Why do I read so often here on ESB that boxing is lacking characters and no one is gaining the average man on the street's interest etc? Why would you care if the average person on the street likes/dislikes boxing? We like it. We are fans of boxing. Isn't that enough?....
No. I care about the well-being and popularity of the sport. I would like to see it get more mainstream attention like it used to. I hate watching boxing get left off of Sportscenter while they have breaking coverage of "Brett Favre Says He Might Want to Come Back Next Year Part 232" and "Michael Phelps Broke a Toe Nail" and "Tiger Woods Golfs With a Sore Thigh Muscle". Sports Illustrated used to having boxing on its covers frequently. I think it's been on the cover twice in the past 10 years.
Part of my interest in boxing and its growth potential is part of the comraderie that comes with being a sports fan and being a boxing fan can be a bit lonely at times. Also, I think that with more popularity the sport could return to the networks. The Contender was a good effort, and I applaud it, but it was a bit silly, a bit too "story line" driven. And they way they edited the early fights was crappy. I think a mega fight on a main network would do wonders.
You need the mainstream media to cover Boxing again, now it seems like the only time it gets coverage is when RJJ, Oscar, or Mayweather, 1 has retired and the other 2 are well past there primes and a couple years away from retirement themselves. I miss the 90's, where there were tons of fighters that got ESPN type publicity, Tyson, Foreman, Holyfield, Bowe, Jones, Tito, Chavez, Whitaker, etc... It's sad to see the average guy converting from Boxing to the UFC, the sad state of the Heavyweight division is a huge reason why Boxing isnt mainstream anymore.
