How do we 'fix' boxing?

yea the klits are setting an example in the HW divison. the belt would be thrown around like candy if they weren't around this day and age. its just the fanatics we can do without, i dont think the klitschkos would want people like k-man in their fan section.

 

+1

 

A little bit of all of the above and more. Having one champion in each weight class would make a big difference I think. Of course this is relatively impossible because payouts are set up to give a cut (I believe i once heard 3%) to the sanctioning body who's championship is on the line. This pretty much encourages interim championships, super championships etc. Also for whatever reason (perhaps if there's multiple titles on the line they have to split the payout) another sanctioning bodies champion cannot be voted as a mandatory contender. With all the different championships you see guys who don't deserve a title shot getting them. Anymore you basically don't have to beat anyone (for instance I know Povetkin pulled out but who did Rahman beat to deserve a title shot against Wlad?). We love to say that heavyweight boxing is horrible now compared to the 90's. But the only times during the 90's (it wasnt the entire time) that heaveyweight boxing really made a mark was when there was an undisputed champion. We haven't had one since Lennox Lewis. And in some of the less glamorous divisions it makes it almost impossible. Everytime I watch afight on HBO they show up to 4 champions and then sometimes the notables in that division that ARENT champions are more well known. All the ups and downs hurt championships too. Now I have no problem with catchweights and fighters moving divisons, it helps set up intrguing matchups but I think you should have to fight a certain number of fights (maybe even just 2) at a certain weight class before being eligible for a major championship. It is even harder now than in the 90's to have an undisputed champion. Besides the IBF, WBA, & WBC we now have to put up with the WBO (not that it wasn't around in the 90's but until fighters like Tommy Morrison and Riddick Bowe held the title it wasnt very well regarded) and The Ring title which wasnt as front and center back then either.

Of course forcing the best fighters to face each other would be amazing but again that's completely impossible to enforce unless it's the only way they make a huge payday. In a perfect world we'd have one champion in each division defending 3 times per year and each 4 months or so also have a #1 contender's match with other fighters in the top 10 fighting and then up and comers fighting appropriate competition.

Also the more fights, and more importantly more important fights on "free" or "cable" television would help. HBO & Showtime do a decent job. It would be nice if ESPN could get better fights and I do miss Tuesday Night FIghts on USA. Also if you could important boxing matches on a weekend primetime (like MMA Is trying to do) could be a gold mine. But onc eagain you'd have to actually have important fights on all of these networks.

Here in the U.S. it's just difficult to get our best athletes to be boxers. When you can come out of high school, go to college 1 year and become a multi-millionaire in the NBA, or go to college for a couple years and become the same in the NFL, or even pro-baseball, I was shocked to see how much some of the top mlb prospects get right out of high school and college. Why would a top notch athlete pass that up to start out on a boxing circuit making $500 a fight as a 4 rounder. ALot of pro-boxers still have to carry on regular jobs. Not even the last man on an NFL roster or most mlb minor leaguers would even think of having to do that.

And lastly, my most controversial opinion on why alot of america's best "possible boxers" are in other sports. Being a professional boxer does not require going to college. For the most part the "big money" sports do. In the past alot of american heavyweights came from poor, inner city neighborhoods. Now you hear those same stories on ESPN of college football and basketball players. I believe college and a "better future" is alot more accessible to poor inner city youth than in the past, therefor they don't have to find solace in a boxing gym.

 

it cant be fixed

 

have the winner get the big prize...its a way to avoid furthers De la Hoyas packing millions of dollars for taking a dive(hopkins)or quitting(Pacman).
im sure its gonna help.

 

**** ain't broke.

The extra belts are good for the fighters, makes them money. **** wasn't that much better back when you had less titles, because certain guys never got their chance to fight for it. The extra belts mean cash to more fighters, and I'm cool with that.. these guys deserve the 6 figure checks that can come with a strap.

The sport would be on main stream TV if the TV stations thought it'd get ratings.. they obviously don't.. so they don't show it. Simple as that.

They ain't taking one for the team "hoping" to drum up interest in boxing.

There wasn't really all that much boxing on free TV even back in the day, people just want to pretend there is.. hell these days there's more on basic cable than ever (and who doesn't have basic cable?)

 

I agree people live in the past, One thing would help boxing is 1 title and rest is alright, boxing is not a free to air sport anymore.

 

That's simply not true. Guys like Pazienza, Mancini, Iran Barkley, Buddy McGirt, James Toney, Greg Haugen, Terry Norris, Michael nunn even Mike Tyson, built there followings off of free TV fights.

Buddy McGirt's vs. Meldrick Taylor was on Free TV. Whitaker's fights against Ramirez and Roger Mayweather were on free TV. The Holyfield Qwai war was on free TV.

It was fairly common to see title fights at the lower and less popular weights on TV.

 

Haye was as boring as you can get when he refused to fight and just ran from Haye. I also blame the judges who were for Haye. What if both fighters were to do nothing but run, that's what Haye fans want?

 

TV is what made boxing so big before. The network channels had boxing every weekend on free television, and that is why the guys in the 1980's with Leonard and Hearns and Benitez and Duran and Hagler were so popular. They fought often on free TV in the late1970's early 1980s. Now everything is PPV. If that continues, the promoters will get the money, but boxing will suffer later on.

 

Remove a lot of weight divisions, more championship bouts needs to be televised on free cable (TNT, CBS sports, etc). There needs to be less power on promoters, **** all those sick promoters like Bob Arum, Gary Shaw, Don King.

 

dumbest post of the day, there is too much corruption between the networks, promoters, and sanctioning bodies. Lets remove some of the weight divisions, get rid of the IBF and WBO belts, and bring boxing back to free cable televisions. Also it should be mandatory that boxers should learn finance and accounting that way they can manage themselves. There needs to be MORE power on the boxer instead of the manager and promoter.

 

Boxing as recent as 1990 was still on regular TV, and they had some good fights. I remember one weekend they had something called Schlitz Malt Liquor Boxing and a bunch of good fights were on. I think Bobby Czyz fought Andrew Maynard and then they had a few prelims, it was a good day. I taped them all. Hearns used to fight on regular TV when he beat Andries in 1987-that was on ABC. And they would play back the fights on regular TV which were on PPV then, so a week later you could see it. Fights were on a lot. Julian Jackson/Terry Norris-Chavez was on regular TV.Boxing is going down because now because promoters are greedy. Cable tv does not have much boxing anymore. They used to USA network Tuesday night fights with Sean OGrady, and ESPN had boxing every week. Prime network had fights from the Forum called Forum Boxing, and this coincided with fights on ABC, NBC and CBS. So that is why boxing going down in popularity, to watch it now you need to spend money on PPV>

 

exactly. I remember when Meldrick beat McGirt like you mentioned and then fought John Meekins on regular tv a few months later. Regular TV would have certain fighters defend a few times on the same channel over a period of a few years. McGirt was a guy who used to fight often on regular TV.

 

I have seen fixed boxing for years now.