Promoter Eddie Hearn comes in for flack from different areas in the boxing world regularly for a number of different reasons. Some who have dealt with him have called him a snake, but say what you want about him, he knows how to sell boxing shows.

Boxing fans are a fickle bunch. We all for the most part want the same thing though.

To see the best fight the best and the best possible quality match ups put on. Regularly.

Over the last number of years however since the sport of boxing’s return to grace in the main stream sports world the terms “casual” and “hardcore” boxing fan have began to frequent the boxing social media sphere more and more.

Casual referring to those that take a passing interest in the sport for the occasional mega fight. Hardcore referring to those who never miss a beat within the sweet science.

In truth, both are needed. As they are in any sport for that matter. Surely.

You’re always going to have fans who are more passionate about their sports than others.

That’s the great thing about sport in general, isn’t it?

Debating the action before, during and after the event with your buddies or in today’s times – on social media for many.

In boxing though, which in the grand scheme of things is still a niche sport compared to something like soccer, where fan bases are international across the globe due to the way the sport is set up, you’d have to say there are way more casual fans than hardcore.

If it wasn’t for these casual fans of boxing there would not be the demand for the big fights in the first place, and the sport would be back to where it was in the past – barely mentioned in main stream media outlets.

Speaking to IFL TV after a press conference Hearn made a good point about the two groups:

“I know the hardcores don’t like the casuals. I do. You know why? Because there’s f***ing loads of them.”

He’s right. There’s a shed load.

Just look at the two Anthony Joshua fights last year that sold 90,000 and 80,000 seat stadium shows respectively. The numbers don’t lie. You can’t tell me that the majority of these were hardcore boxing fans.

When was the last time a boxer put 170,000 people on seats in a calendar year for that matter?

I certainly can’t remember.

It’s a necessary evil to have different types of fans. The more the merrier – and the better for boxing.