3 'simple' things that would make boxing mainstream...

I think in the UK more people have Sky or Virgin Media, which is basically the same as cable. But even then if the fight is telivised on Setanta or Sky Box Office, you could still be forced to pay up to £15 additional fee's, onto your monthly charge for Sky/Virgin Media. If it is telivised on BBC or ITV, everybody can watch it.

 

1. Meaningful fights - Champion V Champion or at least a genuine contender. Unlikely I know but someone like ring magazine along with a poll of the fans could decide who is ranked and who gets to fight.

2. Fights on mainstream TV (BBC/ITV in the UK and similar elsewhere) Just look at how many 'new' fans are getting pulled in watching Khan on 'normal tv' the same way they did with Hatton at the start and Naseem Hamed, McGuigan before hand. New fans are not going to pay £15 to pay for a big fight on PPV.

3. A great heavyweight - say what you like about Tyson but he got people interested in boxing who were not before. Like it or not the heavyweight division is the flagship of the sport (genuine fans like us love to watch the skill of the lighter weights but for a new fan watching two big guys knock lumps out of each other is the winner). Where is the next Iron Mike, Real Deal, Lennox etc ???

Just my two pence worth :think

 

Yep. We need a new bad ass like Tyson.

And one title please.

 

Basically I would change the heaveyweight division, and put good fighters into it.

 

I actually like multiple belts but 3 or a maximum or 4 - no more.

 

Pay more money to the winner, pay more for KO's

Score more for aggressiveness and "making " the fight

Smaller gloves/rings

Refer only to ring mag champs and rankings

Send Don King to Siberia

 

the dvd idea is a good 1 but the way downloading is going now it is unnecessary

 

qft

 

Add in some big name sponsers (which would follow after getting Network TV contracts) and this is the list.

 

I say,

1) One champ per division.

2) Truly internationalizing the sport.

3) By all means, go back to network television!

 

Good ideas.

I still don't understand why Don King et al sit on their fight collections like Dragon's on piles of gold and not make commercial copies for retail/rental.

It's insane that Jeff Fenech and Kostya Tszyu have vastly superior career spanning DVD's with interviews with their notable opponents on them and you can't get onr for Hagler, Hearns, Leonard or Duran.

Insanity I tells ya.

I'd have even bought the Legendary Nights series fer cryin' out loud.

Delayed telecasts of fights on free to air would rock and keep the PPV folks mostly happy.

 

get espn to talk about it on sportscenter. that on its own would do a ton for the sport.

 

1. One sanctioning body.

2. No PPVs.

3. Nothing else

 

To take this debate to a more emotional and personal level. The lack of the "mainstream-ness" of boxing has more to do with politics, ideologies and emotion than anything else.

In most of the world's countries "but not the USA", a fighter, especially a champ, is considered and treated like a national figure and hero. In the US they are mostly ignored, unless their last name happens to be Holyfield, Tyson, De Lahoya or Leonard. Their primes were the last true Golden Era of Boxing for the US.

Then the liberal news media and others, started to talk about the negative side of boxing. Expounding upon the injuries and deaths. They made Ali the poster child for the anti-boxing movement. Then Tyson does what he does and he solidifies all those negative feelings and beliefs. Don King and a string of high dollar pay for view stinker fights and suddenly boxing becomes a joke.

When I was a kid, athletes especially boxers were my heroes. Now most kids and adults only know the bad stuff that these men have done. There is an underlying movement in America to get the sport of boxing changed to a less violent sport or banned altogether. The sad truth is that many of those that would like to see it banned or sissified are the same ones that use to promote it. The mainstream media and sports writers and commentators.

However, in truth, boxing and those that negatively promote it, are too blame for it's own sorry state.

 

1. A single sanctioning body with one champion per division

2. Big fights back on national television (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX)

3. More coverage on Sports Center