When did popularity of boxing decline in US?

Tail end of the 90's early 2000's the big drop was starting. Mayweather, De La Hoya, Jones and Pacquiao kept it going for awhile, but not having a first rate heavyweight prospect, coupled with the death of boxing in schools and gyms, had it significantly declined already from the Tyson-Holyfield-Bowe days already.

 

There was 70,000 in attendance for Crawford vs Canelo.

 

Boxing began losing TV dates somewhere in the 1990s or early 2000s, which made it harder to create a market for the next generation of stars. Even challengers to the stars who could have developed followings with weekly TV or network exposure became instead complete unknowns to the public.

The rise of MMA stole a lot of boxing’s thunder with a younger generation who wanted more of a bloodlust fix. And that (drawing the next generation of talent into the octagon instead of the ring) plus rising awareness of CTE reduced the talent pool of people even taking up boxing in the first place.

A few generations of young athletes grew up wanting to become Muhammad Ali. Then as he aged and his condition worsened, the next generations grew up not wanting to end up like Muhammad Ali.

 

A long, long time ago. When you consider boxing was the most important sport in the USA along with Baseball. It started losing popularity in the early decades of the 2nd half of the 20th century.

 

Early 2000s Don King too many Boxing authorities too many titles then the knife in the side MMA.

 

This.
All those bloody belts really messed the sport up.

 

Probably what most of posts have said. Early 2000s. Popularity wise, boxing is at its peak when the Heavyweight division is booming like in the 90s. After that, Oscar, Pacquiao and Floyd kept it afloat but the sport overall was still declining. Today it's even worse.

 

When did boxing start to decline? With the rise of video games

 

American HWs carried boxing there pretty much from the 1960s to the 1990s until the Klitschko era.

UFC didn't help either, nor having Wilder who was an overprotected borderline fraud to some extent.

 

For reference I am turning 35 this year. I would say I was one of the few boxing fans of the kids I grew up with and went to school with. I played multiple sports and rarely did other kids watch or follow the sport. There was interest in the Mayweather-De La Hoya fight and I remember most of the kids who watched it thought it was a dud. Mayweather-Pacquiao caught interest among the kids that watched Sports center and loosely followed the sport. That fight did more damage by the wait and then the let down. There was some cross over interest in the Mayweather-McGregor fight but I think that mostly stemmed from Floyd being a great salesman and Conor's cross over appeal mixed with MMA's rise

Kids in their young twenties at work follow UFC religiously but through combat sports familiarity know a little about boxing.

I think this is very different from my father's generation, born in 1956 where everyone knew boxing and idolized Ali and then got the four kings. And he would tell me about my grandfather born in 1927 and his stories about Randy Turpin and Rocky Graziano.

I'd say it slowly declined from the 70's or 80's from its peak and then slowly declined from there. I only have one friend that watches boxing so I no longer do fight parties like I used to and if I go to a fight I go solo

 

I think this summary hit the nail right on the head.

 

When Muhammad Ali, the most famous boxer in the world who inspired everyone to box, became unable to speak, trembled when he walked, and just became a sad figure ... it made kids not want to take up boxing.

If being the BEST in the world left you looking like that ... well, it turned a lot of people off.

I think Larry Donald was the last of the last who credited Ali with being his role model. He fought in the 1992 Olympics.

If you move up 20 years from Ali's last fight in 1981, by 2001, there wasn't a new generation of US boxers making it big like there had been in the past.

Mayweather seemed to inspire American youths to try to emulate him (Floyd). Success breeds copycats. But even though he made a ton of money, he was never the global celebrity Ali was.

If, in retirment, Muhammad Ali had been like George Foreman, and became a ring announcer, earned a fortune as a pitchman, and become beloved by a whole new generation of fans, I think things would've been a lot different.

But by 45, Ali was a mess physically. So, athletes in the 1980s and 1990s didn't want to emulate Ali. They wanted to be Michael Jordan.

Nobody wants to compete in a sport where you end up destroyed. That's why the NFL was so adamant (and still is) about keeping CTE under wraps. They are one generation of moms "refusing to let their sons take up football" away from calamity.

 

I'll admit it sure as hell didn't help that the most famous man in boxing ended up with his health ruined; would have been a lot better for the sport if Ali had ended up like Foreman, basically outwardly seeming unaffected by his boxing career and then living a standard lifespan. That said, the 90's did get to see both Foreman and Holmes still fighting, not having health issues, still speaking clearly, etc. The '00s did get to see a retired Lennox Lewis, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, etc, still healthy and doing fine. It was enough to be able to know it's more of a roll of the dice than a sure thing. These days, we see a lot of retired legends who are fine. So... I don't really think this was it.

I think it was UFC that caused the decline. Young American men started following UFC more, forgot about boxing other than the mega stars. And even then, the only true mega star at the moment (Canelo) is propped up by being Mexican. Had he been French or Chilean, his worldwide stardom and US fanbase would never have happened. You pretty much need to be born in Mexico, the UK, or Japan these days for boxing stardom. Being American doesn't seem to cut it anymore, and hell, even being Mexican-American doesn't seem to cut it.

 

the 1st decline was attributed to TV by the late 1950s and certainly 60s, which is reported to have destroyed all the Small Hall Boxing Venues, with people staying home watching the Tube with a few Friends & a few Browns on Friday & Saturday nights and why not.

but the Death Nail was probably the 2000s and it will NEVER Recover, I barely ever watch it, though I want to see Parker Win and fight Usyk and Win again.