Boxer combats cyberbullying by tracking down his Twitter bully
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J. Will
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Boxer Curtis Woodhouse lived out the private fantasy of countless athletes on Monday, forcing a confrontational Twitter tormentor to back down by turning up at his house.
Woodhouse, a former professional soccer player in his native United Kingdom, snapped upon receiving a series of taunting tweets from a user named "The Master" after losing his English lightweight title to Shayne Singleton in a controversial bout last weekend.
"Whats funny u put so much effort in, sacrificed all that time and failed to defend your Mickey Mouse title," was one of the more palatable messages from the @jimmyob88 handle, part of a stream of rants laced with offensive language.
Yet the keyboard warrior soon had the wind taken out of his sails when Woodhouse apparently tracked down the user's address and drove to his street, believed to be in Sheffield in the northern English county of Yorkshire.
Upon his arrival, Woodhouse tweeted a photograph of the street sign, stating: "Right Jimbob, I'm here! Someone tell me what number he lives at, or do I have to knock on every door."
At that point the clearly (and understandably) flustered Twitter "troll" decided discretion was the better part of valor, and hastily retreated into a neutral corner of cyberspace, offering a series of apologetic messages and insisting his taunts were merely intended in jest.
Woodhouse took his leave and it is understood that the pair never met face to face, but by the time the fighter had returned home his actions had gone viral on the internet.
The extraordinary exchange prompted a flood of social media attention for the 32-year-old, who turned his back on soccer at the age of 26 after becoming disillusioned with the sport, despite earning a significantly higher salary than he subsequently managed in boxing.
Former world champion boxer Ricky Hatton messaged Woodhouse to voice his amusement, as did notorious English soccer player Joey Barton, who now plays for Marseille in France. Barton, who has routinely become involved in Twitter arguments in the past, went so far as to describe Woodhouse as "my hero."
Followers even likened his vigilante approach to that of actor Liam Neeson in the somewhat painful Taken movies that remarkably avoided the Oscars radar.
Ever since Twitter became part of the culture of modern sports, athletes have lamented their susceptibility to unfettered abuse, with pro tennis player Rebecca Marino citing cyberbullying as a major reason behind her retirement at the age of 22.
Woodhouse took a more confrontational approach that might not be to everyone's taste, though given his antagonist's trembling reaction it seems unlikely that he will be troubled by the same source again.
On a personal note, this is not only one of the more unusual stories I have written, but also one of the most surprising. I dealt with Woodhouse on several occasions during his soccer career and he always came across as being especially mild-mannered, to the extent that it was a major surprise when his change of career became known.
But it goes to show that everyone has their limit – and that a professional fighter might not be the most sensible target for aspiring Twitter tormentors.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/boxing--boxer-combats-cyberbullying-by-tracking-down-his-twitter-bully-024738024.html
Woodhouse, a former professional soccer player in his native United Kingdom, snapped upon receiving a series of taunting tweets from a user named "The Master" after losing his English lightweight title to Shayne Singleton in a controversial bout last weekend.
"Whats funny u put so much effort in, sacrificed all that time and failed to defend your Mickey Mouse title," was one of the more palatable messages from the @jimmyob88 handle, part of a stream of rants laced with offensive language.
Yet the keyboard warrior soon had the wind taken out of his sails when Woodhouse apparently tracked down the user's address and drove to his street, believed to be in Sheffield in the northern English county of Yorkshire.
Upon his arrival, Woodhouse tweeted a photograph of the street sign, stating: "Right Jimbob, I'm here! Someone tell me what number he lives at, or do I have to knock on every door."
At that point the clearly (and understandably) flustered Twitter "troll" decided discretion was the better part of valor, and hastily retreated into a neutral corner of cyberspace, offering a series of apologetic messages and insisting his taunts were merely intended in jest.
Woodhouse took his leave and it is understood that the pair never met face to face, but by the time the fighter had returned home his actions had gone viral on the internet.
The extraordinary exchange prompted a flood of social media attention for the 32-year-old, who turned his back on soccer at the age of 26 after becoming disillusioned with the sport, despite earning a significantly higher salary than he subsequently managed in boxing.
Former world champion boxer Ricky Hatton messaged Woodhouse to voice his amusement, as did notorious English soccer player Joey Barton, who now plays for Marseille in France. Barton, who has routinely become involved in Twitter arguments in the past, went so far as to describe Woodhouse as "my hero."
