Are boxing stars a thing of the past?

Part of the reason for the lack of big time boxing stars these days is that there are too many orgs and it is unclear to people, including the media, who the champions really are.

If you are not a 'world' champion these days you are a nobody and there are so many 'world' champions it is no longer a big deal being one anyway.

Decades ago if someone was introduced as a world champion people stopped what they were doing and paid attention. These days they just go, yeah so what.

 

This is not true one bit... No idea where you're getting this from.

UK: Anthony Joshua, David Haye, Tyson Fury
Everyone knows AJ in the UK, he will walk down the streets and everyone would recognise him. He does hundreds of thousands of PPV buys and can sellouts huge stadiums (80,000+ seaters).

Ireland: Katie Taylor
Small country but I felt it should be mentioned as Katie Taylor (now pro) can walk any street in Ireland and everyone will recognize her. She is as big in Ireland as Anthony Joshua is in the UK.

Kazakhstan: Gennady Golovkin
GGG can walk most streets there and most will recognise him. He is a big name in his home country.

Germany (Austria & Ukraine): Wladmir Klitschko
Klitscko sells out massive arenas and everyone recognises him.

Mexico: Canelo Alvarez
Easily sells out 80,000 seater stadium in Mexico and draws 18 (27 combined) million viewers on TV. He's an icon there.

Manny Pacquiao:
Do I really need to talk about this? He can walk the street in any country and be recognised.

These fighters are only the ones that are at the top of my head. Boxing is going fine in the rest of the world, just not in the states. Don't take america's failure at making boxing stars as a representative of the rest of the world.

It's america that isn't doing things right, probably due to all of the ***** american fighters not willing to fight.

 

The older generation of stars is going away, so right now we're just in a transition to the newer stars. Mayweather, Pacquiao, Cotto, and Klitschko are at the end of their roads. Now is the time to pay attention to the likes of Thurman, Joshua, Lomachenko, etc. GGG has a decent level of recognition. It's just a transition phase, boxing is not dead. Out of the rubble and wasteland comes a new hero. We just gotta wait and see who the next shining star appears, may not be a "glamor-division" welterweight.

Also don't forget Canelo, Fury (if not retired), or Broner, to name a few who all already have pretty good public recognition, albeit not as big as Floyd or Pac. Boxers like Robert Easter Jr. and Errol Spence are rising in popularity. Mauricio Herrera gets recognized all the time in Riverside (but not star level, lol).

In addition, regarding media exposure, boxers are in a lot of mainstream movies nowadays, such as Rosado, Victor Ortiz, Ward, and Bellew to name off the top of my head (yes, I saw Creed). Otherwise, lots of boxers have pretty large followings on Instagram and post very regularly. Shannon Briggs has a pretty decent social media following. I think boxing isn't bigger on social media not because the promoters choose not to use social media, but because most promoters are too old to really understand how to manipulate it for their purposes.

Now we wait for a good, belligerent, obnoxious trash-talker who is able to win. That's why I think Broker has any recognition. That's also why I think if Conor McGregor decided to switch to boxing, he would become the new star (if he could last in boxing). I got big hopes for Crawford but he's too classy for it, maybe. Hope he doesn't just become another Tim Bradley.

 

It's not unlike why today's rock stars can't match those of the past,you need to have crossover appeal,AJ is big in the UK but not in the US,I also think too much pay per views killed boxing for the masses,Thurman v Porter and David Hayes recent mismatches proves that there are plenty of fans who'll watch on normal to.

 

The countries you named can all fit in Texas. The United States has 2 coast lines it's huge and has over 300 million people. We have more entertainment than every country in the world not everyone is going to be a fan of boxing. Boxing has about 1 million true fans here and that's it. Fighters need to learn to help promote themselves instead of begging old fighters to make them popular.

 

Yeah, 300 million people and you guys still dont have a fighter that can break 100k ppv buys.
You're using your country's population as an excuse, but it's just another point that proves americans are at fault for not making superstars. Your argument makes absolutely no sense.

Also, all those countries can fit in Texas? I really hope you don't study geography...

It's common sense - america has 300 million people yet you guys fail to create any stars.
I know it may hurt your ego, but america has failed to make a star presently. You need a mexican to do PPV buys over there haha

Also boxing has 1 million fans? Where the **** did you get this figure from? Right out of your ass - that's where.
Thanks for your reply

 

lol why the aggression in your reply? It was a perfectly reasonable debate until you just, well... exploded. Very odd...

 

Boxing is more of a niche sport these days, partly due to the way boxing is structured which makes it difficult for TV networks who want more organised and regular sports. With other sports you get a regular season, you get big events set on certain dates like F1 Grand Prix's or Tennis Grandslams.

Other sports have also become far more professional in regards to how it handles itself and therefore deals with TV networks, while boxing is still a disorganised bunch of bodies all with their own agenda and way of doing things. The fractious nature of boxing, when fights can be put together or fall apart at anytime and the irregular schedule this brings makes it hard for networks to work with boxing. In a competitive market place where there are so many sports vying for attention boxing has suffered.

 

Tony Bellew

Discuss....

 

I agree. Plenty of people would tune in for good boxing if it's for free. I think that was the part of Klitschko's success in Germany and other European countries, people want to see some boxing once in a while and he was the biggest name to watch. If his fights were on PPV there wouldn't be that much demand but if it's free then many people will tune in. Boxing needs more of this people's champ approach, I think PPV model clearly isn't working in the USA anymore, Kovalev vs Ward fight will prove this.

 

there will always be a couple boxing stars.