Will heavyweight boxing ever regain its popularity in the USA

Boxing has become more international, and that's a big reason ending the US heavyweight popularity. The US still hss the most active heavyweight, but it's not a huge majority anymore. But I think same will happen to the UK again once the talent pool dries up.

 

Pretty sure the titles been edited. It just said boxing when it read it.

Also, your NHL/NBA pathetic excuse is complete utter bull**** LOL This excuse has been laughed at, dismissed and ridiculed over and over for years. (And funnily enough only came about when the soviet union countries were allowed to turn pro, and the competition got tougher,what a coincidence!)

Every country in the world has sports more popular that boxing with 6ft plus guys in. Yet no other country makes this excuse. Plus being a 'fighter' is a unique thing, a true fighter will want to fight and not do any sport, and theres nothing to suggest being good at one sport will automatically make you good at another totally different one. Heavyweight boxing has always paid extremely well so that incentive is always there.

Look at boxrec. USA has 344 current active heavyweights. That"s far more than any other country, and 28% of all current heavyweights. To put things in perspective the UK has just 46 and Ukraine has just 30 ( the two countries that are the kings of the division right now). American fighters get all opportunities on a plate in heavyweight boxing (pro deals, top promoters, top trainers, tv networks, title shots etc). There really is no excuses for their failures,they simply just aren't good enough at the moment.

 

Good points and accurate post. The opening or EE fighters to world professional boxing increased the talent pool significantly. Also let's not forget many EU countries were still struggling for decades after WW2 with rationing etc.

 

I remember going to school & people talking about Mancini, or Hagler. When Tyson came on the scene, he came up often. I can’t remember the last time I heard a conversation about boxing.

American culture is much different in 2023. I’ve seen calls for the NFL to be banned after a Buffalo Bills player was injured. I understood all the support directed towards the player but quite a bit of anger was directed toward the sport itself. I saw “It’s barbaric” quite a bit. I just don’t know if the allure of two great boxers will ever be what it used to be. Culture is different. I know I’ll get grief for this but society is less “macho”. Some of the things that grabbed me about sports aren’t celebrated anymore. I loved the NBA when guys got clobbered trying to drive the lane. That would be frowned on by many now.

 

I doubt it because we now have MMA to compete with

 

Fo now it’s No
But it really depends on The NFL & NBA
& really more so the NFL as that might get shutdown eventually (less & less kids playing because of concerned parents)

once proper research is done on concussions - the same can be said about boxing. But for some reason boxers / fighters just aren’t as protected as athletes in organized sports.

I guess that has to do with player associations - the fact that they in organized sports.

 

In every sport you need characters. Whilst I fully agree that less exposure, ppv and MMA has impacted boxings popularity, I also think sports have less characters than in the past. A lot of sports people are scripted, scared they may say something which impacts negatively, and generally show less character than in the past. If Tyson was coming on the scene now, he would be vilified and would either have to conform to being a robot or stop fighting. In an age where a single comment can get you cancelled, a lot prefer to tow the line. Most casuals I know follow Fury, Chisora or Wilder or Ruiz. They all stand out through personality or a unique story- such as Ruiz. Fans need something to captivate them and get them onboard for the ride. That is why YouTube fights are popular. Boxing needs some characters and stories, very difficult to achieve in our current society, regardless of country.

 

If we come up with some Tyson-like young charismatic knockout artist, maybe but that is a big ask.. I just don't see it happening.

 

Can Jared Anderson do it?

 

No, boxing is dead. No intresting, hyped prospects left. Hrgovic was the only one but he was exposed against Zhang.

Not an American problem, it's a boxing problem.

 

Nope.

 

Until boxing gets a proper regulatory body that isn’t completely corrupt, then boxing will continue to be a fringe sport.

You can’t have a sport that allows the best at multiple weight classes to avoid each other like the plague and get away with it.

No one would accept Manchester City in the premier league deciding they didn’t want to play Arsenal and Manchester United this season. That they needed multiple warm up games against the likes of Luton FC and Barnsley from the league below to ‘be ready’. Then for them to never play either Arsenal or Manchester United…No one would take any sport seriously that allowed that situation.

There is a serious immediate need for a fit and proper regulatory body governing boxing. Then you have the PED issue to top it all off.

The promoters who run the sport really need to do better.

That is the reason why the best athletic talent often doesn’t go down the boxing route now…

 

USA needs one or more heavyweight champions, and that would bring back popularity.
The USA needs a lineal heavyweight champion (the last one was, briefly, Hasim Rahman more than 20 years ago).