1. HBO and showtime those are the two main places to watch boxing. alot of people i know dont have HBO and damn sure aint about to pay 50 dollar to see no man fight. people get to watch the NBA championship and the super bowl for free and those sports are more popular than boxing. not sure if we should get rid of HBO boxing but we damn sure need to get rid ppv boxing 2. how they promote fighter and fights. were are the fighters tv time besides a press conference that you can only see online. were the endorsemnt deal,they can aleast have a gatorade commercial alot of other sports have em basketball, football, hockey and soccer. boxing should have one too, use the most popular man in the sport which is Oscar or the p4p king floyd and try to grab some new fans. you cant just rely on oscar and hatton to bring ppl to a fight. and for them to be the most popular in the sport, my generation ages 15 - 20 in my area do not no them. im watching the the Oscar and PBF fight on my Ipod in school and a few dudes ask me whats they name. they dont know the best fighter in the sport or the most popular fighter, all they knew was ALI. one thing i can say about floyd though since he is not boxing, is aleast he on tv maybe can grab a couple more fans for the sport. maybe we should do want UFC is doing put a real boxing reality tv show(not like contender, good show though) on spike tv and put boxing matches on tv every other day. it can't hurt 3. some of the fans are disrespectful especially some ppl on esb your disrepect all time greats like Ray Rabinson and ALI. everybody entitle to their opinion but threads like Ali is overated are ignorant and disrespectful, they took away some of his prime years and he was still that dude. floyd hater and some cotto supporter call floyd a fraud and gayweather then floyd fans comes into threads to defend him and start trash talkin cotto. ppl call hopkins popkins. talk about joe cal puches calling them slap. your dont help the sport any your can turn off a potential fan. for example say im a new fan that just got into the sport, i say i like floyd and your a cotto supporter thats thinks floyd ducking cotto. you tell me that floyd real name is fraud gayweather and not a real man bc he wont fight cotto. and i start believing the p4p is a fraud to and stop follwing the sport. it can happen. we need to support are athletes for the sports sake That my opinion on way the sport is in the situition its in now
1. Fans are obsessed with the past. 2. Alphabet soup 3. Corrupt promoters 4. Fighters ducking each other (all have been guilty at some stage)
You are right on all counts and its nice to see someone so young have such a good head on their shoulders. In the old days great fights were on tv. I remember when HBO was new and it was a big thing to have Leonard on it. But also remember flipping through basic non-cable channels and getting excited to see Julio Cesar Chavez on one of the non network channels we recieved from Mexico. On ESB every fighter gets dogged pretty visciously but just remember its all in fun. Everytime these posters dog someone they end up tuning in to watch their next fight! Fighters like Calzaghe, DLH, Bhop, Hatton, Mayweather, Cotto, and Margarito all have their detractors but when they fight you can rest assured we are all tuning in.
The first 2 points are valid. But, one reason why boxers are not on tv and doing commercials is becuase boxing is not popular. It's sort of a cycle.... As for the third point, saying something like "Ali" is overrated is not all that disrespectful. Partly because he is, but mostly because athletes from all sports face criticism. Basketball fans talk about how Jordan is over rated, American Football fans talk about how Peyton Manning sucks. That type of debate brings in more fans than it turns off. People like to argue about who is the best and who is not.
And this is where the promoters and HBO and showtime and Versus etc are trapped in a difficult spot. If you don't have a boxer with mainstream exposure from The Olympics, you're kind of screwed. You have to either hope a fighter catches on with his style or his story or you have to create a star (and risk shoving him down the throat of your viewing audience) to make him commerciable. The lack of mainstream focus on boxing isn't helping in either case..partially because people who I talk to feel it's way too rigged, contreversial, boring or all of the above. It's what happens when your main competition in the fight world is offering knock outs at a premium.
1. No casual fan is going to fork out for PPV - and so they shouldn't. But how do promoters expect to turn casual fans into hard-core fans if they deny them access to the best fights? 2. Lack of recognised world champions, most world title belts mean very little. 3. The timing of the decline in boxnig's popularity could not be worse. Over the last 15 years, the money flooding into other sports has shot up exponentially. The improvements in marketing of other sports have left boxing way, way behind. American Football, soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, baseball, rugby etc. are now more part of culture than ever before. If you go to a small town in a 3rd world country, you are still likely to see kids running around with (fake) Manchester United Shirts & Yankee caps. They have no idea who Kelly Pavlik is.
