Will Boxing ever be as popular as it once was?

Is there as much professional boxing activity in the world at the present time as there was before 1950 or 1970? I don't believe it. Before 1950, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, France, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain and Italy had an incredible professional boxing activity, most of the mentioned places having far more than the present time. I came to such a conclusion while looking at numerous old editions of newspapers and boxing publications. BoxRec also shows that there was lots of boxing activity in the mentioned places before 1950.

- Chuck Johnston

 

According to BoxRec, activity reached an all-time high in the 20s and 30s, dropped off sharply during the war, made a recovery just after to reach another peak in the late 40s... after which activity dropped off once more, resulting in a post-war low during the 60s and 70s.

However, since then worldwide activity has steadily increased - to the point where there are now approx. twice as many fights as back in the 70s.

 

Considering the numbers that Mayweather-Pacquiao did, the only reason could be dying is because Mayweather retired. This is a huge year for boxing, especially to the general public.

 

Boxing is still much diminished in relation to both population and relative to other sports. Most non fans can't name the Heavyweight Champ. PPV numbers for a couple of fights are a poor indicator for the popularity of a sport. The fact that biggest event are unavailable to the general public is a bad sign.

Boxing's lack of an overall organizing body renders it to the sports entertainment equivalent of a ****roach, it is at root too good to die but the dirty business of it makes it disgusting to many. Having promoters function as stewards of the sport is like having Jared from Subway running a preschool. Innocent people are going to get screwed

 

ufc lol

 

No, never again.

 

Agreed, it's what makes the PBC so interesting. Al Haymon may become boxing's Dana White.

 

Dana Whites is an *******. I hope not.

 

Maybe in the US - but not worldwide! Certainly not over the past 40 years or so.

In 1975 the world's population was 4.07 billion. Today it's 7.32 billion. That's an increase of about 80%.

If we look at the numbers in BoxRec's database, we find that they have slightly less than 10,000 pro fights listed for the year 1975. Since then the numbers have more than doubled to around 22,000 for the past couple of years. So, yes... activity is actually keeping up with population growth.

In my part of the world (Denmark) we get EVERY Klitschko fight live on TV... so even the casual sports fan here knows who Wlad is.

As for the biggest events not being available to the general public... again, only in America! This coming Saturday, I'll be watching Abraham vs Murray from Germany, followed by the Perez-Crolla title fight from Manchester... and then at 3 in the morning we switch over to Las Vegas for the Cotto-Alvarez card. All live and non-PPV on Danish TV!

 

During the peak years (late 20s - early 30s) there were approx. 50% more fights than today. But that's of course only counting the fights known to BoxRec! I suspect there must have been lots and lots of fights back then, that went unrecorded. So, at least before WW2, the REAL numbers were likely much higher, than what can be found in BoxRec's database!

Anyway, here are their numbers (last updated in August 2013):
http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=101907&start=25

 

But back then there weren't as many health concerns regarding the sport as there are today. Or politics lol.

 

Perhaps but I would still take him over Jose Sulaiman , Don King and Bob Arum all day long.

I don't see the obnoxiousness aspect of Dana White being an issue for Al Haymon, so far he has avoided the spotlight.

 

What was the am scene like back then? It could be that there are way more amateurs today then back then.

 

I think by the 70's boxing was already beginning to get left behind by other sports in terms of where young athletes were morie likely to compete. That is why the 70's was a halcyon time for heavyweights,
black athletes had the most unfettered access and boxing still had its preeminent status during that generation's youth.

How would you compare boxing's popularity and growth with MMA there?