Continuing our special series, BoxingInsider.com polled NFL fans at the New York Giants-Oakland Raiders game on Sunday October 11, to see if they could name the heavyweight champion of the world in pro boxing? Some of the responses were quite interesting, informative and encouraging for the future of the sweet science…
Here are the results (last month we asked sports fans at the US Open tennis tournament):
Vinny Rivera, New Haven, CT: “They got Klitschko.”
Jay Penny, Lyndhurst, NJ: “Who is it? Klitschko?”
Craig Woelpper, Lyndhurst, NJ: “Klitschko. It’s a great sport. It should come back. We’re dying to see boxing. Pacquio-Cotto’s gonna be a great fight. Mayweather’s afraid of them both. Mayweather’s afraid of Mosley too.”
Gary Rea, Flemington, NJ: “No idea.”
John, NJ: “Of boxing? Not UFC? I don’t know. Who is it?”
Mike, NJ: “Boxing is a dead sport.”
Frank, Parsippany, NJ: “I have no idea. Sorry about that, I don’t follow boxing.”
Jamal, Morristown, NJ: “I don’t know.”
Sean O’Connor, Montreal, Quebec: “Jean Pascal. I’m from Montreal. I know it was Lennox Lewis. Don’t know.”
Kenny Lutz, Bridgewater, NJ: “You know, I can’t tell you. I used to follow boxing all the time. There used to be more boxing than UFC. I stopped following it about 5-10 years ago. We used to go to The Meadowlands to see the closed-circuit fights, Holmes-Cooney, Hearns-Duran, Duran-Leonard No Mas. I said to my nephew, You have to watch that fight. Leonard was so fast, you couldn’t hit him. He said that was an amazing fight.”
Dr. Borgata, PA: “I don’t know. I don’t do boxing.”
Sal Jamal, Salt Point, NY: “Is it Holyfield? Boxing sucks right now.”
Isa Isa, Mahopac, NY: “Floyd Mayweather [smiles]. It’s Klitschko!”
Official results: In this unofficial poll, NFL fans prove to be slightly more informed sports fans than those polled at the US Open. 4 out of 13 at the Giants game correctly named “Klitschko” as the HWT champ. 2 out of 13 correctly answered Klitschko at the US Open.
Stay tuned for part three in this series, which will be conducted at a New York Yankees game.
Author of “Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle” was called “A smashing success, one of the two best boxing books I ever read,” by Emanuel Steward.
