Boxing deserves its niche status

It's just the nature of combat sports. The biggest stars fight only 2 times a year and you can only have so many stars and big names. It's not like football where Barcelona and Real play 2 times a week or tennis where you have all those grand slams and tournaments all year long. It's destined to be boring for most of the time, that's why you look forward to good fights that much more.

Also, if you'd have only big fights all the time those talented stars would rack up losses and everyone would be saying how they were "exposed" and "overrated". The reason why fans are interested in those fighters in the first place is because they've been carefully built up. People want the UFC model in boxing but the downside is that in the UFC they feed their young talents to the sharks immediately and often ruin them.

 

Yeah but most of the time it's not about young talent not being fed to the sharks, it's about two established fighters not facing each other... Look at Floyd-Pac, Stevenson-Kovalev? One happened way too late and the other still hasn't happened and already one guy looks past his prime. It's ludicrous.

 

Szpilka Wilder and Kovalev Pascal were fun fights to watch.

 

That's right, in the NBA or the NFL fans get a chance to see their favorite players compete at least a dozen times a year. In boxing you get one or maybe two most of the time. That has a considerable impact on salaries and ratings.

Basically, the revenue is all being generated by television, which makes these guys entertainers. The stars are leading men. How successful would your favorite television show be if it only aired two half hour programs a year? Their salaries generally lag behind other sport's salaries because they contribute less air time, do less press, and hence get lower ratings.

To bring boxing to the same level of popularity as the NBA, MLB, NHL, or NFL all of the top fighters would need to fight as much as Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong, Archie Moore, Sam Langford, Willie Pep, or maybe just as much as Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Alexis Arguello. Jorge Paez was the last network television boxing star back in the 90s on NBC partly because he would fight 7-10 times a year and could keep his momentum and build a following. Boxers would also need to go on talk shows and keep an active presence on social media like facebook and twitter.

 

That's why the UFC is so popular. They basically function as some sort of league, constantly putting on one show after another. They have a solid enough fanbase who're basically fans of UFC and will watch anything UFC sells them. They get those fans to be interested in #6 in the division fighting the #8 guy. Boxing on the other hand is just too top heavy and casual fans only care about 10 or so elite fighters who're spread over different divisions and very rarely fight each other.

In boxing it was only about Pacman and Floyd for years, building up momentum for one single fight for almost a decade and most of boxing discussions revolved around that fight. Hell, even now half of the threads here are about these two guys. So it's obviously boring when half of the discussion among fans is about a fight that happened a year ago and the other half is about fight that unfortunately probably won't happen until next year (GGG vs Canelo).

 

MMA fans are not fickle as boxing fans. Example would be the sudden write off of Manny Pacquiao. All those years of wars and entertainment for people to just write him off because of 1 fight.

I'm still a Rampage fan and how many times has he tapped? Him still a Shogun fan, Rashad Evans, hell I'm a McGregor fan and I hope he takes the rematch and talks more ****.
Boxing does not have that type of love for everyone because we allowed the sport to revolve around 1 man and his goals.:verysad

 

Really though I feel like the late 90s-mid 2000s were strong. Boxing fell off hard starting around 09 I think.

We had Trinidad, Mosley, DLH, Gatti, Ward, Morales, Barrera, Pacquiao, Marquez, Vazquez, Marquez, Margarito, Williams, Martinez, Cotto, Tszyu, Hatton, Froch, Pascal, Kessler etc.

I can't think of any top level newcomer today that's currently as entertaining as any of those guys. Not a one.

I have little interest (comparatively) in watching GGG KO Martin Murray or Sergey Kovalev clowning a 50 year old. Or Canelo being a *****. Or Loma being ducked. Or Ward going inactive. Or Lara and Rigo running away. Or Postol and Crawford not fighting.

 

In terms of the quality of talent, the frequency of competition, and the quality of competition,the current era doesn't seem to be one whit inferior to that of 1965.

1965
Heavyweight
Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson

2015
Heavyweight
Wladimir Klitschko vs Bryant Jennings and Tyson Fury

1965
Light Heavyweight
Jose Torres vs Willie Pastrano and Tom McNeeley

2015
Light Heavyweight
Sergei Kovalev vs Jean Pascal and Nadjib Mohammedi

1965
Middleweight
**** Tiger vs Juan Carlos Rivero and Rubin Carter and Joey Giardello

2015
Middleweight
Gennady Golovkin vs Martin Murray and Willie Monroe Jr. and David Lemieux

1965
Welterweight
Emile Griffith vs Manuel Gonzalez, Jose Stable, Eddie Pace, Don Fullmer, Gabe Terronez, Harry Scott, Manuel Gonzalez