Followers even likened his vigilante approach to that of actor Liam Neeson in the somewhat painful Taken movies that remarkably avoided the Oscars radar.
Ever since Twitter became part of the culture of modern sports, athletes have lamented their susceptibility to unfettered abuse, with pro tennis player Rebecca Marino citing cyberbullying as a major reason behind her retirement at the age of 22.
Woodhouse took a more confrontational approach that might not be to everyone's taste, though given his antagonist's trembling reaction it seems unlikely that he will be troubled by the same source again.
On a personal note, this is not only one of the more unusual stories I have written, but also one of the most surprising. I dealt with Woodhouse on several occasions during his soccer career and he always came across as being especially mild-mannered, to the extent that it was a major surprise when his change of career became known.
But it goes to show that everyone has their limit – and that a professional fighter might not be the most sensible target for aspiring Twitter tormentors.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/boxing--boxer-combats-cyberbullying-by-tracking-down-his-twitter-bully-024738024.html
Comments
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DIDN'T READ!
Kudos to anyone to finds out somebody's whereabouts and beats the ? out of them for being an internet tough guy. -
Woodhouse caught a lifetime's supply worth of feelings.
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Gold_Certificate wrote: »Woodhouse caught a lifetime's supply worth of feelings.
Very true. Part of me wants to laugh at his ass for spilling his feeling in the air like that. Another part of applauds him for putting the ? in his place. I had to explain to this white dude at my gym something similar recently. You can't act like a tough guy...then be shocked when someone pulls ya card. -
The bully ? out, what a soft crumpet ass ? .
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It was shadyteam, wasn't it?
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smh...
in real life showing up to fight someone who was talking ? is a win....and ? out of the fight is a L
but in the internet...showing up to whoop someone ass who was talking ? is a L cuz you caught feels.....and ? out is a W cuz you trolled..
smh.... -
If "jimmyob88" didn't apologize like a ? , it'd be a flawless victory on his part.
But now, both parties lauced. -
Woodhouse won. Had the the gawdlike Twitter poster retreating.
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Title should be changed to "weak ass boxer catches feelings"
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Lol, funny story but if you troll online make sure you work and ready to knock a ? out and have that blue steel to seal the deal if he gets crazy.
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SMH @ Being "cyberbullied" as a grown-ass man.
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smh...
in real life showing up to fight someone who was talking ? is a win....and ? out of the fight is a L
but in the internet...showing up to whoop someone ass who was talking ? is a L cuz you caught feels.....and ? out is a W cuz you trolled..
smh....
So what you saying is that the Internet is the real life Bizarroworld? -
I read thread title and automatically assumed it was jamel b
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pelle pelle wrote: »I read thread title and automatically assumed it was jamel b
I haven't tracked him down yet -
smh...
in real life showing up to fight someone who was talking ? is a win....and ? out of the fight is a L
but in the internet...showing up to whoop someone ass who was talking ? is a L cuz you caught feels.....and ? out is a W cuz you trolled..
smh....
In real life showing up to fight someone who was talking ? can still be all about feelings. It just depends on what was said.
Fist cracking bones in somebody's skull typically overshadows the fact that feelings were caught though. -
dont nobody see that ol boxer buddy was stupid as ?
he must have got hit in his ? too much
he just show up to a ? house, i guess expectin to fight cause he a boxer
? around and get shot in the face for tryin to be hard -
lol dude said he was going to knock on every door looking for the troll. How he gonna get shook by that? Dude didn't even know what he looked like. He should have hit him with the: "Go ahead and knock on every door. Start with the back doors cause I hear that's how you take it ? ."
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Guess there's a couple @jimmyob88' types in this thread.
Trolling someone on a message board....meh
? with someone about their real life.....atleast be able to back up what u say. -
now some of you nig-nogs take a note and meet up already instead of always just talking about it
just give me a time and a place -
Kai seem like the type to round house kick you
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IMA KEEP TALKIN ? ABOUT KATT, I HOPE SHE "? " FOR ME
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Ignorant ? get brave and post ? online that they would probably keep to themselves if such forums like this one and others didn't exist.
I came from a time and place where if you talked ? ? would quickly pull your hoe card.
With the Internet and boom of social networks the last few years it makes it a lot easier to talk ? anonymously from the comfort and privacy of one's home with little to no regard for the repercussions of those actions or retaliation.
A lot of those little keyboard gangsters post on this site. -
Boxer was a real ass ? .
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? couldn't win in the ring, so now he's out chea trying to fight regular people.
SMH.