This week, I’m writing about some of the loons who follow certain fighters and I explain why they are indeed nuts. I could only think of three fighters who attack the “crazies”.
I’ve only been a published boxing writer for about 9 months. However, I’ve been reading about the sport online since the dawn of the World Wide Web. Often times, the comment section is the most fascinating part of any online article. It allows you to enter the mind of the average boxing fan. The comments on youtube videos are also a fun read for the most part. Besides the internet, I’ve enjoyed “letters to the editor” in print media, and I’m a sports radio fanatic. We fans amaze me. Most of us–while maintaining a solid rooting interest–are rational, objective viewers. Many however, are so unbelievably irrational and delusional with the excuse-making, victimization, and blind hatred for rivals, that they come across as groupies more than mere fans. They are whack-jobs.
Even the most popular boxers in history have rational fans. My fellow Muhammad Ali fans are honest about his flaws, and even the fact that he was gifted a decision in the third Norton fight. I haven’t encountered any wacko Leonard or De La Hoya fans either. Funny thing is, only three fanbases come to mind when it comes to “crazy talk”: Pacquiao fans, Mayweather fans, and of course, Tyson fans.
Don’t take too much offense if you just happen to be a fan of one of those fighters. I don’t mean to disparage the sensible fans of the three. My point is that these three fighters attract such a certain level of irrational fanboys and gals, that it’s impossible to have a rational debate. If you’re a mere fan, this article isn’t referring to you. I’m talking about the crazies, the fanatics, the flat out fools. Let’s take a look.
PACQUIAO FANS
I happen to be a Pacquiao fan, but we have some crazies among us. For one, I never knew how Asians could master playing the race card, until I see how Pacquiao’s fellow Asians defend him. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a comment along the lines of “Manny haters are prejudiced” or “American fight fans just don’t understand the mentality of the Asian”. Really? Dig it, some people just don’t like Manny Pacquiao. Some think he’s over-hyped. Others think he’s disingenuous or phony. To a certain extent, that may be the case. During his English speaking interviews, Manny goes into “Manny speak” in which he’s all humble overwhelmingly sweet, and calls Freddie Roach his “master”. I’m not buying that. We’ve all seen real glimpses of Manny on HBO’s 24/7. Dude knows how to let loose, and I wish he’d show more of his swagger-ish side.
During blood-test-gate, I remember reading one comment from a Manny fan about how Manny was willing to turn down the big payday, because money doesn’t matter to him, and he’d be just as happy eating nothing but rice and living a simple life in the Philippines. Laugh Out Loud. Manny is a notoriously tough negotiator leading up to his fights. He understands his value, and expects to be paid accordingly. This is also the same guy who simultaneously signed with Golden Boy and Top Rank-sparking an ugly legal battle.
Manny certainly cares about money. You see, Manny was able to walk away from Mayweather because Manny has something called “Fuck You wealth”. He’s reached a certain status where he’s so rich, he can turn down a check if he feels like his pride or dignity will somehow be compromised.
So many Manny fans are unable to accept criticism. Besides the cries of racism, the scummiest level of the Pacquiao fans will turn to bigotry of their own. I’ve seen them call Manny’s rival, Mayweather “Gayweather”, or refer his family as monkeys.
Don’t dare state that Manny Pacquiao may lose a fight. Not only will you be called numerous insulting names, but sometimes loons resort to threats of violence. Our own David Lee has the 411mania Boxing comment count record(185) for his article in which he explained the reasons why Hatton would beat Pacquiao. Was this the absolute worst prediction in modern boxing history? Oh yes. But he didn’t deserve to have his nuts cut off, as one Manny “fan’ threatened to do to him.
Lastly, I think Manny fans may be setting themselves up for disappointment based on the intensity of their idol worship. I’ve been pretty gushing about Manny myself, and I practically stroked the guy via keyboard after the Cotto fight. But I was strictly raving about the events related to the fight itself. Many Pacman fans act like he’s some sort of deity. I understand his importance in the Philippines, but let’s all calm down.