2015
Welterweight
Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao and Andre Berto

1965
Junior Welterweight
Carlos Hernandez vs Eddie Perkins and Mario Rossito and Percy Hales

2015
Junior Welterweight
Lucas Matthysse vs Ruslan Provodnikov and Viktor Postol

1965
Lightweight
Carlos Ortiz vs Ismael Laguna and Ismael Laguna

2015
Lightweight
Jorge Linares vs Kevin Mitchell and Ivan Cano

1965
Junior Lightweight
Flash Elorde vs Rene Barrientos and Teruo Kosaka and Frankie Narvaez and Kang-Il Suh

2015
Junior Lightweight
Takashi Uchiyama vs Jomthong Chuwatana and Oliver Flores

1965
Featherweight
Vicente Saldivar vs Raul Rojas and Howard Winstone

2015
Featherweight
Leo Santa Cruz vs Jesus Ruiz and Jose Cayetano and Abner Mares

1965
Bantamweight
Fighting Harada vs Dommy Froilan and Eder Jofre and Katsuo Saito and Alan Rudkin

2015
Bantamweight
Shinsuke Yamanaka vs Diego Ricardo Santillan and Anselmo Moreno

1965
Flyweight
Salvator Burruni vs Jo Horny, Pone Kingpetch, Francisco Berdonces, Demetrio Carbajal, Jerry Stokes, Michael Lamora, Horacio Accavallo, Katsuyoshi Takayama, Rocky Gatellari

2015
Flyweight
Roman Gonzalez vs Valentin Leon and Edgar Sosa and Brian Viloria

I was expecting the older guys to all have more fights than moderns or much stiffer competition, but for the most part it looks about the same. For all of our *****ing, things haven't really changed that much.

I also like the contrast of Lemieux and Carter at middleweight.

Aside from Flyweight and Welterweight, every champ was keeping a pace that our moderns could match with two or three fights a year. And usually, there was only one really solid opponent per year, just like now.

 

In terms of exciting fights we might actually be doing better than in the 90s.

