Amir Khan’s On Line Battle: The Pros and Cons Are Using Twitter
By Eoin Redahan
In Oz, The Wicked Witch of the West had her flying monkeys. She may have needed her magical golden hat to control them, but they did manage to bring Dorothy to her.
Light welterweight Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi may have a golden hat somewhere, but he probably doesn’t have a winged troop at his behest (blame the current economic climate); nevertheless, with the electronic wings of his twitter followers, he has managed to bring Bolton’s Amir Khan to his attention from thousands of miles away.
So, just how does a boxer go about getting inside his rival’s head over an electronic medium, and how can the attacked boxer save face without making a proposed fight happen? (P.S. Everything is quoted verbatim. RSR cannot yet claim to have mastered such adventurous spelling and grammar.)
Using twitter to peck away:
1. The Publicity Stunt
Any twitter publicity stunt should really contain CAPITAL LETTERS to make it more conspicuous. It should also make plentiful use of exclamation marks, which denote emotional intensity. Malignaggi is careful to use both:
(Feb. 2nd, 8:59) “ALRIGHT EVERYONE! EVERYONE LOVES “CON”TROVERSY SO HERE IT IS! RETWEET THIS TO AMIR KHAN TO AGREE THE CO-PROMOTION SO HE CAN GET HIS ASS KICKED! WE WILL NOT FIGHT ON SHOWS CONTROLLED BY GOLDEN BOY PROMOTIONS.”
A good twitter publicity stunt will also keep the public constantly posted. Of course, it is advisable to pave a moral high ground:
“(Feb 3rd, 10:39) “DIBELLA TALKED TO GBOY PROMOTIONS. THEY WOULD LOVE AMIR CON VS MALIGNAGGI…. ALL AMIR HAS TO DO IS AGREE!! BALLS IN HIS COURT.”
2. Name and shame
George Foreman was labeled a mummy, and Ricky swelled into a Fatton. In this instance, Malignaggi prefers to make use of the written gibe (as opposed to gibe talking). Note the use of repetition of the word “con” for reinforcement, just in case you didn’t get it the first time:
(Feb 2nd, 10:19) DIBELLA SPOKE WITH SCHAEFER TO SET UP A FIGHT WITH AMIR CON…. NOW ITS TIME FOR CON TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE! WE THREW THE FIRST PITCH!”
There are times, however, when a more wounding snipe is more effective. Puns are wonderful devices, but sometimes they detract from the barbarous nature of a taunt. The exposure of insecurity is often a better tack:
(Feb. 2nd, 9:18) “You shouldn’t throw stones if you live in a glass house and got a glass jaw, you should watch your mouth cuz I’ll break your face.”
3. Subtle use of the grapevine
The best boxers have myriad methods of hurting opponents. Similarly, a good goading twitterer must also make use of oblique taunting techniques. The selective use of critical opinion – by use of the “retweet” – is one such tactic:
(Feb. 2nd, 8:52) boxing scene: “Timothy Bradley’s Promoter: “Amir Khan is a fraud!”
Or (Feb. 3rd, 11:16) “Official score: Malignaggi vs Khan?”
There is also the private conversation technique, where a twitterer will answer his/her followers’ messages with a view to public (or Khan’s) consumption:
(Feb. 2nd, 8:17) “more respect? I’m fresh buddy, Marquez is too old.”
4. Don’t give up.
Despite Malignaggi’s best efforts, it seems that Khan couldn’t be incited into fighting him; however, perseverance is a virtue, and there are always other boxers to needle over the same medium. Isn’t Andre Berto also a prolific twitterer? Does he have any opponent scheduled? We can already hear the ominous chirping:
(Feb 8th, 20:22) “So I don’t have to answer the same questions, everyone read. Not sure whose next. It could be berto, hopefully can fight April 10th.”
And the subtle approach, just for good measure:
(Feb 9th) “POSSIBLY BERTO, NOT SURE.”
And how to take wing:
5. It was my friend – laugh out loud!
When the vitriol is flying, maintaining dignity is a delicate art. Amir Khan learns that it is almost possible to elude accountability by blaming somebody else. In this instance, a loyal friend/fan dives headlong into the flying flak:
(Feb. 4th, 9:40) “Marquez, Yes, it was a friend/fan who was updating twitter acc. I read the treads and it was wrong what he said, his spelling was bad lol.”
Khan treads wisely, but the spelling error keeps us suspicious. Not to worry, any potential seriousness is eliminated with the ubiquitous laugh out loud addendum. Lol!
6. My Promoter’s fault
In fairness to Khan, he has other silky moves in his repertoire. He defends himself manfully against a sustained character attack by assuming the posture of an obedient, mature Golden Boy fighter.
(Feb. 4th, 5:32) “Sorry don’t want to argue about the Paulie M fight, GBP have picked Marquez. Maybe fight after we can come to NYC, wen r u fighting next PM.”
And for good measure:
(Feb. 4th, 6:18) I’m not on this to argue, I think most of u guys don’t have anything to do then talk trash, I leave all fights with goldenboy.”
7. Circulating the blame game
If other methods fail, the blame can always be deflected in true I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I fashion:
(Feb. 2nd, 2:36) “Just reading the treads, paulie wot a idiot. I can’t believe this he refused to fight me so I had to take anova opponent he no,s the truth.”
Of course, this comment was made by the pseudo Khan (friend/fan), not the original (and humbly named) AmirKingKhan; so, unlike every other tweet in this article, it shouldn’t be taken seriously.