Why is boxing not a popular sport to watch?

....

 

:yep

 

Majority of people are sheep and only listen to what the mainstream tells 'em. You need to like this, buy this, vote for this, etc. This past year with the primaries, and the election I got into quite a few conversations with people. Most people didn't know who Ron Paul was or if he was running. Why? Because the media blackballed him. And for those that had heard of him they didn't like him because of ignorance and because the media told 'em to. "Oh, I can't vote for him because he's unelectable," "Why?" "Well, because an expert on TV said so," There you go.

Media and TV control everything, and you aren't going to be mainstream if you aren't covered by the media. In this case, with boxing, a lot of it is self inflicted wounds. IE: Bad decisions, too many belts, etc. But, the landscape has changed. Instead of old school cigar smoking men controlling things. It's Harvard men with a degree in business and kinesiology that drink fruit juice. If the mainstream media, like ESPN and other sports stations, covered boxing like they do for football, basketball, etc. Then boxing would be popular again. It's that simple, really.

 

That's it, basically. It's not on TV enough, and when it is it's for a limited audience on pay channels. Pay-per-view is outrageously priced to where only hardcore fans will buy it unless it's massively hyped by the media and the average person is molded into thinking it's cool by tv.

Not only that, but people complain too much about bad decisions, like that is the end of the sport, just because of one bad decision or even a small series over a year. NO, it's not the end of the sport. The sport is alive and well and still growing. We as fans need to stop the negativity and get the word out there that boxing is alive and well and ****ing awesome.

That is, if you care about such things. Personally, I don't particularly give a **** how many people tune in to watch, because I know I am watching and it's going to be great. I'm not too concerned about turning on more casual fans, because I can barely stand the ones that already exist. The last thing we need is 1 million new assholes who think Pac is the greatest ever just because he's the only other fighter they've seen knock somebody out in their life besides Ali and Tyson. **** that. People of that ilk can keep their heads up their asses and watch the kardashians or whatever. I don't need em. I'm enjoying the sport just fine.

Also, I somewhat reject the premise of the thread because where I live boxing is showing signs of being very healthy. During any big fight all the sports bars in the area showing the fight are sold out and lined up out the door. You can't even find parking most of the time and it's a cluster **** and next to impossible to find a seat anywhere in the place. So between that, my small group of friends who all appreciate boxing, and ESB, that's good enough for me.

 

Advertising has slowed down alot. Wheres the pepsi commercials or billboards in times square.

It jus now got put back on regular TV. Im a huge believer in people being a product of their environment. Not enough people exposed.

 

have to agree, not everyone want to spend 50-70 for a single fight. NBA NFL MLB is pretty much free on the telly

 

What exactly is the plan for the sport as a whole to bring in younger fans? Fights are shown at 10-11 pm on premium channels or ppvs while everyone is either at the bar or asleep. There's no print media coverage(although thats a dying industry) because it's too late for the deadlines. People become fans of the NFL, NBA, whatever because they grow up watching the sports with their dads, friends, etc. Boxing has taken that away from common fans and has suffered.

 

I agree, the only reason I found boxing is because my dad and my uncles always had it on

 

If people can't name 5 of the most popular boxers right now, you can be damned sure they can't remember the last time they read a news article about a no-name boxer dying from a bout. Hell, when's the last time something like that was posted on the forum? I can think of one time off the top of my head in the 3+ years I've been posting here. It's simply not a factor for mainstream audiences.

First of all, people are still living like "****ing barbarians". The president of the United States has slaughtered over a hundred children with drone strikes. Libya and Syria were/are being reduced to rubble. Hundreds of children and students and civilians have been slaughtered within the past two decades by crazed shooters. There is home foreclosure and mass incarceration and police brutality and poverty and murder all over the place.

No **** boxing isn't mainstream anymore, that's the ****ing point of the thread. Where did I say it wasn't? If you think people's sensibilities have changed, that's one argument. But it's hard to prove when a vast majority of people aren't even exposed to boxing. They don't know what it looks like, what it feels like to watch it. They don't even get the chance to be disgusted by it.

Ask somebody if they know anything about modern boxing. What are they most likely to do, shrug and say "no idea", or react by saying "why would I, boxing is uncivilized and savage"?

Make better arguments if you're gonna talk down to somebody.

 

One more small, but overlooked reason. It is a huge pain in the ass to bet on boxing in the US, even in Vegas. If you're not involved with gambling, you might not realize how many people follow fringe sports almost exclusively to gamble on them. ESPN doesn't scroll scores from the WNBA and small college games just for die hard fans.

In Vegas, you can bet on most televised fights the day of the event only. It's sporadic, though. Often no over/unders. Props only rarely. Almost no foreign fights. Online, only one US facing book has a full boxing menu. If you want to bet on fights, it's far easier to just focus on MMA. Even stuff like Bellator is pretty easy to bet on.

For a fringe sport, that extra bit of interest makes a difference.

 

Agreed.

 

What site is that?

 

Ever seen the zeitgeist movies bro?


Great post btw. Nothing further need be said. People run their lives based on the all powerful electric box.

 

To my dismay, Party hasn't been available here for years. Live betting for most fights is but a beautiful dream.

5 Dimes. If there's another one, I haven't been able to find it. Even with them, you generally have to wait for a while after the overseas lines come out.

Bet Online has a fair number of fights. Most of the big ones. The smaller ones, they're kind of all over the map with. They had Hatton and Van Heerden, including the O/U. But then sometimes they'll skip an HBO fight.