We don’t know what Manny is like in his private life. How does he treat his wife? IS he on steroids? We don’t know. I remember how everyone worshiped baseball legend, Kirby Puckett, in Minnesota. As it turned out, Puckett was a serial abuser of women, and not a very good guy. We don’t know these guys. For all we know, Manny could be a local area gangster like former Colts receiver, Marvin Harrison, is alleged to be. By worshiping a mere man, one can set his or herself up for a major “say it ain’t so” moment. Manny’s a legendary great boxer, and seems very charitable. Let’s leave it at that for now. Manny is just a man.
MAYWEATHER FANS
Full Disclosure: I’m not a Mayweather fan. He’s not my type of cat. I think he’s a cartoon character with all of his bling and obsessions with flaunting his wealth. Whether it’s an act or not, I don’t know, I just know it’s annoying. Also, during his interviews, he sounds like he’s 16 years old the way he carries himself and sounds. His weak resume in relation to his claims of greatness, irritate the hell out of me. Lastly, I officially said “to hell with this guy” when he called HBO racist and Emanuel Steward an Uncle Tom. I hate baseless race card playing, and if I was Steward, I’d take a swing at Mayweather next time he sees him.
But despite all that, nobody, and I do mean nobody, has said more complementary things about Floyd’s in-ring ability on this website than me. There isn’t even a close second. Regardless, the comment section gets flamed after the columns where I disagree with Floyd’s position on an issue, or write anything bad about him.
You know that female friend who likes “bad boys”, and always dates jerks? The guy could be a total piece of shit, and abuse her, but the girl just loves the swag and attitude. They get off on the fact that he’s a jerk, and when he goes too far, he’s forgiven. Mayweather fans are that chick. Mayweather will crap on fans by avoiding big fights, or putting on dull, tactical, performances, but they still come back to defend their “bad boy”.
The mental gymnastics that Mayweather fans go through to defend his resume are always comical. Despite what’s there, or not there, in black and white, Mayweather fans will act like it’s a debatable issue regarding whether Mayweather has taken on the best of the best in his division in recent years. Mayweather fans get upset when people in the media call him out or criticize him. Hell, Mayweather makes a point to be a “heel” or a bad guy. He gets off on it. He’s chosen his path, and Mayweather fans can’t accept it when he’s called out on it. His fans have a comical persecution complex as they try to protect their “bad boy”.
Mayweather fans really showed their true insanity during blood-test-gate. Regardless of who you want to blame, Mayweather fans proved their stupidity by simply deciding that Manny must be on steroids for rejecting the blood test demands. Again, since Manny has “Fuck You wealth”, he was able to walk away from the issue. It’s absolutely asinine to accuse somebody of being guilty of something just because they won’t bow down in the face of a smear campaign.
If Mayweather really had a simple request to “clean up the sport”, we’d probably see the two legends fighting this Saturday. Instead, Floyd Sr, flat out accused Manny of being a user, and Mayweather’s promoter, De La Hoya, implicitly accused Manny by saying his punches felt like doper, Fernando Vargas’ punches. It was a fucking smear campaign, and Manny didn’t have to prove a thing. Only a straight up fool believes a person has to prove his innocence on a baseless allegation. Only a passive coward would submit in the face of derogatory allegations.
I’ll use my 411mania partner Ryan Bates on this example, because we’re like minded on this issue. Suppose Ryan Bates decided that I get more “hits” than him because I plagiarize my articles. He has no proof, but decides to start bashing me online as a cheater and idea stealer. He challenges me to take a live lie-detector test on an episode of our own 3 More Rounds. Personally, since I’m not a punk-ass bitch, I’d decline the lie-detector test, and tell him to kiss my ass. According to the logic of Mayweather fans, I’d indeed be a plagiarist for not submitting to the test to prove my innocence. Mayweather fans are stupid, because they don’t understand logic and burdens of proof. Mayweather fans are whack and irrational, but they aren’t the most wack and irrational of all boxing fans. At least they have that going for them. We all know which fighter has the looniest fans.
TYSON FANS
Tyson fans drive me nuts. A Tyson fan single handily inspired this column. A friend of mine and I were talking boxing on the phone. He’s a casual fan of the sport and loves Mike Tyson. During the conversation, he let this gem out, “Ali, couldn’t Tyson come out of retirement and whip the Klitchkos’ asses?” I later apologized for the intensity of my response: “Are you out of your FUCKING mind!!!”
