I'm Starting To Feel Like Boxing Is More Like Wrestling Than Anything Else

It is crazy with all the talent that all of them aren't clawing to get at each other. You've got 5 ****ing recognized belts including the ring. So you don't have to fight any one in the top three to even own a belt for any division. Every good boxers these days is a world champion.

They are never forced to fight the best in order to keep their belts. Its always some lame ass mando, instead of the bodies trying to make fellow champions face off. I know they won't get rid of all these damn belts its too ****ing profitable.

But something needs to happen where they can work together like once every 5 years. Then make all the champions and maybe the #1 contender face off and have an 8 man tourney per division. Each man regardless of win or loss could keep their respective belts but you will be left with a super champ.

i know the ring has the truest champs, but he has no mandos and is not forced to face his number 1 so it dorsn'r really help.

 

blasphemy

I've been enjoying boxing so ****ing much that every day i become a little bit more of a fan.

 

yep it is about hype and media, I'll agree to that.

but I have to ask how long before the "majority" tunes it out

as I recall a friend talking on a boxing board (not here) and being legitimately angry that Hopkins didn't live up to his talk of "knocking out Winky Wright"

I mean **** you'd think the majority would learn by now that all fighters are doing when they talk is just promoting their respective fights

just because they say "it's war in their" or "I'll massacre him" doesn't mean that it will happen.

because when I was say 13 or 14, the pre fight would hype me up more then anything (and this also relates to the Wrestling portion of your argument) I thought "wow these two men will just go at it, balls to the wall cuz they hate each other"

but then I grew up, and realizes that talk is just talk.

 

The talk is there to keep you tuning in, as long as your friend tuned in hoping Hopkins will score a KO like he said he will then Hopkins did his job right.

It's all about hype otherwise not enough will give a damn.

 

All great points.

Fans are at fault. The so-called real fans of boxing are just as bad as casual fans. They want to see the biggest PPV fight as possible. They are more concerned with seeing the drama unfold from the huge spectacle than actually seeing the best fighters fight.

 

How can you complain about big fights being made between great fighters. What's wrong with catchweights? In the last few years "world titles" have come to mean less and less. Titles are good as leverage as fighters try to establish themselves amongst the elite, but they are not regarded as the pinnacle of achievement they once were. Once a fighter has established himself amongst the best then a title means **** all, it's about fighting the best from there on in, not searching for trinkets. The rise of what you call the mega-fight and catchweights etc is essentially about the biggest fights being made regardless of what the silly alphabets wish, how can you possibly complain about this trend in boxing? Would you want a return to the recent past where "world champions" (e.g. your Calzaghe, Jones, Hopkins) wasted large portions of their careers fighting nothing but meaningless mandatories against same weight but completely overmatched opponants?

 

I don't see any reason to complain about boxing when it comes to the best fighting the best. What you're saying is that there are a lot of mis-matches in boxing. But most of what I've seen weren't really. Even Oscar vs Pac was hard to bet on, most of the betting went wrong. Hatton and Pac still surprised me 'cause I thought Hatton would be dangerous. Cotto and Margarito fought at national levels. Mosley and Cotto was champ vs champ. Marquez vs Diaz was a war and gave a lot of gamblers heart attacks. And the recent Cotto vs Clottey match has left us with questions on who was the better man.

I mean, some prize fighters sometimes cherry pick, get tune-up fights, or take a stay-busy fights, BUT still, the majority of the fights I get excited about are still the best vs the best.

 

but the sad thing is my friend is older then me, and he sounded legitimately pissed that Hopkins didn't get the kayo.

and regarding the "the drama unfold from the huge spectacle"

well take HBO's 24/7, where IMO the show's outperformed the fights they tried to hype up

as the build ups to Floyd/Hatton, Hatton/Pacquiao and Pac/DLH out preformed the fights

**although the Pacquiao bouts wound up disturbingly one sided, the show tried to make it seem like it would be a competitive bout.

but I think a bigger problem, and just to brainstorm ideas, is that maybe how boxing is portrayed by the media (in movies or television i.e. Rocky + The Contender)

give a poor representation for the sport of boxing.

 

you know how it works though. Think of the boy who cried wolf.

 

whatcha Gonna Do Mean Gene........when the pacster gets his hands on you!!!!!!!!!!

 

There's no better way to portray the sport in my view unless you want them to view it as human chicken fighting(UFC). These guys are just doing all they can to attract as many fans as possible, casuals being the main targets which is why it looks like a "WWE" approach sometimes.

About Hopkins, as I said, your friend can be pissed off all year in the end he tuned in and that's the goal. These guys could care less if you're 100% entertained or not, your friend could have done some research of youtube hunting for recent Hopkins fights if he was THAT interested. The goal is they attracted him with words, remember how Mike Tyson made world news starting the fiasco against Lewis?, you think he gave a damn?, it attracted EVERYONE in my school back then, even the girls. That was a WWE approach too.

It's all about selling tickets, they might say trash you won't like or do stuff that would **** off hardcore fans but as long as they attract people I'm happy regardless of the method they use.

Since when have people been claiming Hopkins is a "KO" waiting to happen due to his age?, they carried that promotional slogan for nearly every Hopkins fights since Taylor 1 all the way to Pavlik. That's what attracted people, you think Hopkins didn't know that was the way they were promoting it?, he sure as hell did and I bet you he was involved in it.

 

Void did go to wrestling and his fans bought it. LOL.

 

The problem is not getting people to tune in. It's getting them to tune in again.

If you fight a certain style and are not seeking a ko, just a w then you should not portray a certain style to fool the unknowing public.

i have this problem with Floyd as well he is a tactician who could care less about taking out his opponent. yet he still loves to sell the public that they will se a war.

Sure fans who tune into boxing whenever they get a chance know. But your casual fan will tune in looking for a slugfest and get a very tactical performance.

Bottom line don't try and sell oranges when you got apples.

 

It's certainly like wrestling in the 'pre fight hype' stage. All of the animosity is *nudge nudge wink wink* these days, typical of wrestling.

 

Yep you're right cause we all want to see the big names. Maybe we get so hyped because the general public actually cares about our sport for a s[plit second.

Nowadays I'm happy to see any boxer on sportscenter.