{"id":1322,"date":"2010-02-18T00:03:34","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T05:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ringsidereport.com\/?p=1322"},"modified":"2010-02-18T00:03:34","modified_gmt":"2010-02-18T05:03:34","slug":"amir-khan%e2%80%99s-on-line-battle-the-pros-and-cons-are-using-twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=1322","title":{"rendered":"Amir Khan\u2019s On Line Battle: The Pros and Cons Are Using Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Eoin Redahan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Light welterweight Paulie \u201cMagic Man\u201d Malignaggi may have a golden hat somewhere, but he probably doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s Amir Khan to his attention from thousands of miles away. <\/span><\/p>\n

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So, just how does a boxer go about getting inside his rival\u2019s 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.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Using twitter to peck away:<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. The Publicity Stunt<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

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Any twitter publicity stunt should really contain CAPITAL LETTERS to make it more conspicuous. It should also make plentiful use of exclamation mark<\/span>s, which denote emotional intensity. Malignaggi is careful to use both:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb. 2nd, 8:59) \u201cALRIGHT EVERYONE! EVERYONE LOVES \u201cCON\u201dTROVERSY 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A good twitter publicity stunt will also keep the public constantly posted. Of course, it is advisable to pave a moral high ground:<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201c(Feb 3rd, 10:39) \u201cDIBELLA TALKED TO GBOY PROMOTIONS. THEY WOULD LOVE AMIR CON VS MALIGNAGGI\u2026. ALL AMIR HAS TO DO IS AGREE!! BALLS IN HIS COURT.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Name and shame<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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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 \u201ccon\u201d for reinforcement, just in case you didn\u2019t get it the first time: <\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb 2nd, 10:19) DIBELLA SPOKE WITH SCHAEFER TO SET UP A FIGHT WITH AMIR CON\u2026. NOW ITS TIME FOR CON TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE! WE THREW THE FIRST PITCH!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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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:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb. 2nd, 9:18) \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t throw stones if you live in a glass house and got a glass jaw, you should watch your mouth cuz I\u2019ll break your face.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. Subtle use of the grapevine<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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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 \u201cretweet\u201d – is one such tactic:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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(Feb. 2nd, 8:52) boxing scene: \u201cTimothy Bradley\u2019s Promoter: \u201cAmir Khan is a fraud!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Or (Feb. 3rd, 11:16) \u201cOfficial score: Malignaggi vs Khan?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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There is also the private conversation technique, where a twitterer will answer his\/her followers\u2019 messages with a view to public (or Khan\u2019s) consumption:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb. 2nd, 8:17) \u201cmore respect? I\u2019m fresh buddy, Marquez is too old.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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4. Don\u2019t give up.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Despite Malignaggi\u2019s best efforts, it seems that Khan couldn\u2019t be incited into fighting him; however, perseverance is a virtue, and there are always other boxers to needle over the same medium. Isn\u2019t Andre Berto<\/span> <\/span>also a prolific twitterer? Does he have any opponent scheduled? We can already hear the ominous chirping:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb 8th, 20:22) \u201cSo I don\u2019t have to answer the same questions, everyone read. Not sure whose next. It could be berto, hopefully can fight April 10th.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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And the subtle approach, just for good measure:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb 9th) \u201cPOSSIBLY BERTO, NOT SURE.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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And how to take wing:<\/span><\/p>\n

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5. <\/span>It was my friend – laugh out loud!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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When the <\/span>vitriol<\/span> 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:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb. 4th, 9:40) \u201cMarquez, 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Khan treads wisely, but the spelling error keeps us suspicious. Not to worry, any potential seriousness is eliminated with the ubiquitous <\/span>laugh out loud<\/em><\/span> addendum. Lol!<\/span><\/p>\n

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6. My Promoter\u2019s fault<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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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. <\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb. 4th, 5:32) \u201cSorry don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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And for good measure:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb. 4th, 6:18) I\u2019m not on this to argue, I think most of u guys don\u2019t have anything to do then talk trash, I leave all fights with goldenboy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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7. Circulating the blame game<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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If other methods fail, the blame can always be deflected in true I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I fashion:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Feb. 2nd, 2:36) \u201cJust reading the treads, paulie wot a idiot. I can\u2019t believe this he refused to fight me so I had to take anova opponent he no,s the truth.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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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\u2019t be taken seriously. <\/span><\/p>\n

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By Eoin Redahan \u00a0 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. \u00a0 Light welterweight Paulie \u201cMagic Man\u201d Malignaggi may have a golden hat somewhere, but he probably doesn\u2019t have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[53,105,730],"class_list":["post-1322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-amir-khan","tag-boxing","tag-twitter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}