Photo by 7th Legendary
Historically, boxing is a sport controlled by the fans where the greatest fighters are those who please their fans.
Among these great, crowd pleasing fighters, there are also champions who frustrate their fans endlessly.
Whether it is ducking a fight everyone wants to see, consistently fighting non-challenging opposition or even their life outside of the ring, there are always popular fighters who never fail to anger their fans.
Keep reading to find out the top five fighters in boxing who are pissing their fans off.
Manny Pacquiao
Photo by Esther Lin
Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) is a fighter who is clearly going down in history as one of the greatest Welterweights of all time.
Partaking in 12 title fights in the welterweight division since 2009, Pacquiao has made a name for himself as one of the most exciting fighters of this generation.
In the two announced bouts since his loss to Floyd Mayweather however, he has disappointed his fans with his choice in opposition. After announcing his third match with Timothy Bradley, a fight that nobody was interested in, Pacquiao announced that his victory would be followed by a matchup with heavy underdog and WBO champion, Jessie Vargas.
Taking nothing away from Vargas, who is a strong fighter, Pacquiao was clearly on a different skill level than Vargas this past Saturday night.
In addition to this, Pacquiao vs. Vargas (similar to Pacquiao vs. Bradley 3) was not the fight anyone really wanted to see.
Many would have been happier to see Pacquiao face champions such as Terence Crawford, Danny Garcia or Keith Thurman, but were again forced to settle for a fight that had a clear and easy winner before it took place.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Photo by Esther Lin
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.(49-2-1, 32 KOs) is more of a disappointment to boxing than most other boxers. Due to the fact that his father is the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Chavez Jr. tends to walk through his boxing career with a chip on his shoulder.
His career began phenomenally, showing the skills of his father and winning all of his bouts. Since 2012 however, Chavez has failed two drug tests, been arrested for a DUI and missed weight for numerous fights.
His lackadaisical mindset to making weight for his fights and bad choices outside the ring are enough to anger his fans, but he lost even more respect from his Light heavyweight clash with Andrzej Fonfara in 2015.
After being hammered by the Polish champion for nine continuous rounds, Chavez Jr. decided he was unwilling to continue and quit, bringing about even more hatred from his fans.
Adrien Broner
Photo by Stephanie Trapp
Adrien “The Problem” Broner (32-2 24 KOs) lives up to his nickname. Once the WBC lightweight titleholder and the WBA welterweight titleholder, The Problem threw it all away due to his choices outside the ring.
Always one to show off, Broner has constantly frustrated his fans with his lavish lifestyle and life motto “about billions.” The issue isn’t Broner’s lifestyle in itself, but rather the fact that his lifestyle has interfered with his skills in the ring.
Take, for example, Broner’s most popular fight against Marcos Maidana. Two months previous to this bout during training camp, Broner released a sex tape of him having unprotected sex with two other women.
As a boxer, sex in general before a fight is one of the worst things one can do, even if two months remain before the fight. Due to this unnecessary cry for attention, Broner got reamed in the media and made the situation even worse by getting demolished by Maidana when fight night came.
That wasn’t the only time Broner has gotten himself in trouble for attention’s sake either. In January, Broner was seen assaulting a man whom he lost a bet to.
In an attempt to (I guess?) make himself look cool, as a high-school kid would, The Problem never showed up to his court case and was given a prison sentence, which he promptly paid bail for.
Adrien Broner is a very talented boxer and athlete, but his lifestyle and life choices make it very hard to respect him.
Danny Garcia
Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
Popularly known as Danny “Gift” Garcia, WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs) is viewed by many boxing fans as one of the most frustrating fighters to get behind. Although he has beaten renowned fighters, knocking out Amir Khan and Paulie Malignaggi, Garcia should, in no way be undefeated in 32 fights.
The first fight he was ever “gifted” was a bout in 2010 against Great Britain’s Ashley Theophane. In the bout between prospects, Garcia showed numerous flaws that nearly got him floored in the eighth round. Throughout the entire fight he was outworked, outlanded, and nearly dropped by a fighter with seven knockouts.
This did not matter however, as Garcia somehow still walked away with a split decision victory. This is not the only bout that Garcia did not deserve to win either.
Four years after this, Garcia met Mauricio Herrera in a Super lightweight title bout in Puerto Rico. This fight was a repeat of the Theophane bout.
Herrera confused Garcia constantly from hitting him at odd angles and took away his signature left hook for most of the fight. Although the fans, media, and even the commentators of the fight had Herrera clearly winning, Garcia walked away with the majority decision.
These two bouts, along with a third against Lamont “Havoc” Peterson, in which Garcia was so frustrated by Peterson’s counter punching that he shoved Havoc to the ground, have driven many fans away from supporting him.
If his inability to lose a decision wasn’t enough, Garcia also is notorious for cherry picking opponents. He will never fight good competition if the need does not present itself.
An example of this was Garcia’s slaughter of lightweight Rod “Lightning Rod” Salka.
There were literally no redeeming qualities to this matchup. Garcia was a Junior welterweight champion going up against a lightweight who wasn’t even ranked.
The unfairness of the matchup was shown on fight night as Garcia decimated Salka in two rounds, knocking him out cold. His upcoming fight is similar to this as well, fighting another non ranked fighter in Sammy Vargas.
Garcia has the skills and power to be a great fighter, but no one will ever view him as any more than a cherry picker if he does not fight legitimate competition.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez
Photo by Hogan Photos
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) is a young middleweight champion who has defeated numerous hall of fame fighters and will surely be going to the hall of fame at the end of his career. As of the past year or so however, Canelo has found himself drawing the ire of many of his fans.
In boxing, the two biggest names currently are Canelo and Gennady Golovkin. The two middleweight champions have defeated nearly everyone in their path and have taken almost all the middleweight belts available.
The logical thing to do when all belts are shared between two people would be to have a unification bout, right? Apparently, that is not the case with Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions.
Ever since Canelo said, “Like I said in Mexico, ‘we don’t f*** around.’ We don’t come to play in this sport. I fear no one in this sport,” after his fight with Amir Khan, the world has expected more from Canelo than he is willing to give.
Canelo has repeatedly contradicted his own quote by ducking GGG and pushing the fight back further and further. This is not the only reason he frustrates his fans however.
His explanation for avoiding Golovkin was that he was not yet ready and would like to get back up to middleweight comfortably before taking on his hardest hitting opponent ever. This is an acceptable explanation, except Canelo’s actions do not line up with his words.
If what Canelo said were true, he would take on opposition at a higher weight. His last two opponents however have both been either at his weight or forced to move up in weight to fight him.
Canelo is continually losing respect from his fans and will continue to do so until he fights Gennady Golovkin.
