off everyone's radar. He still has all the same skills, he was just too young. Litzau will suffer the same fate now.

Back in the day it would've been seen as a learning experience. Plus the bandwagon gets empty real quick. Be hard to find one of Lacy's fans now (other than me) yet there was some extreme nuthugging going on with him prior to the Calzaghe fight. Just the times now.

Thanks for the video though that was great!

I agree 100%. A lot of fighters who suffer their first loss in this era tend to be written off as overrated or a bum. Back in the day, some of the best fighters suffered twenty or thirty losses but are considered the greatest figters of all time.

[Cap]

Back in the day, fighters fought other fighters of every caliber. Some of the old-timers (Jim Jeffries) got to the big show without the extensive resume, but the majority had to battle everyone they could sign a contract with. Boxing is a learning experience, and the smart ones took a loss in stride and picked up things to improve their game. Nowadays, some of these kids have very frail egos and can't recover from a loss on TV before the adoring eyes of their public. TV execs don't like fighters with too many losses either, and they especially don't like to see fighters they've built up lose to "opponents".

Cap

[mh2365]

That's why Baldomir was such a pleasant surprise.

[Lee]

It seems unfortunately that the attention span of the sports fan pretty much matches the attention span of the Video game generation nowadays. I hate to sound like one of those "back in my Day" grandpa kind of guys......

but I remember playing Football as a kid practicing Football everynight, playing with the Kids on the block after practice if I had time, playing with the Kids on the street all day Saturday, after me Little league game, and still not getting enough. Now I see Kids throw about 6 passes in the street, appear to get tired and head back inside, probably to play Madden.

The same mentality applies in sports now in my opinion...everything has to be extreme and things always have to be kicked up a notch to hold peoples attention. Hence the slip Boxing has suffered in popularity, because people don't appreciate the art of it anymore and also why 1 loss makes you a has been. If you don't destroy everyone you can't that good.