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Having Class - Does it matter anymore?

Brit/Ire 
2K views 56 replies 25 participants last post by  Benny Blanco 
#1 ·
I'm interested in people's thoughts on whether having Class matters anymore?

I have always been a fan of sportsmen who display a lot of integrity, professionalism and humility which I collectively think of as "Class". This is why Michael Johnson, Thierry Henry, Lewis Hamilton and Roger Federer have always been at the top of my list of all time favourites to follow.

Having posted on here for the last week I have been surprised how few supporters Joshua has considering he is also a classy sportsmen who displays the qualities above. It appears that many on here prefer the vulgar and disrepectful fighters (Wilder and Fury especially) who while clearly have skills (I'll leave the who is better arguments out of this) but I could never follow because how they deport themselves.

I have always felt that who you follow says something about yourself and therefore I have only followed those I respect as people as well as athletes.

Is this something that any of you notice? or care about? Is it purely about their ability in the ring (however you judge that)? or do you proactively enjoy the unprofessional side of things?
 
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#19 ·
I'd suggest to the OP that he lacks the necessary skills needed to appreciate when someone is being genuine?

That's what is important to me, how genuine someone is being.

The stay humble shit is exactly that, shit. Its not who Joshua is, it's manufactured (read: fake).
The problem we get into here is everyone who doesn't like the person says they're fake, everyone who likes them says they're genuine. It's very hard to prove it either way. I have this all the time with Lewis Hamilton who also appears to be a very Marmite character.
 
#11 ·
I'm interested in people's thoughts on whether having Class matters anymore?

I have always been a fan of sportsmen who display a lot of integrity, professionalism and humility.

I have always felt that who you follow says something about yourself and therefore I have only followed those I respect as people as well as athletes.
Henry cheated on his wife and Joshua hid having a kid.

Also didnt Joshua message one of his early British opponents talking down to him?
 
#13 ·
I do think Joshua gets a bad rap. Although I can understand why; sketchy things he has done in the past, his mainstream success, the vanilla persona he puts on in public etc. With that said, I still think he's a decent guy overall. And I don't think anyone can criticise how he responded to his loss against Ruiz; that was the epitome of classy. I certainly thought that would see more people warm to him.
 
#15 ·
AJ has loads of endorsements...keeping it classy keeps the sponsors on board and attracts new ones.

On the flip side....Mayweather did not have a single corporation willing to atrach their name to him.

Adrian Broner got beat by Shawn Porter....Broner is still the bigger name of the two and attracts more coverage. And gets bigger tv audiences for his fights.

Playing the villain instead of classy is also very lucrative.

If you cant develop a hatebase or a fanbase then you end up like Andre Ward...nobody really cares about him.

He was not even the most famous fighter in his gym...Despite being one of the greats.
 
#29 ·
AJ has loads of endorsements...keeping it classy keeps the sponsors on board and attracts new ones.

On the flip side....Mayweather did not have a single corporation willing to atrach their name to him.

Adrian Broner got beat by Shawn Porter....Broner is still the bigger name of the two and attracts more coverage. And gets bigger tv audiences for his fights.

Playing the villain instead of classy is also very lucrative.

If you cant develop a hatebase or a fanbase then you end up like Andre Ward...nobody really cares about him.

He was not even the most famous fighter in his gym...Despite being one of the greats.
Hublot sponsored him, as did Reebok and Burger King. Reebok didn't renew him in 2010.

Another argument as to why Mayweather didn't get much sponsorship is because his entry-level you had to pay him was too high. You had to pay him a million dollars before he'd even start negotiations.
 
#16 ·
Mind you...it is a better to keep it classier on the forums. The vulgar stuff should be left to the trolls on ESB or whatever that place is called nowadays.

No need for the type of posts directed at the original creator of this thread. What seperates CHB from other forums we try to be respectful to each other even when we strongly disagree with each other.

So in that sense classy is good.
 
#23 ·
I think Chris Algieri always comes across as likable and genuine.
 
#25 ·
I'm interested in people's thoughts on whether having Class matters anymore?

I have always been a fan of sportsmen who display a lot of integrity, professionalism and humility which I collectively think of as "Class". This is why Michael Johnson, Thierry Henry, Lewis Hamilton and Roger Federer have always been at the top of my list of all time favourites to follow.

Having posted on here for the last week I have been surprised how few supporters Joshua has considering he is also a classy sportsmen who displays the qualities above. It appears that many on here prefer the vulgar and disrepectful fighters (Wilder and Fury especially) who while clearly have skills (I'll leave the who is better arguments out of this) but I could never follow because how they deport themselves.

I have always felt that who you follow says something about yourself and therefore I have only followed those I respect as people as well as athletes.

Is this something that any of you notice? or care about? Is it purely about their ability in the ring (however you judge that)? or do you proactively enjoy the unprofessional side of things?
One of my top five favourite fighters is Edwin Valero, another Diego Corrales. What does that say about me?
 
#33 ·
I can appreciate both sides of it. Nonito Donaire for example is a class act and proper sportsman. He was travelling to Scotland to watch the Inoue semi final and stopped off in Belfast the night before to watch Ryan Burnett's comeback fight. Think he goes out for meals with some of his opponent's after fights too.