Those are all valid points however it doesnt mean boxing is not popular Boxing is popular just not as much as some other sports On a positive note it's up to boxing junkies like us to push the sport on our friends and acquaintances.... Boxing is a sport with definite peaks and valleys...after Lennox(among others) retired people sort of didnt give a ****(for good reason to the average Joe)But now after many years and just a little marketing people are starting to see boxing and it's lighter weight classes...Also people are starting to recognize boxing ASIDE from the Heavyweight division...These are all good things......The next few years will be even better......and then it will likely hit the shithouse again
Boxing Has Probably Gotten To The Point Of No Return... Hbo & Showtime Showings Don't Help A Lot But Ppv Killed It , It Gave The Last Stab To The Sport. When This Last Generation Of Fans (25-30 Maybe) Fades, So Will The Sport. Every Sport Is Dependent On New Generations Of Fans To Survive And Boxing Failed Miserably To Attract Younger Guys... I Don't Think, But I Am Sure It Is Too Late Now. Young Kids Won't Watch It When Is Not Popular With Other Kids Around Them (believe Me, I've Tried With My Kid And His Friends) And Btw They Do Like Sports, Just Not Boxing. They Don't Know Anything About It And They Don't Care Either.
Scary but I agree. I like the sport probably cuz of childhood memories. But if I didn't have those, who knows....
I Remember When Ppv Was A New Thing And There Were Rumors That Ppv Was Going To Be How All Big Sporting Events Were Going To Be Handled (world Series, Super Bowl, Etc.). I Guess Other Sports Just Watched On The Sidelines How Boxing Fared With It Before Jumping On The Bandwagon... They Did Good... Actually They Did Great... They Saw Boxing's Demise And Learned A Lesson @ It... Too Sad For Us Boxing Fans But True.
Remember we live in a very PC culture that does not think highly of two men beating on each other. 50-60 years ago it would have been a non-issue. Things weren't so PC and fights were just expected to happen. The sport as a whole is just frowned on. Closed circuit television and PPV is really the only way boxing is surviving these days.
I'd agree with that if MMA wasn't so hot right now or if DLH/FMJ wasn't such a hot ticket when it happened. Everyone is into UFC that I know...and the fact that EliteXC/Strikeforce is going to be on CBS next week tells me there's still a high premium on "two guys beating the **** out of each other" I think you dig onto the realer aspect though....boxing doesn't have ENOUGH of two people beating the **** out of each other.
Damn I think some are really getting carried away and depressed here.......... I very simple way to measure this is this site....membership since I've joined has close to doubled and guess what it's not all 50+ year old men either(judging by some of the posts) So no need to panic boxing is doing better than most think........ Also its not a sport that needs a shitload of marketing like other sports, this has been true for many, many years.....this is a historical universal truth Cheers
1. The lacking of a legit world champ: I dont care if one fighter holds the WBA WBC IBF IBO WBO and Ring Belt it still confuses people... Go look on BoxRec the fighters like Ray Robinson when they fought for the title in simply says World Welterweight title or World Heavyweight title when we bring that back the sport will be alot better off 2. The sport making a fool of itself: At the end of the day boxing is the town bike used by everyone.. 40 year olds 50 year olds 60 year olds making comebacks... Stars from other sports planning one fight to make alot of money than get out... When boxing stops getting made fun of and stops making itself look ridiculous the fans and media will treat it better 3. Ripping off fighters on THE BIGGEST STAGES: Now ripping off a fighter no matter if its De La Hoya or an insignificant undercard 4 rounder is wrong dont get me wrong but the sport is hurt alot more when the whole world is watching... For example De La Hoya Vs Trinidad De La Hoya Vs Mosley II Lewis Vs Holyfield I... look at it the biggest fights on the biggest stages when everyone is watching this is when the judges decide for one reason or another hey lets rip this guy off!!! People dont wanna see that **** and when they do it pisses them off and turns them off!! Us hardcore fans support the sport no matter how much it shits us but the general fan? no way it turns them away right away!