When did popularity of boxing decline in US?

No offense, but US fans weren't going to be impacted by people like Lennox Lewis or Duran either way.

And Foreman and Holmes weren't part of a new wave of fighters. They were fighters from the 70s who came back because there was really no new wave of US heavyweights who came out of the 1992 or 1996 Olympics.

The best of the last wave, Riddick Bowe (who also idolized Ali and came on the scene with Mercer, Morrison, etc.), was retired at age 29 with brain and personality issues. (Morrison was done by 26, with HIV).

By the late 90s and early 2000s, there was no new wave of heavyweights coming from US.

It doesn't happen overnight. A generation has to not take up the sport. When that happens, you have to go back and see what happened that stopped them from taking up the sport as kids to begin with.

The UFC wasn't anything in the early to mid 80s.

 

I think there is a lot of truth to this. Ali's health decline also somewhat coincided with the death of Du Koo Kim and helped create a public backlash. That also led to the move of boxing from network TV to places like HBO which less households had. I know there was also a span of tragedies in the early 1990's covered in the book Dark Trade

I think the brain injury angle and Ali being a prominent victim is an interesting point. My parents were cool with me playing football, wrestling, playing rugby and doing karate but boxing was out of the question. Now with the CTE discoveries and greater knowledge of brain injuries football is falling out of favor. I grew up in a football town and entered high school 5 years removed from a state title team. The sport's popularity was at an all-time high as far as I could tell. 85 kids came out for the freshman team before the herd thinned. I graduated college and came back to my home town and in that short span the participation dropped from 85 kids trying out down to 35. A family friend ran a youth league a town over and he had to close up shop do to lack of participation. A client of mine at the time said the same thing about his son's youth program and their high school was a powerhouse at the time. It got me wondering if football was about to head the way of boxing with parents

For these reasons I think your Ali explanation makes plenty of sense

 

I also like to add that when you saw WWE toys, t shirts and hats, posters and board games at the stores, AND also WWE produced films, and boxing did not follow suit, that is when the real decline began and I knew it was going to begin.

Vince McMahon and later Dana White knew this is how to raise a sport and securing future fans (customers). By making kids get interested. i thought that, Don King specially, loving the limelight, we were sure going to have Mike Tyson, Hector Camacho and Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard t-shirts and action figures very soon! And maybe even a few Don King ones!

Don King and Bob Arum were already in their older years and only cared about making money now and then and so they took the "attract the gamblers" model. Oscar De La Hoya and Eddie Hearn should read McMahon and White's books, but sadly they have also taken the Arum and King class in that respect!

 

Easiest question ever. When the vest stopped fighting each other as frequently. Now we only get “the best” matches when they’re 5-7 years past prime. The sport needs Dana White

 

Clearly Mike Tyson. Homie shut down netflix fighting a youtuber at the age of 97 or some such close enough like the year was 97.

Everyone played punch-out, everyone watched that **** exhibition ... kinda, I mean we watched the stream be frozen ...Point being between, no one did anything nearly as popular and you can claim in America but really it's just the world. Lennox Lewis in terms of popularity is a nobody.

What really happened is boxing lost its excitement unless you're from a bitter **** nation that's been crying about US hegemony since the 40s

I promise every gamer knows the name Mike Tyson. Every cook know George Foreman. Only sports fans and those associated with them know Mayweather. Or Usyk or whoever.





OR, US popularity and world popularity are the same damn thing, who is the hegemony? You do not think the game is fixed? silly it's always been fixed and propaganda.

 

That's actually a very good point, the merchandise route is an avenue that I don't remember any high profile boxer or promoter ever really going down. As a 10 year old kid, if I had seen a Marvin Hagler or even a Barry Michael (there's a blast from the past) t-shirt in K-Mart, I would have hounded my mom all day about it . A couple of years later, I would have been wearing a Jeff Fenech or Sugar Ray ( post Hagler ) tee.

 

Or a Jeff Harding one???

 

Absolutely loved The Hitman. You could even add Lester Ellis , Troy Waters to the list, Aussie Joe Bugner.

 

When College boxing ended in 1960. The decline became noticeable in the 80s.


At the same time the US had a lot of strucual advantages that funnled their fighters to the top. In the 80s the USBA even became the IBF. So it masked the decline for awhile until the wheels came off.

 

The thing is we still don't have solid proof Alis parkinsons was the result of him being a fighter.

 

Those damn belts

 

I think people started to lose interest when Ali began to fade in the late 70s. Boxing wasn't a center of attention any more throughout the 80s except for the very brief period at the end of the decade when Tyson had his kayo run. Holmes didn't inspire the masses and the other alphabet titleholders didn't either. Champions lost their identities as someone special because there were too many of them The only real exception to this falling off in my mind was the appearance of Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Marvin Hagler. DeLa Hoya also had a fan base for a brief period.

 

There's enough proof for me that at the very least it was brought on early because of his ring career. Look at all the fighters, famous ones too, who have suffered and are suffering from dementia.

 

We dont but it's common perception