Oh my, the Tyson fan. Tyson fans are between the ages of 30 and 40, and recall the Tyson era as the only time boxing mattered. They think Tyson was simply the greatest. Iron Mike Tyson is the most overrated boxer of all-time. He won most of his fights with pure intimidation over weak-minded opponents. He never beat a great fighter in that fighter’s prime. The only exception may be Michael Spinks, and we can all agree that Spinks was defeated before the fight started. Spinks looked petrified.
Besides the Spinks fight, Tyson’s greatest victory was probably over the 38 year old Larry Holmes. Here is what Holmes has to say about that fight:
I knew that I couldn’t beat Mike Tyson. But again … Don King calls. I was off two years with my band, traveling around with Kool and the Gang, the Temptations, singing ding ding ding, you know?
And drinking them — Budweisers and stuff like that. And a knock on the door, Don King, three in the morning. ‘Larry, open the door.’ I said, ‘Well, what are you doing, man?’
King said, ‘I want you to fight Mike Tyson.’ I said, ‘You must be crazy. I can’t beat Mike Tyson. I ain’t did nothing for two years.’ King said, ‘It’s three and a half million dollars.’ I said, ‘Well, come on in.’
He said, ‘But you got two months to get ready for the fight.’ I have two months? I said, ‘Man, two months?’ He said, ‘Well, you have three and a half million.’ And I said, ‘I can’t beat Mike Tyson in two months, man.’ King ‘Here is 500,000 cash.’ I said, ‘OK.’
I tell you what, if Tyson fought Holmes during the 90’s when Tyson was a basket-case, and Holmes was engaged in a highly successful comeback, Holmes would have 1-2’d Tyson’s ass all night long. Also, I can’t believe we actually have discussions about who would have won between Tyson and Ali. Seriously? Please go to Wikipedia or any boxing record related site, and checkout Tyson’s resume. I’ll wait….. Done yet?….. Oh sorry. Look close. How many Hall of Fame caliber fighters did Tyson beat? How many very, very good fighters did he beat? We’re pretty much stuck with Spinks and Holmes right? Now take a look at who he lost to.
Depending on how you feel about Donovan” Razor” Ruddock, Tyson doesn’t have an impressive win past his 25th birthday. Tyson was completely NON-COMPETITIVE against two “rivals” of similar age in Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield. Tell me, what all-time great fighter peaks at age 23?
Last summer I did a column where I ranked the 10 greatest heavyweights of all-time, and I had trouble talking myself into including Tyson. I wound up putting Tyson in the number 9 spot based on the “dominance of era” criteria. I probably should have left him off altogether. Wouldn’t you know it, I got numerous comments that Tyson was too low on the list. Hell, a few people had Tyson in their top 3 all-time heavyweights. It’s simply idiotic or intellectually dishonest to claim that Tyson is better than Holyfield or Lewis. Their fights proved the facts of who was better.
Tyson’s career ended with a stoppage at the hands of Kevin McBride. Kevin Mcwho? But I tell you what, if they fought again in a few months, “Mcwho” would beat Tyson again too.
Tyson was a phenomenal personality and pop culture figure, but as a fighter, Tyson was a highly skilled, but mentally troubled guy who reigned during an era with an incredibly weak crop of heavyweights. When the last great era for heavyweights–the 90’s–was rolling along, Tyson was dominated by the very best, and only headlined pay per views because of his name and ability to produce “train wrecks”.
There’s no reasoning with Tyson fans. To them, he is simply the “baddest man on the planet” and defined a certain era in their youth. If Don King somehow convinces Tyson to come out of retirement, prepare for morons on the message boards telling us how he’ll rule the heavyweight division once he’s in shape. Nobody has a bigger lack of boxing understanding and perspective than Tyson fans. They’re in a class all by themselves; and inspired this column.
OK, again, I’m not writing this column about mere fans-just the loons. I’ll check the comment section for the next day or so, to see if the loons come out to defend themselves. While checking, I’ll be wearing an outfit similar to the one Jeremy Renner wore in “The Hurt Locker”. However, I have a feeling that you’ll sit at the keyboard all hot and flustered, prepare to type the big FU to Shakoor, but then stop. You’ll reflect on what I wrote, nod your head, hold it in shame, and click to something else on the net. :D. Take care, and enjoy the fights this weekend.