1980
Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Yaqui Lopez II
Kim vs Mathebula
Minter vs Antuofermo
Lupe Pintor vs Alberto Davila II
1981
Leonard vs Hearns I
William Lee vs John LoCicero
Pedrosa vs Ford
1982
Pryor vs Arguello I
Bobby Chacon vs Rafael Bazooka Limon IV
Wilfredo Gomez vs Lupe Pintor
Limon vs Navarette
Navarette vs Choi
Katsuo Tokashiki vs Lupe Madera I
1983
Bobby Chacon vs Boza Edwards II
Salvador Sanchez vs Azumah Nelson
1984
Tommy Cordova vs Freddie Roach
Chang Jung Koo vs Katsuo Tokashiki
Jose Luis Ramirez vs Edwin Rosario II
1985
Hagler Vs Hearns
Myung-Woo Yuh vs Oh Kon Son
1986
Holyfield vs Qawi I
Barry McGuigan vs Stevie Cruz
Lora vs Vazquez
Myung Woo Yuh vs Mario Alberto Demarco I
Honeyghan vs Curry
1987
Leonard vs Hagler
Bassa vs MacAuley I
1988
Tony Lopez vs Rocky Lockridge I
Jung Koo Chang vs Hideyuki Ohashi II
Simon Brown-Tyrone Trice I
1989
Roberto Duran vs Iran Barkley
Zaragoza vs Banke I
Harding vs Andries
1990
Paul Banke vs Daniel Zaragoza II
Aaron Davis vs Mark Breland
Sung Kil Moon - Nana Konadu I
Meldrick Taylor vs Julio Cesar Chavez I
Chris Eubank vs Nigel Benn I
Ray Mercer vs Bert Cooper
1991
Chris Eubank vs Michael Watson II
Robert Quiroga vs Kid Akeem Anifowoshi
Evander Holyfield vs Bert Cooper
Brown vs Blocker
Chang vs Kittikasem
1992
Holyfield vs Bowe I
Michael Moorer vs Bert Cooper
Azuma Nelson vs Jeff Fenech
Kevin Kelley v Troy Dorsey
Welcome Ncita vs Kennedy McKinney
1993
Michael Carbajal vs Humberto Gonzalez I
Rid**** Bowe vs Evander Holyfield II
1994
Katsuya Onizuka vs Hyung Chul Lee
Jorge Castro vs John David Jackson I
Joichiro Tatsuyoshi vs Yasuei Yakushiji
1995
Nigel Benn vs Gerald McClellan
Merqui Sosa vs Prince Charles Williams I
Saman Sorjaturong vs Humberto Gonzalez
Yuri Arbachakov vs Chatchai Sasakul I
1996
Bowe vs Golata I & II
Marco Antonio Barrera vs Kennedy McKinney
Orlando Canizales vs Sergio Reys
Arturo Gatti vs Wilson Rodriguez
1997
David Tua vs Ike Ibeabuchi
Sirimongkol vs Tatsuyoshi
Arturo Gatti vs Gabriel Ruelas
Naseem Hamed vs Kevin Kelley
1998
Ivan Robinson vs Arturo Gatti I & II
James Page vs Jose Luis Lopez
1999
Paulie Ayala vs Johnny Tapia I
2000
Erik Morales vs Marco Antonio Barrera I
Felix Trinidad vs Fernando Vargas
Takanori Hatakeyama vs Hiroyuki Sakamoto
Fernando Vargas vs Ike Quartey
2001
Mickey Ward vs Emmanuel Augustus
Toshiaki Nishioka vs. Veeraphol Nakonluang II
Francisco Bojado vs Juan Carlos Rubio
Naseem Hamed vs Marco Antonio Barrera
Julio Cesar Gonzalez vs. Julian Letterlough
2002
Arturo Gatti vs Micky Ward I
Marco Antonio Barrera vs Erik Morales II
Leonard Dorin vs Raul Balbi
2003
Arturo Gatti vs Micky Ward III
Acelino Freitas vs Jorge Barrios
Michael Gomez vs Alex Arthur
James Toney vs Vassily Jirov
In-Jin Chi vs Michael Brodie I
Vitali Klitschko vs Lennox Lewis
2004
Marco Antonio Barrera vs Erik Morales III
Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez I
Felix Trinidad vs Ricardo Mayorga
2005
Corrales vs Castillo I
Erik Morales vs Manny Pacquiao I
Ricky Hatton vs Kostya Tszyu
Jorge Arce vs Hussein Hussein
Miguel Cotto vs Ricardo Torres
2006
Somsak Sithchatchawal vs Mahyar Monshipour
John Duddy vs Yori Boy Campas
Sergei Liakhovich vs Lamon Brewster
Jamie Moore vs Matthew Macklin
Jean Marc Mormeck vs O'Neil Bell I
2007
Israel Vazquez vs Rafael Marquez I & II
Michael Katsidis vs Graham Earl
Sakio Bika vs Jaidon Codrington
Kelly Pavlik vs Jermaine Taylor
2008
Israel Vazquez vs Rafael Marquez III
Miguel Cotto vs Antonio Margarito I
Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez II
Rogers Mtagwa vs Tomas Villa
Tomasz Adamek vs Steve Cunningham
2009
Bernard Dunne vs Ricardo Cordoba I
Juan Manuel Marquez vs Juan Diaz
Paul Williams vs Sergio Martinez I
Brian Viloria vs Ulises Solis
Andre Berto vs Luis Collazo
2010
Ivan Calderon vs Giovani Segura I
Juan Manuel Marquez vs Michael Katsidis
Amir Khan vs Marcos Maidana
Humberto Soto vs Urbano Antillon
2011
Pawel Wolak vs Delvin Rodriguez
Hernan Marquez vs Luis Concepcion I
Akira Yaegashi vs Pornsawan Porpramook
Marcos Maidana vs Erik Morales
Victor Ortiz vs Andre Berto
2012
Robert Guerrero vs Andre Berto
Roman Gonzalez vs Juan Francisco Estrada
Brandon Rios vs Mike Alvarado I
Juan Manuel Marquez vs Manny Pacquiao IV
Brandon Rios vs Mike Alvarado II
Mike Alvarado vs Mauricio Herrera
Brian Viloria vs Hernan Marquez
Orlando Salido vs Juan Manuel Lopez II
2013
Tim Bradley vs Ruslan Provodnikov
Giovani Segura vs Hernan Marquez
Guillermo Jones vs Denis Lebedev
Omar Figueroa vs Nihito Arakawa
2014
Monty Meza Clay vs Alan Herrera
Orlando Salido vs Terdsak Kokietgym
Lucas Matthysse vs John Molina
Francisco Rodriguez Jr vs Katsunari Takayama
2015
Orlando Salido vs Roman Martinez I & II
Ola Afolabi vs Victor Ramirez
Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura
Nathan Cleverly vs Andrzej Fonfara
Marco Huck vs Krzysztof Glowacki

 

Boxing needs another Tyson in any weight class, but he needs to be from the USA. That's why boxing isn't popular anymore.

 

Parker Takam is a good fight

 

:good An honest post. America is the worlds leader in entertainment. Even when we copy some else's **** like American Idol and American Ninja Warrior, Iron Chef, etc..