The World Boxing Championship in Baku has just ended. This primacy was no different from other international modern sports events – with the public whispering the anthems of foreign countries and wild hatred for foreign athletes.
And I remembered another, long-standing, even under socialism, world championship in boxing, which took place in Moscow. One of the first battles was engaged by an Englishman.
In general, the English are the originators of modern boxing, but this sport at that time completely vanished in the UK, and its representatives have long not been on the top stage of the piedestal. And this Englishman was considered an outsider, but the Moscow public immediately began to sympathize with him (although the relationship with Britain at the time was even worse than it is now) for the very spectacular, uncompromising manner of fighting. But he had one peculiar disadvantage – he shouted “hop!” at every hit. The rules did not welcome this, and the judge periodically made remarks to him.
The Englishman silenced for a while, but then again took the old. Then the reporter gave him an official warning. In the event of a second warning, the boxer would be disqualified, and there was nothing left but to keep the tongue behind the teeth. But apparently, forced silence was unusual to him, his technique completely disrupted, and he began to lose.
And then the audience decided to support this guy, and at each of his strikes in tens of thousands of voices shouted "hop!!!". He transformed and won the battle.
The public so accompanied his chief until the final battle with the singing "hop!". And he became a world champion – which the English did not do before or after a long time.