Is there any way fans can arrest the trend of fighters being less active

It's a mystery to me why boxers, especially heavyweights, don't fight more often.

Some fighters in the smaller divisions are still fighting 3 or 4 times a year, but most heavyweights go through long periods of inactivity. Inactivity causes a decline in boxers, many lose their focus.

For example, those with only one fight in 2025 include popular heavyweights such as Dubois, Usyk, Joshua, and Kabayel.

 

Dubois got a massive payday from Usyk fight and was KOd
Joshua has been injured for much of 2025
Kabayel I have no clue

I really think a lot of them are just waiting around for fat paydays to come their way. Why get KOd for pennies and jeopardize that.

I agree though I wish fighters were more active, doesn't seem sustainable to me.

 

There's ways, but they're almost impossible to implement.

You can't rely on orgs to push the fighters - we all know orgs aren't reliable when it comes to good judgement or good decisions.

Boycotts realistically won't ever happen.

There aren't enough serious fans to tune into only very active fighters and boost their numbers to the point that everyone wants to be active... Besides, there aren't enough of them that you'd get active on active action often enough.


I daresay some part of the problem is the absurd levels of hype - it's very easy for a fighter to get mega hype, and then excitement builds for the next fight... Fight too often and losses happen, unless you're completely manufactured and only fight the dregs of your division - and when losses happen, it takes time to rebuild hype.

I do my best to fight this by pointing out the flaws is hype narratives, but lots of people either can't or won't listen - and there's only so much one or two voices on one or two boards can have... Excessive hype is unstoppable.

 

No, it is unlikely to reverse and improve.
And I blame the fans as much as the boxers. Too many fans (mostly new fans, i guess) make excuses for it. Often parrotting some pearl of wisdom about 'the business side' they heard from a promoter or one of the media lackeys.
It's almost as if they don't want to see fights.
Also, fans are forking out for mediocre PPVs, which allows some of these fighters to live very comfortable indeed on very few fights.

I've been following boxing since i was a small boy, over 40 years I've been following this. And honestly I'm feeling I'm about done with the modern game. For a variety of reasons.

The way things are going, top boxers will be having 5-fight careers.

 

Not purchasing tickets to see them live and PPV pretty much. Boxing fans have plenty to complain about, yet all is usually forgiven once the powers that be give us the fights we want. This includes no matter how how long we wait (years). Everyone must do their part and stick it to the organizations.

 

Stop acting like they died when they lose their 0. Everytime someone loses their first fight to a top fighter theres no shame in losing to its all "he should retire", "his hearts not in it", "he got exposed".

The main reason fighters at the top don't fight is if they lose in a non title bout their career gets set back years and may never recover. Thats the way the sport is set up today. If they challenge themselves and lose everything the same fans that jeered them for "not fighting anyone" will hold losing against them.

Realistically it took decades to build this culture and it would take decades to change it but thats the big way the fans are responsible.

If you're talking about HWs thats because the division is clogged because the champions spent a decade lolligagging. Bunch of guys got in that title eliminator range and just have just been stuck there for years longer then they would be in a functional division. Thats on Fury, AJ, Wilder and Usyk.

 

In a word, no

Boxing as a top level sport has collapsed under the weight of corruption, sadly.

There was an interesting public interaction between Sulaiman (head of WBC) and Smith (head of BBBoC) at the recent WBC conference this week.

Sulaiman effectively called out the BBBoC and Smith for long being in the pocket of Queensberry. It was quite hilarious coming from Sulaiman of all people. Yet no one is really talking about it...

Essentially,

• The promoters are hanging onto the Saudi coat tails.
• Frank Warren is basically the unofficial tzar of British boxing (to some extent world boxing due to his connections with Turki)
• The media don't dare say anything
• The orgs have no teeth
• Usyk, the champion at the top knows this.
• Everything locks up below him.

The fans are just along for the ride. The casual market are far bigger, and I doubt many of them follow boxing at all, until they are told the next "big fight" has been made

 

They need the top boxing countries to come together and create a cabal....no not the right word....mob.....no, hmmm.....united front to enforce rules or not sanction fights. It won't happen but if the promotions don't want to play ball I hope they like setting up their boxing cards in Hondorus and Liberia.

 

Ok i put some thought into this. Because I think we as harcore fans have only power insofar as we are able to steer the perspective on our sport for the casuals. And we might reach the minds of the pros. But how?

I think the most efficient way is a precise idea of what makes a good fighter. Look at basketball. The hardcores over there are statistics nutcases. They have like 10 terms for achievements players could have in a game. They even account for the impact a player has when they are on or off the court. And that is casual talk. This goes as far as leading players to take suboptimal actions to optimize their statistics. Not taking risky shots when they are needed for the team etc.

Now let's imagine we coin a new term that catches on. That fans start to use like they already use 'undisputed', 'undefeated', 'ko-ratio' etc to judge a fighter. Let's call it 'heroism' or something.

Heroism of the last 5 years =
For every fight from the last 5 years
Take the odds that the fighter wins
And multiply all of them.

That's the heroism number for the last 5 years. Betting odds can not be manipulated. Number of fights can not be manipulated.

If someone likes to fight once a year where he has 1.05 odds to win, the heroism will be very small.

If on the other hand someone fights 3 times a year with odds around 1.7-2.5 or more... You will have very high numbers.

It would depend on something like that catching on. If media start to evaluate careers with that measure you will see changes. Look at how mayweather and all the world were going on about the longest undefeated career. Sugar ray robinson was undefeated for his first 150 fights or something. Still to the world mayweathers record still means a lot. He was able to sell himself also based on that.

'heroism' or however you want to call it makes more sense, since it is way closer to the fan's actual perspective of what they want to see. If it catches on it might change something. If you can sell fighters with it. But something like that only works if lots of people are interested in it, like they are in undisputed now (which is also not the greatest measure of greatness)

 

They are clearly over paid and don't need the money. Why else would you fight often? Its a tough sport. UFC fighters more often because they need the money until they become stars and get paid enough. The culture is just difference in general.

It also makes me laugh how haters blamed the PBC for their fighters being inactive when they can't force a fighter to fight.

 

Only money and orgs can make a difference really.

 

If people stop giving them 'pay days' by purchasing fights and going to big events, fighters would simply not be able to make the money. If a fighter is annoying you for not fighting, punish them by not buying their fights. But the masses love throwing their money away on bread and circuses and are shockingly easy to manipulate by media.

I mean let's be real, Chisora could headbutt some Englishman and spit on his wife at a football game and if there was a Chisora PPV the next week, the Englishman would still buy it to support 'War Brit Chisora' and have his big satdee night with the lads and his indian takeaway while his liberated bird is out getting drunk with the gals at a new hip-hop club in Sowf London, dirty dancing in her new Union Jack crop top.

That's the 'market' you're dealing with.

 

Yes, easily.

Stop paying to see the mega-events and rather attend multiple smaller events with lesser known fighters. If the emphasis is taken off "protecting the zero" and instead on watching more boxing, the economics will dicatate that more fights = more money.

It would also help out lesser known fighters by tossing some coin their way.

 

The fans have a lot to do with it. Fighters are millionaires before they even fight the top guys. Fans turn on fighters that lose. There really isn't any good reason for a fighter to fight 3-4 times a year or risk losing to the top guys when they make millions fighting B-C level opponents and have millions in their bank account. They just try to position themselves into getting that huge payday.