I can see the other side of it too. A lot of people on here always point to the whole fake beef thing but this isn't just a sport for some fighters. Can perfectly understand fighters not having a bad word to say about each other until they actually meet face to face. At the end of the day they're going to be fighting each other and the loser could have a long way back so a bit of aggro isn't surprising.
 
#39 ·
Ruiz Jr is classy. His fists got him overnight famous, not his mouth or his belly, his Jimmy Kimmel interview has a few mil views and everybody seems to like how down to earth and nice he is. McGregor still runs his mouth but I have grown a substantial disliking for that man as a former fan (He has become what he used to portray ironically)and couldn't give a fuck about his next fight. I think the term "Form is temporary,class is permanent" can apply to this kind of subject too. Paul Malignaggi on Ricky Burns: What a class Champion this man is. And Burns didn't even have a belt when he said this. Malignaggi recognises class when he was known as one of the biggest talkers of shit because that's what it is, class.
 
#40 ·
Malignaggi annoyed me during his career and his twitter feed is painful to read sometimes, his politics are very far from mine but I respect him as a man who is genuine. You can tell when he's in talk shit promo mode and when he's being normal.That shit McGregor pulled in the sparring was one of the big things to put me off him, so sly and devious, I had Irish people online calling me a bitter Malignaggi fan, to which Andrew Neils line 'If you only knew how rediculous that statement was you wouldn't have said it' applies. What team McGregor and Dana White(not that I expect class from a greedy as fuck promoter) was just cunty and slimy as fuck so I took Malignaggis side because I felt him to be the wronged party.
 
#41 ·
Think
For what it's worth I believe Paulie is telling the truth. He wouldn't have gone as far as he has with this otherwise. Don't think we'll ever see the full footage from those sessions either. I think it's Paulies integrity as a fighter is what has gotten him so riled up. Showing snippets of a professional boxer taking shots making it look like he got his arse beat when it definitely wasn't the case is bound to infuriate you. Especially when you factor in the other cunt isn't even a boxer. Similar thing happened with Chris Van Heerden.

I agree completely with what a poster above said about McGregor becoming what he portrayed.
 
#42 ·
McGregor is such a good friend to Artem Lobov that he'll throw dollys through bus windows (The Great Bruce Lee would have approved) yet he let's theUFC run a promo package that makes Lobov out to be the biggest whimpering two faced cowardly dickhead in the world and like Conor has to fly in and rescue him like Superman. I would have told Dana to cut that shit because it makes a cunt out of my teammate (And if I'm Conor fuckin McGregor I can make that demand) but shows that the man who spoke so much about loyalty, is willing to make a worldwide cunt of his so called 'brother' to promote his big fight._. Anyway the point of my ramble is that class or 'integrity' manifests itself in different ways but you can tell if you know the givaways.
 
#43 ·
McGregor is a cunt. A lot of times you can give guys a pass when it's hyping a fight but McGregor is a scumbag outside the ring as well, hangs out with the dregs of society and is generally a total knob. Wilder's a good example of a guy deep down i believe is a nice lad, he's got a mean streak but i feel a lot of his trash talk comes from trying to gain a fanbase, let's be real the man should be a superstar with his power and exciting fights.

Personally i always felts the Klitschko's where cunts, put on the gentlemen act but in reality they fucked opponents over no end and pulled a lot of very sneaky shit which wasn't exactly sportsmanship, FFS look what they tried to pull with the ring for the Fury fight. To me i think you can kinda tell if someone is really a cunt or not. there's some guys who are just impossible to dislike like Burns, Andy Lee, Enzo Mac then there's guys who are obviously cunts like Floyd, Broner, Davis etc. Everyone else is in the middle
 
#47 ·
I love how Eddie is crying about Wilder's comments when he and Barry has spent the better part of two years continuously dumping on Lou DiBella, Shelly Finkel, Al Haymon, Bob Arum, Frank Warren, Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Leonard Ellerbe, Stephen Espinoza, Showtime, the Eubanks etcetera.. I couldn't care less if it is banter. Ugh. He will continue to be the smug, arrogant toffee nosed twat that he was before the Joshua loss and he will continue to be confused as to why people don't like him and won't play ball.

As far as Joshua is concerned? He is a disgrace to the superior black race..
 
#48 ·
Eddie's comments have come back to bite him in the arse, no fucker in America is going to do him a favor, Arum, Haymon etc will all tell him to go fuck himself. Given he still needs to work with them to make fights not just for AJ he's been very stupid. DAZN isn't going great from what i can tell and honestly Hearns cards thus far have been very lackluster he's a long way from taking over that's for sure.
 
#52 ·
We all have our own understanding of what constitutes class, particularly in these days of social media where we can see so many more sides of so many more people, but to answer the concept behind OP's original question without tying it in to individuals - yes, my understanding of how someone carries themselves outside of their immediate sporting/cultural 'job' has a direct impact on the extent to which I support them in their chosen endeavour.

Just as I will watch a film purely because someone I respect is starring in/creating that film, I will support a sports competitor or singer or politician or whatever because I believe them to be good people. Similarly, I will avoid watching people whose positions on various issues or whose approach to life I don't like.

Life is frustratingly short, and we each of us can only pursue so many paths in that time, so with so many choices out there I use my appreciation for an individual's wider approach to life as a filter to direct where and how I spend my time.

So to me, class is as present in society as ever, and is very important to me.
 
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