Club fighter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A club fighter (or clubfighter) is a professional boxer who usually fights locally and has a mediocre record. Club fighters generally are not nationally recognized and have not won any fights that show the ability to win a championship. The term is often used as a pejorative for over-hyped fighters or for older boxers when they begin to decline. For example, Floyd Mayweather Jr. called Arturo Gatti "a blown-up club fighter," even though Gatti was the WBC super lightweight champion at the time.

A club fighter is less respected than a contender, who defeats journeymen and club fighters in order to establish himself as a challenger for a world title. A journeyman is slightly more respected than a club fighter—often by way of having a superficially good record. But, a club fighter is more respected than a bum, who loses nearly every fight.

The characters Rocky Balboa in Rocky and Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront could be considered club fighters.