By Mark Young: Boxing is a great sport, two guys pitching their all against each other in front of a baying crowd, the sport of pugilism as old as the hills, a sport that harks back to the days of gladiators fighting it out in front of the baying bloodthirsty mob. As travel started to become easier, the introduction of passenger flight and quick Atlantic crossing the sport was able to offer legitimate “World” champions, guys who fought in other countries, took on other champions and dominated their weight classes.
Unlike most sports, boxers spend far more time training than they do competing; this means there are massive lulls between fights. As boxers become more and more professional their fight count has dropped considerably, especially when you compare records to fighters from only few decades ago. Floyd Mayweather (won 41 (KO 25) lost 0 drawn 0) with 299 rounds boxed may retire undefeated , but to put him into context have a look at a guy like Sugar Ray Robinson (won 173 (KO 108) lost 19 (KO 1) drawn 6) and you see a massive difference. Sugar Ray boxed 1403 rounds!. Sugar Ray fighting was at weekly intervals, he was constantly in the headlights, you could hear his exploits on the radio because he was fighting constantly.
Back to 2000’s and the modern pro boxer, in a good year he’ll have three fights, though usually one or two, there are 4 to 6 month periods of inactivity, little tit bits of gossip leaked deliberately from camps which might make the mainstream media, aside from that nothing to talk about! Then along comes the YouTube boxing community, which essentially is a bunch of guys who make video predictions, leave comments, and talk boxing during the months when guys aren’t fighting, when the information they’re hearing isn’t making it to the Sports pages but is still relevant and interesting to the sport.
I expect that as a fan of this interactive website you will know about the guys out there making predictions on YouTube, and if you don’t you will be inclined to have a look. All you have to do is type in a fight followed by the word prediction and you’ll be inundated!. I have followed some of the guys making predictions, watch some come and go, watched some become more professional and start their own radio shows and even get interviews with guys like Roy Jones.
Probably my favourite guys out there predicting have a you tube show called “Boxing in the Hallway”, the hosts are Uncle “chuck” Nitty and TG1 “the Great One, their show is exactly what it says, two guys talking boxing in the hallway of an apartment block, it’s boxing’s version of Wayne’s World, there’s unscripted neighbours passing through camera shot as they make their way home or head off out, it’s amateur and it’s a breath of fresh air in an otherwise serious world. I had been thinking about writing this article a while, but found there was no way I could avoid it after looking through the BBC online sports links this morning and seeing a member of the American press being interviewed at Carl Froch’s training camp, none other than Chuck Nitty!, classic!, the American press!!! the guy was there videoing on his camera phone and took time out to chat with his rivals the BBC who had clearly picked the most enigmatic American in the room and assumed he was part of the professional media, either way it was a joy to watch.
So seeing as this is an interactive form of journalism and I do actually read your comments I would love to know if you post videos, watch videos and how you came by this very site?.
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