Boxing is dying

"As it is, the school of boxing is rapidly dying out, and when the professors of the present day have passed away it will be hard to say where the new ones are to come from." Professor Ned Donelly, The art of boxing, 1879

"Professional boxing is dying a natural death" LA Times, 1913

Dempsey Foresees Boxing's Doom; Calls for Czar to Clean Up Game; Ex-Champion Gives Sport One More Year of Life If Present Tendencies Are Unchecked--Schmeling's Right to Title Boat Defended--Louis's Qualifications Questioned
April 23, 1937

One more year at its present pace and the fight game will be washed up, Jack Dempsey bluntly predicted today. "Something must be done, and if it isn't done within the next year we just won't have any boxing," flared the 42-year-old former heavyweight master. "In the past five years boxing has deteriorated so much that all other sports have gone far ahead.

https://www.nytimes.com/1937/04/23/...ngs-doom-calls-for-czar-to-clean-up-game.html

"Boxing is not dying", said Jack Dempsey sadly, "it's dead". Even as the old champ spoke last week the corpse of a one lively sport was just barely twitching… Jack Dempsey was not the only old champ to grieve. Mickey Walker and Gene Tunney were equally mournful… "It's gone, boxing. Today you show any style and they put you on TV. They'll take anyone." Neither Tunney nor Walker knew quite what to do with the corpse." Life Magazine, 1961

"With the gradual dying of boxing as a national sport, judo seems the perfect replacement" Black Belt Magazine, 1964

Rocky Marciano did with WFLD TV in Chicago on the day before he died on Aug. 31, 1969.

Just a minute or so into the interview, Marciano was asked a question that floored me.

"Rocky, when you started up the ladder, boxing was not tainted," the interviewer began. "Boxing was a legitimate, highly respected sport. You great athletes came into boxing ... because you were hungry, apparently. What caused the demise of the indecency of boxing and certainly today, while I'll not just it as being indecent, it certainly is not an acceptable form of sport like it used to be. Why is that?"

This interview was done Aug. 30, 1969. Muhammad Ali was still banned from boxing because of his refusal to be inducted into the military service. A 20-year-old George Foreman had raised his record to 4-0 when he knocked out Chuck Wepner two weeks earlier. Richard Nixon was in his first term as president, and Watergate had yet to enter the lexicon.

Marciano did not disagree with the premise of the question. He did not stop the interview and say, "What are you talking about? Boxing is in great shape now."

Rather, he addressed the question thoughtfully and echoed points that fans still moan about today.

"Well, I think it's because boxing has become a money game," Marciano said. "It's very, very commercial. The fighters today only think of what they're going to earn. They don't have the competitive spirit any more. They've lost the boyish enthusiasm of what was once a great sport, really.

"They lost that college spirit. Today, it's how much can I make and who can I fight. I don't want to fight him because he's too good and I won't make enough money. I'd rather fight this fellow, because he's a bigger drawing card and I'll make more money and he's less of a risk."

You could take that last part and it would fit perfectly into so many of the stories written about boxing now.

https://www.keviniole.com/2025/01/0...t-todays-boxing-problems-are-the-same-as-ever

Just kidding

"Fear not, when all the kid games have faded to lore, people will still fight with their fists for money."

 

Some so called boxing fan on sherdog boxing sub forum made a thread whining about the Canelo vs Crawford card, how main event was at 12 am PT, how there was a split draw for Mbili vs Martinez fight (no mention of how much of slugfest it was), how that drives away fans

This despite reports of 41 million tuning in globally as per Netflix metrics

 

Hilarious post

I remember these exact talking points (may be too young for you) 15 years ago

After Floyd & Manny, boxing was finished, who was gonna be the next star? Boxing was done as Joe Rogan explained to us & could Joe ever be wrong? He had the Willie Pep DVD's

If you go a little further back, people said after Oscar retires who was gonna replace him:

"When Oscar retired, everyone said, 'Who will replace him?' " Schaefer said. 'Now people are saying, 'When Floyd retires, who will replace him?' Floyd might be the best boxer of all time, but he's definitely the best boxer-marketer of all time. It's easy to say boxing will die. People like to repeat what other people say. But I'd argue that, in the last 12 to 18 months, the sport has never been healthier."

https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/9669915/boxing-closer-peak-death