By Darren Munsey: Earlier this week I saw some interesting comments regarding the upcoming Vitali Klitschko (45-43-2) v Dereck Chisora (17-15-2) fight. There was a suggestion that the fighters were being to ‘’friendly’’ towards each other in the build up of their big WBC world title fight in February.

On the other hand I have also seen fighters heavily criticized for to much‘’trash’’ talking, David Haye comes to mind. So as boxing fans do we enjoy trash talking in the build up to a big fight or do we find it pointless and distasteful? Well this is my personal take on it.

Being a brit 3 recent ‘’grudge’’ matches come to mind in recent years. David Haye (27-25-2) v Wladimir Klitschko (59-56-3), David Haye v Audley Harrison (32-27-5) and George Groves (14-14-0) v James Degale (12-11-1). Now what makes a grudge match any different from any normal fight? Well that’s easy………….talk. You either hear stories of past disagreements between the fighters, some boxing related, some not or just the fighters saying they simply do not like each other. With the above 3 fights 2 of them the fighters had long histories with each other i.e. Haye and Harrison and Groves and Degale. The 3rd was simply Haye trash talking Klitschko to sell tickets.

So why do fighters bother trash talking? Well there are a few possible reasons:-

1. To wind another fighter up so much it takes him/her of their game plan.
2. There is simply a general dislike for another fighter.
3. To sell tickets/PPV’s.

Different fighters fall into different categories for example. David Haye without a shadow of a doubt trash talks to sell tickets, I think he goes overboard at times especially with the Klitschko’s but at the end of the day he does put bums on seats. I think Grove and Degale have a general dislike for each other, after their fight they could barely shake hands which even after most grudge matches the fighters usually do.

Do I like trash talking? My personal opinion is even though some of the comments are nasty and totally overboard trash talking does build up a fight and bring a lot more media focus. I think the general public are intrigued by this and the talking does entice the 50/50 fans to tune in. I purchased all of the above 3 fights on PPV, now if you look back to the fights what a waste of money. Haye v Harrison was over in 3 rounds without a punch being thrown, Haye v Klitschko, Haye got pounded for 12 boring rounds. The Groves v Degale fight was a decent fight but it was for the British title, I would never usually pay to watch a British title fight. I am sure a lot of you are thinking what an idiot this guy is but in my defence I am not the only one. Haye v Harrison for example I know several other people who paid to see the fight and the local pubs and bars were packed with people watching it.

The only reason these fights were so popular was because rightly or wrongly the trash talking in the build up. Whether we like it or not trash talking does build up a fight and entice public and media interest which ultimately sells extra tickets and PPV’s. So in my opinion, yes it’s good to talk. Thanks for reading.