Boxing Is a Brutal, Fading Sport...

I would absolutely agree.

 

Brutal Brilliant .

 

Rocky Marciano was calling for an end to boxing, because of it's brutality, before he died.

 

I love boxing, but I honestly believe that its demise is near. As much as I love boxing, I saw Jerry Quarry in his prime in person, and I saw him on the news near the end of his life. No entertainment is worth doing that to a man.

 

Then,....what are we going to do? For me, that would mean living in the Valhalla of classic boxing exclusively from now on...and there's no other sport that I'm even remotely interested in.

 

I think boxing is experiencing a mini renascence of sorts.

The action has been good, and most weight classes have a #1 guy who's worth watching.

This is a combat sport, but that does not mean it has to be void of compassion. A better commission is needed to make sure fighters are fit to box, and perhaps corners need to spare their fighters punishment when it round 8 and they are taking a beating with little hope to win.

Boxing has always had a North Amercian / Latin American type of viewpoint. I have seen a slow shift toward fans embracing talents born outside theses areas, but still think the sport would be better off financially speaking with the next Mike Tyson, or Sugar Ray Leonard.

Above all else, the best need to meet. The rules can fix that. I'd like to see a super six like tournament once ever 4 years or so for multiple weight classes, meaning we had a few of them for each weight class every year.

 

No question that boxing and UFC are both suffering these days but there will be a re-surgence once a fighter establishes himself a a must see attraction.HBO are trying their best with GGG and perhaps Ward,but a fighter of this magnitude must have a personality to match which Ward will never have.
I think GGG who stays active,has a charming personality and most important has real KO power has the best chance to revive our great sport.
Boxing in the UK and Germany appears to be alive and well,so all is not lost.It's only in the most important market-the US where we have to find our way out of this.

 

Just the kind of Nancy Boy opinion hack one would expect from the NYT. All the news that's print to fit.

Boxing seems to be doing just fine in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. In the US, it is back on broadcast TV.

 

In recent decades we've seen quite a few of the top fighters seemingly all too aware of the dangers of the sport, resulting in some very safety-first performers and a reduction in brutality at the highest level.

On the other hand, we've seen that trend off set by the idea, motivated perhaps by greed and ego, that fighters can (and should) continue fighting well into their 40s !

Also, it's clear medical care doesn't seem to have progressed much at all when an OBVIOUSLY PUNCH DRUNK old man like James Toney can still get a licence to box.

 

With the GWOT the research on traumatic brain injury (TBI) from the military has increased nueroscience funding and our overall understanding of brain injury. Unfortunately there will always be irresponsible medical people and money hungry promoters.

I wonder what all the fights I had from age 9 on up in boxing has done to stunting my performance today. The Pre frontal cortex is towards the front part of the brain and is still developing until age 25 +- this is the area that is responsible for emotional control, short term memory etc.....essentially the area that when people are adolescents they make impulsive decisions, and lack self control irrationality rules the day.......immaturity

As we age this area starts to deteriorate and a fighter who is already no longer at 100% anymore really deteriorates quicker.

 

I consider boxing to be my guilty pleasure. People have called me on it many times and I have trouble defending it. I'm not interested in seeing people get hurt...it's just the strategies, the various intermingling strengths and weaknesses that determine a fight, that fascinate me.

But if they're not banning UFC, which is even more brutal, then they won't ban boxing. I would miss boxing if it disappeared, but wouldn't really complain about it. It's sort of like male prostitution, and seeing how many guys are permanently wrecked from it, it's hard to justify its existence.

 

Life is Brutal, Life in The Ghetto's and Barrio's can be brutal... Being a miner for decades then retireing with emphysema can be Brutal Drunk and Drugged up Drivers can and do inflict Brutal consequences on innocent people, Politicians with Covert Agenda's and Vested interests can and do have Brutal consequences... On a list of Social Ills Boxing is pretty low on the totem Pole, and if consenting adults are willing to work their socks off to try and secure a future for them and their families, I for one will cheer them on,

Of course their are always rotten apples in the Barrell, and their removal should always be a focus,

This question probably deservers a long and detailed answer, but i always wonder how many Lives boxing has Actually Saved, by giving desperate people an avenue for their Energies, and Honest Avenue.. i am sure many Many Lives of Boxers... and their potential Crime Victims have been saved by this potential Escape route to a better life for Boxers... Its the Human Factor .

 

I think it is not near it's peak of popularity, but I don't think it will die any time soon.

Nice post by Area53. It's true that some of our boxing heroes probably would have resorted to a life of crime without boxing. Mike Tyson, Dwight Braxton, Matthew Saad Muhammad. Just three examples of guys heading in the wrong direction until finding boxing.

 

i had some thoughts watching pavlik taylor the other day.

i think the sports popularity isn't going down atm.