On Oscar Night, which is always in April and will certainly never be Dec. 6, the winners always tick off the names of those who helped make the capture of the nifty statuette possible.
Producers, directors, financiers, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, mistresses?they all get a quick mention.
In boxing, the fans don?t even get a quickie thank you. But a Boxingconfidential.com, we?re different in every other way and so we acknowledge you fans who support boxing and keep it going in the best and worst of economic times.
Here?s my winner for Fans of the Year and others worthy of mention:
1. PAC FANS RULE WORLDWIDE. Their backed their Pinoy Idol to the hilt and he delivered big time. No more Manny fights but hopefully plenty more Megamanny events.
2. THE HATTONITES FROM WINTER WONDERLAND. Even in the midst of the credit crunch, thousands flew to Vegas to back their boy. That?s why I?d love to see Manny and Rick go at it in front of 50,000 in the UK. Their boy has a lot of mileage on him so enjoy it while you can.
3. KLITSCHKO FANS ACROSS EUROPE. The Germans love them and naturally the homeland Ukrainians do also but I sense that Europeans (excluding the Brits) view Vitali and Wladimir as their heavyweight champions. German fans in general are rocking the house with over 8 million homes watching Holyfield-Valuev.
4. MEXICAN FIGHT FANS. No country offers such pure love for our sport and they never turn away from it. Antonio Margarito will never get the love national idol Julio Cesar Chavez did but Mexicans are showing big love now for Megamanny. And why not? He fights with the heart, soul and skill of a Mexicano, doesn?t he?
5. MIKKEL KESSLER?S VIKING WARRIOR BAND. Small in numbers coming from Denmark which only has five million people. But they are loud and proud, always waving the white and red and, like their hero, most have more tattoos than a motorcycle gang. They?ve followed Kessler to Wales, to Germany and they will come to America if someone mans up to fight their guy. Their volume exceeds their numbers. Perhaps it’s the aquavit.
