What are the qualities of a casual boxing fan, boxing aficionado, and a true boxing fan?

boxing
Mark W asked:


What are the differences between the terms that certain boxing fans define themselves and others by?

What do you believe defines any and all of these three designations?

Do you like or dislike being defined by one of these or any labels.

How would you define yourself as a boxing fan?

Boxing Buzz


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Comments (8)

  1. Mark says October 15, 2011 at 11:30 AM

    I don't know really. I think I am an aficionado because I know all about the sport, how it started, how it works, the rules, customs, the science behind it and I used to box and still hit the heavy bag every day. I just don't follow any specific boxer, I know all the good fights and I enjoy watching it more than anything else. Right now I can't name any boxers that are currently fighting, I like the older ones. But I still watch it and love the sport. I think a true fan would follow all the fighters.

  2. ragdefender says October 17, 2011 at 3:59 PM

    Your 3 people are sitting in a room and:

    1. They are watching Pacquiao-Hatton.

    boxing afficionado: Wow, Pacquiao carried his power into Jr. Welter. I never expected that.
    true boxing fan: Never have I seen such a display of superiority! Eat that Hatton! I knew you were all hype. or NOOOOO!!!!!
    Casual fan: Wow Pacquiao mucho guwapo!

    2. Mayweather-Marquez

    boxing afficionado: Marquez can't get in. He's too slow and Mayweather's defense is too good.
    true boxing fan: C'mon Marquez, you can do it... don't give up hope! or Wow look at Mayweather! Can there be any doubt who #1 is?
    casual fan: Oh dear I'm out of popcorn. I'll go home now.

    3. Cotto-Margarito

    boxing afficionado: Cotto looks good, but Margarito is just ploughing through his defense. Cotto can't keep this up...
    true boxing fan: Wow what a fight! I've never seen Cotto this bruised up! Margarito is the next Mike Tyson! or Margacheato has to be banned for life!
    casual fan: who were those guys?

  3. Kahlil J says October 20, 2011 at 11:44 PM

    aficionados, i just assume they know everything. and some feels the urge to know more than everybody else. like having all As in school.

    a "true boxing fan"- is the one who wants to be all for the sport person, whatever that means.


    me, i am just a very lowly lowly casual boxing fan. casual means, we come and go- we don't stay. we have other things to do.i i try to keep up- not too much, i don't need to learn trivia- that's fun for the aficionados.

    some casual fans follow a few boxers. me, i just follow pacquiao- no time and dime to spend on others. i have other things to do. like answering yahoo questions when i am at home sick (like right now)- other times, it's all work and weekend plans.

    i am just a pacquiao fan. it's enough for me to learn the basic terms to understand what i read about in boxing news or forums. also, I only study/watch relevant previous fights of pacquiao and his opponents to appreciate their strengths and weaknesses; and read any hype from forums about these two fighters and what their trainers say about their game plan and argue with other fans- to learn about what other people think (e.g., who hates who, etc). so, i watched the videos of cotto fights against mosley, margarito, clottey, even malignaggi (i skipped others because these three are interesting on speed, pressure, and defense and recent acitvity). when i saw the hatton fight, i even looked up the full fight videos against kosta, floyd, lazcano, malignaggi, to have an impression of how hatton is at his best and recent fights before pacquiao. in other words, i only like to know about the specific fight i will watch. that's it. i don't study to get an A in boxing trivia and history. along the way, i hear of other boxers in forums and read about them if they seem interesting (like the opponents of pacquiao- morales, barrera, and marquez, who along with pacquiao probably defined one of the best decades of featherweight wars). and everything else is just too much to know for a ppy fight.

    but it's annoying to find people arrogant of what they claim to know as if they know everything and you should take their word as final. it sounds like the high school principal with a bad day. plus, they tell you "you know nothing about boxing"-- what does that mean? it's also annoying when someone asks you are you a "true boxing fan", as if there is nothing else but boxing and you should do everything for the benefit of boxing itself- how do you do that? by making the promotors rich?

  4. Blogbaba2 says October 21, 2011 at 3:16 AM

    Casual boxing fans turn on the tube and accidentally run across a boxing match, watch it, sometimes without really knowing who the fighters are, and enjoy boxing as a spectator sport. A boxing aficionado tends to actually attend the matches, know the people in the business and be a member of the boxing community. True boxing fans know the difference between the two. Boxing was always a passion of mine, ever since I was a kid, so I tend to be more than just a casual boxing fan and part of the boxing community.

  5. reis says October 21, 2011 at 4:56 AM

    good question.

    a casual boxing fan is someone who watches boxing, talks about it over coffee and then return back to their normal lives. much like a tv person, looking at the latest news jumping into the band wagon just to fit in the frenzy.

    a boxing afficionado is someone who watches boxing, follows a certain boxing personality and talks about boxing on a lighter scale. he/she can give opinions and not go into deep. can step in the band wagon or not depending on the trend. can be seen here on this section occasionally, and practically wished sometimes to be a boxer. sometimes a die hard fanatic of a boxer/s.

    a true boxing fan is clearly defined as living with the sport. he wakes up and breathes and walks and talks about boxing. would go indepth with every fights and rounds and can give analysis and opinions on dream matches or controversies and considers other opinions different from him/her. wise and disciplined as the sport in its truest essence.

    i'm not affected with the labeling as such, since these three definitions are a bit general and society is too stratified for them to belong in your definition.

    i define myself in between the afficionado and the true boxing fan.

    :

  6. Sean G says October 22, 2011 at 4:01 PM

    Timely question since my brother-in-law just referred to me as "the boxing encyclopedia". I consider myself a true boxing fan...slightly below an aficionado (unless we are grading on the curve). The aficianodos are the ones who can answer toughguys dream fight scenarios without the use of boxrec. They read books on boxing, own a boxing video collection, go to fights in person often.

    True fans are like me. they know all that's going on today and have a good grasp of boxing history. They watch most of the telecasts that come on and who subscribe to the Ring magazine (unless they think its weak or corrupted by Oscar). A true fan respects every brave warrior who steps in the ring. They know most of the current fighters, definately everyone on the pound for pound top 10.

    Casual fan only know a few fighter: Mayweather Jr, Pacquiao, Holyfield, Hatton, maybe Mosley. Thjey know the names Tyson , Ali, Leonard. Some of them aren't aware George Foreman was a boxer. Of course they know Oscar De La Hoya and Laila Ali. They watch PPV at parties.

  7. Val Cyril E says October 23, 2011 at 7:45 AM

    Boxing aficionado- You, Normen, Sean, Blogbaba
    True Boxing Fan- Kyle, Americas, Marcus L. Elmer Fudd
    Casual Boxing Fan- Jon, Nick, Netizen, Lawliet and Me.

    These casual Boxing fans can are also called Pac Nuthuggers by "aficionados and true boxing fans.

    Call me a casual boxing fan and I dont care. It wont make my rice stop boiling.

  8. daryl dante says October 26, 2011 at 12:24 PM

    A casual boxing fan in Britain, is often one to say,(or at least before he got ko'd) " Amir Khan the best boxer ever" when watching it on the big screen down the pub. Then start going on about Tyson and Bruno, before the conversation swiftly changes to Man Utd.

    The GENERAL public lose interest very quickly.

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